Building a website for your business does not have to be difficult. Today, it’s a lot easier and takes less time to make one. If you want to make your website easy to navigate, there are options to choose from. You can use Weebly to build your site. So what is Weebly and how does it work? As part of this review, I’ll go over what this website builder is about, and determine whether it’s the right choice for your business.
- What Is Weebly?
- Pros & Cons
- How Does Weebly Work?
- Can Weebly Help You Build A Beautiful, Customized Website?
- Who Is Weebly Best Suited For?
- Pricing
- Is Weebly Worth It?
- Final Words
What is Weebly?
Weebly is a website and e-commerce store builder designed for all types of businesses. Whether you’re starting one online, or have a brick-and-mortar business that wants an online presence, Weebly can help service those types of businesses.
Founded in 2007, it started on the premise that anyone should have the resources to start a business. From a simple idea to scaling a full-time business, Weebly has simple features for anyone to build a beautiful, professional-looking website.
Within the last few years, Weebly has been part of Square’s eCommerce program. Acquired back in 2018, it makes it easier to do business in person if you run a brick-and-mortar store.
Weebly has powered more than 50 million websites and continues to provide great services for businesses looking to be online. I will focus on the website builder and online store builder portions of this review, as well as my overall opinion and recommendation.
If you’re in a rush, here’s a brief video on getting set up with a Weebly website. Also, I’ve listed some pros and cons to consider for the Weebly website builder.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Free plan
- Drag and drop builder
- SEO guides are easy to use
- The App store is impressive (with free and paid apps)
Cons
- Drag and drop builder is limited (i.e. the editor is tedious sometimes)
- Designs are outdated
- Mobile optimization is not considered the best
- Not the best in making a huge eCommerce store
How does Weebly work?
Weebly’s main product is through website design and its online store builder. Whether you have a blog, an online store, or a simple website, there are options to make it simple to build one without any coding experience.
Website Builder
The website builder is easy to use, and not too challenging to learn. Some of the top features include the following:
Drag and drop editor
This one is by far one of their best features for the website builder. The editor makes it easy to move things around.
One of their neat elements is the text option, especially while writing posts. It works similar to writing in a word processor, and you can do a lot with the choices they have available.
Other elements include images, gallery, slideshows, contact forms, and the ability to embed code (i.e. for inserting a video link). Not all website builders come with a drag and drop builder, so it helps to have one built into Weebly.
Video backgrounds
Weebly comes with high-quality video backgrounds. You have the option to use their free video library, or you can upload your own video to make header images and sections stand out.
These days, video content is becoming much more common. More people are watching videos to get the information they need. So it helps to set your website up for success and stand up as well.
Ecommerce
If you’re looking to build an awesome eCommerce store, Weebly can help make it easier to manage. Here are some of the best features to sell your products online:
Full integration on the shopping cart and secure checkout
This feature is convenient for shoppers to have on hand. It helps shoppers know that they’re going through a secure checkout, which helps build trust and authority with your online store.
Their shopping cart software is set up automatically, so you can start selling online right away. So that eliminates the need to spend time on setting up the little things.
Tracking inventory
You can manage a lot of products by looking through your inventory and supply. It’s good to know how many items are available for purchase on your website.
Also, it allows you to show customers how many items are left in stock. A lot of online stores have this option, which creates that sense of urgency from customers (i.e. only 1 item left!). It can trigger buying behavior if there is a need to purchase a product from your store.
When items are sold out, there are automatic updates in place for it to happen. It helps shoppers out if they want to return to your website later on.
Product search bar
The search results help highlight the most relevant products in your store. For example, customers can filter results by attributes (i.e. price, color, size, etc).
With the search bar, shoppers can find things a lot faster. Also, it helps to maximize exposure across inventory, which can create more buying opportunities on your website.
Mobile
Similar to other website builders, mobile usage is an important feature to take advantage of. Here are some features to consider when designing the best mobile experience:
Drag and Drop mobile website design
Similar to the drag and drop builder through the desktop version, it allows you to customize and have full mobile optimization. For instance, you can drag and drop elements into a workable template if necessary in the visual editor.
App center
The Weebly app store features free and paid apps for your mobile store. Some of the apps are made by Weebly, while others are third-party integrations that are installed from the store.
With more people shopping and reviewing content through mobile devices, it’s important to make sure it looks good. For the best user experience, having an online store that’s easy to navigate on a mobile device is a winner these days.
If a website is not well-received on a mobile device, it’s more likely that visitors will leave your website sooner. When that happens, you may be losing out on potential customers. As a result, optimizing your website for mobile use is just as important as optimizing one for desktop use.
Can Weebly help you build a beautiful, customized website?
Similar to other website builders, it’s simple to learn and use over time. Whether you’re a beginner or a novice, you can set up an online store or website without any technical skills.
It covers the basics needed to get an online store up and running. Also, if you’re not looking to market right away, Weebly has helpful SEO guides if you’re looking to get organic traffic.
Some of their SEO guides are easy to read and follow. Even if you’re not an SEO expert, there are strategies you can implement if you want to see results down the road.
Who is Weebly best suited for?
Weebly is best for beginners with little to no website design experience. To be more specific, they can help with the following:
- Individual sellers who sell items occasionally
- Small businesses
- People who run small shops, and they’re ready to move their business online for more exposure
Basically, these groups fall into the category of either starting out or maybe those who don’t want to expend too soon. Also, it’s designed for people who don’t want to use any advanced software to build a website.
Pricing
Weebly offers a few plans to meet your business needs. The best part is they offer a free plan, especially for those who want to use it for basic needs. However, it does come with limited features as well.
| Personal | Professional | Performance |
|---|---|---|
| Connect to a custom domain $6/month- billed annually | Connect your domain & add more customizations $12/month- billed annually | Add features that drive growth and manage operations $26/month- billed annually |
Is Weebly worth it?
Rating: 6.5/10
Weebly is very easy and functional to use as a website builder. Although it’s simple to make customized websites, it does have some drawbacks.
Some of them include outdated designs, which do matter to the overall user experience. So if visual elements of aesthetics matter a lot to you, Weebly may not be the choice in that category.
It can be useful for small businesses, or for those that want something simple. However, if you’re looking to scale rapidly and reach the next level, some of the limitations may not be so useful.
My experience
Having tried out Weebly, I liked how it was easy to navigate and use their basic features. The drag and drop builder makes creating pages much more efficient.
Weebly provides the bare minimum for an online store if that is all I am looking for. But to build a customizable website where I had a lot of features to use, it may be best to pass on Weebly.
Final Words
There was a time when Weebly was a popular website builder. Although they provide great services, there are other website builders that have improved over time.
But if you find Weebly to be easy and helpful to build a website, it may be the right choice for you. If you just want an online presence for your business, Weebly is something to look into.
If you’re interested in checking out their website builder, you can get started today for free. For the most basic functions, the free plan may be the best place to start. If you want more of it, later on, the plans are affordable to choose from as well.
Get started today to see what Weebly can do to help make your business stand out online.
Your Turn: Do you think Weebly is a decent choice for website builders?
I would like to get your thoughts about Weebly. Do you find Weebly to be easy to use from a beginner’s standpoint?
Do you like the drag-and-drop editor? What don’t you like about Weebly? Is there anything that can be better about the website builder?
Feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below. I look forward to reading your responses, and I’ll gladly respond promptly.
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Eric is a content writer and the site owner of notimekillers.com. He takes great pride in helping people manage their time and grow their businesses. Eric is a firm believer in time freedom, as he believes in taking ownership of time. “Time is your most important asset. It can be your best friend or worst enemy. How you use your time can shape the future you desire to have.” In his leisure time, Eric loves to write and read whenever possible. He enjoys going for long walks outdoors while doing in-home workout videos every week. You can follow Eric on LinkedIn.
Website building has certainly changed over the past twenty years or so when you needed to employ a website builder. It would take weeks, if not months to do.
Now there are so many options available to quickly build a website, which also looks good. Weebly is an affordable website builder, that also has an eCommerce store builder.
The drag-and-drop feature makes it so much easier and quicker to build a website, and edit it. I really like that Weebly comes with high-quality video backgrounds, something which my current web builder doesn’t have.
Weebly would be good for beginners and those wanting to set up a small online store, but those looking for more up-to-date designs and more features might need to look elsewhere.
Hi,
Yes, the way websites are developed has changed a lot in the past two decades. It’s a lot easier now, especially if it’s quicker to get up (in minutes).
Your description of Weebly is very accurate, so you’re well-informed about what it can offer. The video backgrounds are certainly nice and well worth looking into as well.
It may not be for everyone, but it’s well-suited for some people. It all depends on what each person needs as well. So you have to choose which one is the best match, for sure.
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts- it’s greatly appreciated.