Home » Weebly Review – Is It A Good Website Builder?

Weebly Review – Is It A Good Website Builder?

Sezmi

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8.0 Out Of 10

It’s easier than ever to get a website online. Weebly is a website builder that has been around for the longest time and is growing fast. They were featured in the first edition 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. They have continued to improve their software ever since.

Weebly Video Review

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First, let’s take a look at website builders. There are many factors that go into creating a website, whether you use a drag-and-drop builder or an installed Content Management System.

You want people to be able to go to your website and find the information they need. Your website design can make or break your business.

The tools you use for setting up your website can have a significant impact on your flexibility, functionality, and brand. It can also cause headaches in the short-term. However, it is not possible to choose the best or most desirable physical home or office. Only you can make the right decision based on your experience, goals, and circumstances.

However, I tried to make the best selections based on typical uses/goals in my best web builders.

What is Weebly?

Weebly is the only website builder that offers all the options. It provides everything you need to start and grow your site. This is in contrast to other solutions that allow you to buy, install and manage each “piece” of your website individually.

It’s like giving up some control in exchange for more convenience.

Weebly works in the same way as leasing an apartment in a nice community and making your own decisions about it. While you retain control over decor, cleaning, and other aspects of living, the property owner is responsible for the building, plumbing, security and infrastructure. This is crucial because convenience and control are often in direct conflict.

Weebly’s functionality and design work seamlessly together as one platform. This allows them to drag and drop layout, content, and design.

Weebly is directly competing with all-inclusive site builders such as:

• Squarespace
• Wix
• WordPress.com

As a group, website builders compete with WordPress.org (which offers the free software to create a website you own and control – refer to my WordPress setup guide), all the way up to the option of typing actual HTML code into text files. Does that make sense? Let’s get into the Weebly review.

Weebly’s Company Pitch:

Weebly Pricing

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Alternatives to Weebly

Wix Review

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9.0/10

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Monthly Freebie – $49+

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Squarespace Review

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$12 – $40 per month

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WordPress.com Review

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8.0/10

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FREE – $15 per month

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The Best Website Builder

Pros Of Weebly

Here are the pros and cons of Weebly. Not just in comparison with Squarespace and Wix, or Weebly vs. WordPress . But also as an overall online solution.

Speed & Security

Weebly hosts all websites built on their platform. This can be good and bad, but Weebly has it covered. They offer fast loading speeds. They optimize their websites for hosting. They ensure security against spammers and hackers. They even install and manage SSL throughout your site with business plans. Here is my speed test:

While there are still security and speed risks, many website owners find it advantageous to have another person take care of speed and security backups, as well as security . It’s a great value-add because it comes with both pro and free accounts.

All Prices

If you don’t mind your site on a subdomain (ie, http://yourwebsite.weebly.com) then Weebly is free with no expiration. This is a great deal, especially for temporary sites.

The overall pricing is very affordable not only compared to all-inclusive web builders, but also when you buy your own hosting. The Starter plan costs $8/mo if paid upfront They don’t have the usual caps that other website builders offer. The Pro plan has solid features, but costs less than $12/mo.

You’ll also notice that everything can be bundled together and is unlimited. There are no storage space or pages limits. They also remove ads from the first paid tier, unlike Wix.

Even though their pricing is more expensive than hosting the same site on your own, it’s still much less than similar plans offered by direct competitors.

Weebly’s pricing for building your website on your web host is much more affordable than other website builders. Although price is not everything, I like the way they structure it.

Site Building Process

An all-inclusive website builder offers the advantage that you don’t need to know HTML or CSS code. Drag and drop elements are all you need. You get what you see in the builder on your website.

Sometimes it’s not so easy. Drag and drop is not always easy. You want to do it, but you also need a little help.

Weebly does this largely. Their website editor is intuitive and easy to use. Drag and drop works well. There are many Weebly themes to choose from. You can also build your site from a mobile device. The Weebly builder also offers access to a custom CSS module that allows you to edit the template as you wish.

Onboarding and Education

Every piece of software, no matter how intuitive, has that moment when you realize “ok, what should I do now?” This is called Onboarding and can be incredibly difficult to do well.

Software makers don’t want you to be irritating, but they do want to help. I love the way Weebly provides solid education and onboarding via email drip sequences as well as via small info buttons integrated with their platform.

It’s easy to jump in once you have signed up.

Built-in Feature Set + Extensions

Building your own website on your host is a great option. You don’t need to rely on the platform’s features. It’s important to ensure that the platform you choose has all the features you need.

Weebly has a strong feature list. The site has all the essentials, such as contact forms and blog functionality. However, they also offer advanced features such as URL redirects or page-level custom codes.

Weebly offers more than just the basic necessities. It also includes membership options, file uploads and integrated advertising options. You can also integrate Google App Suite into your Weebly dashboard. This is particularly useful for business owners who use Google Workspace to email. There are also eCommerce options that they offer, which I will discuss separately.

Weebly’s features set should be sufficient to create a website for your business or personal use. However, as we will see, there are some advanced options that you might need.

Weebly is a great tool, but it does not have all the features. This is overcome by platforms that allow 3rd Party applications (think the App Shop or Shopify’s App Store).

allows you to create your own WordPress website. Adding functionality is as simple as installing a plug-in. You can view their growing, though still limited, app center with.

You can also use custom JavaScript, HTML and CSS to make up for the lack of features. You can easily copy and paste code snippets (e.g., to run an auction, blog comments or A/B testing), then you are good.

Customer Support

Weebly provides email support for free accounts and a comprehensive Knowledge Base. They offer phone, chat and email support for paid accounts, even starters. I received prompt responses.

Customer support can resolve any problem with an all-inclusive platform. This is an advantage for all website builders platforms, but Weebly has phone support.

Before you contact someone to fix a problem on your site, it is important that you identify the person responsible. You can simply get in touch with them using Weebly.

Product Investment & Company Structure

Since the days of Homestead.com, I have used website builders for over 20 years and have been following the industry closely for the last 5 years. The overarching trend is the fact that product investment is driven more by a company’s structure than either the marketing or product teams.

A company’s structure, end goals and business model will determine how it behaves in fast-growing markets. You can see in my Wix Vs. Squarespace comparison, the structure of direct competitors can differ greatly.

Weebly, an independent company that was pursuing organic growth for years, was a privately owned and operated business. In 2018, however, they were sold to Square, a major player in payment processing. Weebly is now an independent subsidiary to Square.

This could be a major downside. Acquisitions can be devastating for companies and their value. This acquisition is a disaster for companies and value.

Why? Square is a payment processor. They’re huge offline and they want to grow in the online/offline space. They bought Weebly because they see the future as bright for Weebly’s eCommerce features.

Weebly is a great option for those who are just starting a website or have an existing offline presence (ie. pop-up shops) but want to sell online. It has a fully integrated eCommerce solution that will only get better.

Cons of Weebly

However, we cannot complete a Weebly review without examining the negative aspects. There will be complaints about every piece of software. Let’s take a look at three of the cons I discovered.

Content Management System

Content management systems are exactly what they sound like. This interface allows you to organize, filter, edit, publish, and delete different types of content from your website.

You will find a section called Pages that lists all pages on your site. You can drag and drop the hierarchy, and then click to edit each. It’s not a very efficient system.

Except for a page, there is no way to add custom content types. You would need to create a custom system for managing the content on a large site, such as hundreds of pages.

Although this disadvantage can be overcome I wish that Weebly could make content management easier.

Advanced Marketing Tools

Weebly’s website builder allows HTML editing. This means that you can add most marketing tools and features to your site.

The site has a basic, but excellent SEO tool. Sites on Weebly perform well in search engine optimization. You can link to Facebook and Twitter from the site.

You do not have complete control of your website and server, so it is possible to add advanced marketing tools like an EV SSL or custom email collection tools, custom analysis packages, custom social sharing, Schemas and A/B testing software.

The main problem is not having root or FTP access to your server files. While this isn’t a problem that can be solved immediately, it is important to keep in mind if you plan on a long-term project.

Website owners with average traffic will need to be aware that there are limitations. This is especially important if your goal is rapid growth.

Platform Lock-in

Weebly’s biggest disadvantage is the difficulty of moving to another platform. Moving to another platform, such as your WordPress-powered website will require you to migrate your content and redirect your URLs.

You can Export your Page Content via zip file, but you will need to manually copy and/or migrate blog content via RSS.

It is important to remember that migrating platforms can be difficult. However, it is something you should consider if your goal is to grow traffic and/or content quickly.

Product Investment & Company Structure

Square’s acquisition does have a downside. This is because of the regular website builder functions. Square is Weebly’s motivation to invest in new features to make it more valuable.

The parent company is only entitled to the benefits of features like blogging and appointment scheduling.

I recommend WordPress.com for content and Wix for general drag & drops. Even if Weebly is able to meet your current needs, it might not be in the future.

Weebly Pricing Options

There are 4 tiers of Weebly web plans, with three paid options.

No Cost Plan

Anyone can sign up for a Weebly free plan. You have full access to the Weebly website builder, including the Weebly editor, Weebly app center, themes, Weebly support and basic eCommerce features.

The main limitations are:

• You are limited to 500MB storage
• You can only use a subdomain of Weebly in the form username.weebly.com
• You must place a Weebly advertisement on your entire Weebly site

Personal Plan

The Personal Plan by Weebly is their most affordable premium plan. While it doesn’t remove the Weebly ads from your site, it allows you to have a custom domain. You get 500MB of storage and all the benefits of the Weebly platform. You can also build your own eCommerce website with the eCommerce functionality included.

Professional Plan

The Weebly Professional Plan offers more storage space than the Personal Plan. It also removes the Weebly Ad. However, it adds a custom domain, customization options, membership options and video backgrounds.

Performance Plan

Weebly’s Performance Plan improves eCommerce features, including PayPal checkout and item reviews. If you have a paid membership, it will remove any restrictions on members.

Square eCommerce at Weebly

Here’s Weebly’s advertisement showing their new eCommerce platform.

Weebly has an eCommerce function that is a bonus. Your Weebly website can be used to sell products without the need for any additional development or switching platforms. It integrates seamlessly and offers solid functionality.

Pricing is reasonable. Weebly charges transaction fees for lower tiers but bundles the entire eCommerce package for business plans.

While ecommerce has some functionality, it is not an eCommerce platform like Shopify and BigCommerce. Weebly offers basic inventory management and payment acceptance. Here’s where Weebly falls on the eCommerce “spectrum”.

This is a great tool for websites that are primarily informational or lead-generation sites, but also wish to sell products. This is a great way to test out products before you commit to a long-term platform. Websites that are eCommerce-first will not find it a good fit. An eCommerce-first website with WordPress + WooCommerce, or an eCommerce platform like BigCommerce (review), would be better.

Weebly Review Conclusion

Weebly can be a great option for an all-inclusive web builder. They offer great pricing, excellent functionality, and a great user experience. Although there are many tradeoffs to using an all-inclusive web builder, Weebly can be a great choice.