Every small business needs a website. The internet is the first place most consumers and potential customers will look for, find and learn about your company. Creating and maintaining your site with website development software is simple, easy and cheap. Whether you own a bakery or boarding house, construction company or catering business, or any moneymaking enterprise, using a website builder to launch an online presence will increase awareness of your company's products and services and help boost its bottom line.
The great thing about creating a website with web page design software is that most applications are user friendly. They require you to watch a few tutorials and follow just a few simple steps before you can post your website on the internet. With a website builder, you don't have to hire a designer or programmer. You can create a professional site and stay within your budget.
The categories we used to study website development software are listed below. We evaluated more than 40 criteria to help you choose the best website builder for your needs. Before you choose a site designer, check out the reviews of our top three products, Intuit Websites, Yola Silver and 1&1 MyWebsite. You can also view our articles on website builder applications.
Features
Websites can consist of simple text, photos, images and links. They also can play movies, songs, animations and host a virtual store to sell products and services. The best website builders enable you to incorporate all of these elements. They also have features such as drag-and-drop functionality, the ability to create rollover animations and SEO integration, including the ability to edit meta tags.
Drag-and-drop website builders have multimedia features such as video, audio, blogging, social networking integration, galleries and maps. They should also have eCommerce features to ensure that you have the tools you need to make money with your website. For example, the software should provide a shopping cart, whether it's a proprietary system or an integrated third-party shopping cart.
Hosting
The best website builders we evaluated integrate hosting into the services they sell. We compared the amount of storage and bandwidth these companies offer. Also important are the number of webpages offered within a website, the number of associated email addresses, the inclusion of analytics tools and whether a domain name is included in the purchase price.
Graphic Imaging Tools
Graphic imaging tools help you edit, crop and resize images before you place them on your website. These tools are necessary to produce high quality photos and graphics to make your website look professional.
Help & Support
You should also consider the level of support the website development software offers. If you have experience with creating a website, you may only have an occasional question. If you are a novice, though, you'll need the ability to quickly get help. Good support options include FAQs on the company's website, tutorials, and telephone and email support.
Every small business should have a website to increase its brand awareness, gain new customers and improve its revenue. Creating a website that best suits your needs is easy with a website builder application. Whether you're a web-savvy expert with design skills or new to presenting your company online, creating a website and maintaining it can be easy and inexpensive with the best website builder software.
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| Rank | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 |
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Intuit Websites | Yola Silver | 1&1 MyWebsite | Yahoo SiteBuilder Premier | iBuilt Essential eStore | SiteW Pro | Site2You Premium | SiteSpinner Pro | Volusion Gold | Go Daddy Website Builder Premium |
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Lowest Monthly Price |
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| Ratings | 9.08 | 8.63 | 8.48 | 8.13 | 7.75 | 7.40 | 7.33 | 7.20 | 6.85 | 6.78 |
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| Design Features | ||||||||||
| Ease of Use | 90% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 60% | 75% | 65% | 70% | 75% | 80% |
| Number of Templates | 2000+ | 196+ | 183+ | 380+ | 100+ | 15 | 128 | 33 | 120+ | 300+ |
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| Storage | 5 GB | 5 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1.5 GB | 1 GB | Unlimited | 5 GB | 2 GB | 50 GB |
| Bandwidth | 100 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 40 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | 250 GB | 15 GB | 1,000 GB |
| Number of Pages | 100 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 100 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 999 |
| Number of Sites | 3 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Number of Domain Names | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Number of Email Addresses | 5 | 1 | 200 | 1,000 | 40 | 10 | Unlimited | 500 | 2 | 1,000 |
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