Best free website builders?

[Lunaberry]

As the title says really..

Any recommendations for which free website builder to use?

I'm thinking about Wordpress. Anyone any experience with these? X

 

[BannerPenguin]

It depends on your knowledge as far as CSS etc goes. Wordpress (most of the time even if you use a theme) will require some knowledge. Also you'll need to find your own host server and install wordpress on it.

Here is a site we have done recently on Wordpress so shows you what's possible however we build everything from scratch and obviously do it for a living so it's time consuming - www.penguin-pages.co.uk/lucy/

 

[Lunaberry]

It depends on your knowledge as far as CSS etc goes. Wordpress (most of the time even if you use a theme) will require some knowledge. Also you'll need to find your own host server and install wordpress on it.

Here is a site we have done recently on Wordpress so shows you what's possible however we build everything from scratch and obviously do it for a living so it's time consuming - www.penguin-pages.co.uk/lucy/

Thanks Banner Penguin!

That website looks lovely! I'm fairly ok with tech and once I've fine it I'm not too bad.

But I've no idea about terminology so might struggle with what I need! Don't know what CSS means nor what a host server is!

Off to google...

 

[BannerPenguin]

Thanks Banner Penguin!

That website looks lovely! I'm fairly ok with tech and once I've fine it I'm not too bad.

But I've no idea about terminology so might struggle with what I need! Don't know what CSS means nor what a host server is!

Off to google...

It's basic style coding. Tbh it's not something that's learnt over night. It really depends how much time you want to throw at it. If you have a couple of months you will get a basic site together

 

[squidgernetball]

My philosophy was that I would rather work doing what I do to earn some money to pay someone to do what they do. I did a free site to begin with but it didn't rank. I'm now high ranking and we get loads of work through our website.

Vic x

 

[Lunaberry]

It's basic style coding. Tbh it's not something that's learnt over night. It really depends how much time you want to throw at it. If you have a couple of months you will get a basic site together

Thanks again.
Yeah. I need to look into it and have a good think. I will only ever be able to create something basic if I'm lucky. But only just setting up so funds are limited until things get going. Had a look at your website I might ask for a quote!

 

[Lunaberry]

My philosophy was that I would rather work doing what I do to earn some money to pay someone to do what they do. I did a free site to begin with but it didn't rank. I'm now high ranking and we get loads of work through our website.

Vic x

I hear you Vic and completely agree.
Unfortunately I'll only be working part time to start with so I might have to do basic free one initially then when I can up my hours pay for a 'proper' one! X

 

[BannerPenguin]

Thanks again.
Yeah. I need to look into it and have a good think. I will only ever be able to create something basic if I'm lucky. But only just setting up so funds are limited until things get going. Had a look at your website I might ask for a quote!

We would love to quote if you choose to go that route We offer payment plans to help split up costs if required as we know what it's like when we set up ourselves. Everything costs a fortune!

 

[Ellie--x]

I'm building mine on wix. It's free or they have upgrades that you pay for. My business is starting off very slow at the moment so I am waiting until things pick up and become regular before I commit to paying for a proper website x

 

[Quiet Therapist]

A fan of wix here too! Lovely funky designs and really easy intuitive software to build your site!

 

[villesoft]

We can help with a professional site, send me a message. Sometimes it can be more affordable than what you think.

 

[Waxon]

Try wix see my website I did it all myself www.brazbody.com

 

[Charlie D]

Try wix see my website I did it all myself www.brazbody.com

That looks really good, is that the free option or one of the upgrades? X ☺

 

[DiamondDivasBea]

I use wix, it's fab. Didn't know anything about web design, so learnt as I went along. When you type in certain things in google then it comes up on the first page for some of them it was all free to start with then I bought my domain (£9.99 from 1&1, who I would NOT recommend) then I pay £6-7 a month to host and you get other stuff with that. That is literally all you have to pay and I get loads of bookings from it my web is www.diamonddivasbeauty.com of you want to check it out x

 

[Beansy]

Wordpress is fab and easy to use.
I use it for a different business and had it done within 2 weeks. It isn't ecommerce but it was very easy to do.
Remember it is used by thousands of people to do blogs so it really can't be that hard if it's one of (if not the most commonly used!). There are now a lot of website building companies who just tailor Wordpress sites and charge at least a couple of hundred for it.
Don't be misled by people saying you won't rank highly on Google if you use a free site builder, you can.
Wix and Yola are also nice, easy to use site builders too.
Have fun doing it, you'll be really proud of yourself when it's done

 

[Kim Lawless]

I built my own site through Webeden. I did approach a 'professional' but after paying the deposit it was a nightmare. My daughter had to build each page in Photoshop so that he could copy it. In the end I dumped him and continued with my own little site and everyone likes it.

Weebly are also good. With regards to free sites, the free ones often have ads which look really cheap so go for the cheapest monthly option which would be less than a tenner so worth it's weight in gold.

 

[Lunaberry]

Those of you that used wix, did you have your own domain?
I've already paid for my own domain elsewhere and from what I understand I've got to pay monthly on wix to use it. Is that right?

 

[BannerPenguin]

Those of you that used wix, did you have your own domain?
I've already paid for my own domain elsewhere and from what I understand I've got to pay monthly on wix to use it. Is that right?

Yep.

 

[nortti]

I personally would try to avoid all website builders if you are able to do so.

Most of them are not that great, regardless of that say on their site.

A lot of them are cheap, but as with a lot of things in life you get what you pay for.

If you can afford I would suggest you get a website built buy someone who knows you business and what you want from your site, you can find loads of cheap alternatives to website builders.

This link might explain a bit more the reasons for not using them if you can.

http://superpixel.co/21-reasons-shouldnt-use-site-builder/

 

[squidgernetball]

I have to say I had a free website and never got any work from it. I paid a relatively small amount for my current site and for hosting and I pay for seo separately with great success. I have a lot of very positive feedback from clients and I get a lot of new clients who find me on Google.

In most situations, any website is better than no website but a crap website will always be a crap website .

I recently tried a new hairdressers. They had a very popular Facebook page but no website at all which I thought was poor - and told them.

There was a great Hotel inspector the other day. Beautiful clean hotel, lovely location, no clients and a really poor website.

Like leaflets they are a window to our business so be sure that it says what you want it to say. If it looks crap your prospective clients will make a judgement about you, your business and your skills.

Vic x