Having your own website is the staple of an online identity. Apart from serving as a platform to promote your business or personal portfolio, having a website also unlocks various opportunities. With a website, you have a way of reaching out to a wide audience. It also bridges the gaps in communication and information. At times, websites also serve as a form of entertainment or a way to introduce ourselves to a network.
However, to make your own website, you have to go through various obstacles, and each one won’t be easy to pass. One challenge is the lack of technical knowledge. No matter how well-structured your plan is, you can’t create a website without knowing the basics of website development.
Fortunately, there are plenty of website builders out there today that can eliminate these problems. These site builders are designed for a specific type of user. Each of them has its own unique selling point, strengths, and weaknesses.
To make sure you choose the best site builder to make your own site, we curated this shortlist of top site builders. We also have separate reviews of each website builder to help you make the right choice.
• Strikingly
Image taken from Strikingly product
Strikingly is a veteran when it comes to website building. Established in 2012, this website builder now has a well-earned reputation as one of the best website builders today.
Strikingly’s strongest feature is attributed to its intuitive features, easy-to-learn tools, and top-notch template designs. This website editor was built for absolute beginners to even more professional and more experienced web developers.
As a free website builder, Strikingly takes the crown for offering best-value features for their free membership. Users can immediately access all their templates and have great authority over their design. New users would enjoy the excellent interface and innovative tools in making websites.
To make your own website with Strikingly, see its other best points to help you out:
1. A Wide Range of Amazing Templates to Choose From
Image taken from Strikingly product
Strikingly’s website templates are second to none. Each template is unique and is specific to a particular category. The templates are also versatile and can be used with any type of website design. Users would definitely love the wide selection of templates from Strikingly.
When you make your own website with Strikingly, you won’t have to do most of the leg work. Strikingly does everything for you. All you have to do is input your preferences, and it will appear as displayed on the screen. These templates allow you to create your own website without breaking a sweat.
As you can see in the image above, Strikingly also has various categories for its templates. There’s Business, Company, Service, Blog, and more. Each of these templates comes with its own designs and setup. You just need to add the content. If you’re still not satisfied with the structure of your website, you can easily change things up with Strikingly’s reliable and user-friendly website editor. Read on to find out how amazing it is.
2. Robust and Feature-Packed Website Editor
Image taken from Strikingly product
With Strikingly, knowing how to make a website from a technical perspective won’t be necessary. As you can see in the image above, the website editor is crisp, clean, coherent, and concise. This makes the editing experience outstanding for many Strikingly users.
To make your own website, you have to manipulate a few settings in your editor. From the left-side menu, you can access a variety of settings. Four major settings are at the top: Styles, Audience, Store, and Settings. These are used depending on what type of website you have. For example, if you’re planning to run an ecommerce website, then you might need to use the “Store” settings.
Adding sections are also extremely easy. You can make your own website just by selecting new sections to build your site and rearrange them according to how you want. You can also change the layout of each section and edit the background. Strikingly also boasts a drag and drop feature that makes website editing beyond easy.
3. Great for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Image taken from Strikingly product
Search Engine Optimization or SEO practices are vital for websites. These practices encourage high-quality traffic to your website, allowing you to have a wider audience and reach people, including those outside your network. SEO is also great for inbound marketing, promoting original and relevant content, and increasing your website’s authority.
To make your own website, you have to be aware of the specifics of SEO too. Luckily for you, Strikingly has an SEO checklist to help you out with this matter. This SEO checklist was designed to optimize vital parts of your website, such as site title and meta description.
Not every function in the SEO checklist is available to free users, so consider upgrading your account to unlock these features. It’s only a small cost compared to the amazing things you can do and access with a Pro or VIP account in Strikingly.
If all these features sound amazing to you, try it out for yourself. You can create a Strikingly account today to make your own website. You can familiarize yourself with the navigation and editor panel. It will only take a small amount of practice to get used to Strikingly’s tool. Let this amazing free website builder speak for itself.
• SquareSpace
Image taken from SquareSpace
The second website builder on this list is SquareSpace. This website builder is also among the most popular website builders today. Its sleek design allows you to create a website that looks and feels professional when using.
SquareSpace boasts some of the most useful tools for website building. They’re also known to serve a wide range of customers with varying web design objectives. The great thing about SquareSpace is the customizable templates plus custom domains. The downside is, you cannot create a free website with SquareSpace. This can be a bad news for beginners since there is little room to try and experiment with their own website. The good side is that there’s a free trial, but only for 14 days. If you want to make your own website and publish it, you would have to pay after the end of your trial.
It can also be expensive since it only allows you to build one website, compared to Strikingly’s pricing where you can create 3 Pro sites for around the same amount of $192 per year. On a free plan, you can even create unlimited free sites with Strikingly.
• Wix
Image taken from Wix
Wix is another popular website builder that’s popular among website builders. You can create your own website using Wix and enjoy its well-designed services. However, the complicated and difficult editing process might put you off. They offer a wide selection of tools and options, but it can be very overwhelming.
They offer services like creating your domain and website in one place, which is great for those who are just starting. But other website builders like Strikingly also offers this feature. You can even buy a domain from those sites for a low cost.
You can try out Wix to make your website, but be careful navigating your way through their editor. It’s not as friendly to beginners so the entire process can be a bit of a struggle.
• GoDaddy
Image taken from GoDaddy
GoDaddy is one of the world’s most popular domain services sites. For years, it has been the go-to site for many website builders looking for a domain, In 2017, GoDaddy also ventured into website building services. To be fair, GoDaddy’s website builder is intuitive and easy to use. The one thing that may not satisfy you is their templates.
GoDaddy’s website templates objectively lack styles. Most are also devoid of any creative visual appeal. These factors may truly affect you if you want to make your own website that’s built on a visual presence.
It may be difficult for you to find the right template with GoDaddy considering how underwhelming their selections are. Although GoDaddy has strong features too like its great editing experience, especially on how to create a website, those templates might break the deal for you.
• Weebly
Image taken from Weebly
Weebly is a simple and straightforward website builder. Those who are looking for a website builder that can help easily build functions would enjoy Weebly. But just like other website builders, Weebly has downsides too that you need to look into
Weebly offers a free plan but it’s laden with so many ads. These advertisements may distract you when you want to make your own website. Imagine being in the middle of editing your website when ads just suddenly pop up for the corners. These ads affect your experience when creating your own website. Better yet, just opt for a site builder that doesn’t show ads.
To make your own website, you need a website builder that caters to your needs. The site builder of your choice must be able to transform your ideas into a functioning web structure. When assessing your options, there are things you must conside,r including the following:
- Versatile website templates
- Intuitive tools
- Easy-to-learn settings
- Robust website editor
- Pricing
- Free plans
- User interface
If you want to make your website, you must be willing to research your options and compare which ones give you the best value. Make sure that you invest your time in the right website builder to create a site that stands out.
You can use this blog as a reference to finding the right site builder for your website goals. For now, you can get started with a free plan from Strikingly. Head on to Strikingly to create a free account so you can enjoy all the features mentioned in this review. With this website builder, you can create a site that pushes you towards success.