Introduction Weebly Pro
With More than 40M sites under its belt, Weebly is among the world’s most popular web builders out there. Unlike certain opponents, they appear less interested in flashy advertising campaigns than enhancing their platform’s technology. Weebly Pro
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This all sounds fairly good on paper, right? Well let’s find out how it looks in practice. In this review, we will look at their drag and drop editor and see if it’s any good for creating a web site, blog or online shop.
What’s Weebly?
On The wide range of website building solutions, Weebly lives at the end that is all-inclusive and provides all you want to get started and grow your site. It’s compared to solutions where you purchase, install, and handle all of the”pieces” of your site separately.
It is Like trading off a few control for more convenience.
Using Weebly is kind of like leasing and customizing a apartment in a nice development instead of getting and owning your own house. You’re still in control of decor, cleaning, and everything living-wise — but you leave the construction, plumbing, safety, and infrastructure to the property owner. That point is critical because there’s typically a direct tradeoff between convenience and control.
All The functionality and design that are included with Weebly work seamlessly together as a platform. That’s what lets them have drag and drop layout, design, and articles.
As Far as competition, Weebly competes directly with comprehensive website builders like Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress.com.
Site Builders as a group compete with options like WordPress.org (which provides the free software to build a website that you have & control — see my own WordPress setup guide here) all the way to options like typing actual HTML code into a text file. Make sense? Awesome, let’s dive to the Weebly review.
One Other fast aside — a revelation — I get referral fees from all the companies discussed in this post. My opinions & study derive from my experiences as either a paying customer or consultant to a paying client.
Weebly’s Business Travels.
What Makes Weebly So Easy to Use?
Good question. First thing you’ll notice Is how well the drag and drop interface is designed. Just choose the element you want on the left, and set it upon your layout on the rightside.
You might find that components snap into position And organize themselves perfectly on the page. Other options, such as Wix, forego the grid , so it is quite possible to end up with overlapping components. Together with Weebly, no risk of that happening.
Working with text is also a breeze in Weebly. You simply click what you want to edit and type your words from the box. Some other solutions use”entrance masks” which are somewhat more abstract and not necessarily easy to work with.
The navigation system also works wonders. You can dig deep into menus and submenus. Weebly handles them just like a charm.
Finally, if you get stuck anywhere, the Weebly knowledge base may answer a lot of questions through clear tutorials and step by step guides. Failing that, the support is excellent, whether by email, chat, or telephone. Weebly Pro
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So are there Any drawbacks? That is different. If you want more freedom with your layouts, then you might feel frustrated by the rigid grid system. You ought to go for Wix. This competition also has an automatic solution (Wix ADI) that can build the website for you by itself. You can possibly shave off a couple of minutes of your site building time.
Additionally, there are two things we’d like to see. First is a worldwide undo button. It is possible to undo what you type in text boxes, but it would be nice to erase mistakes when you add or move components. Secondly, Weebly doesn’t have an overall media database which keeps all your pictures. You’re going to have to re-upload images for every element that requires them.
Which Weebly Pricing Plan is Best for Me?
We’d say the primary question to ask is. Do I wish to sell online? Quite simply, if you really do, we recommend you go for Weebly Business.
For other kinds of websites, Weebly Starter Is usually sufficient. It provides all you need for displaying info about your services, portfolio or company details. However, the Starter plan overlooks a few Pro features.
· Fancy header using slideshow or movie background.
· Integrated video / audio player
· Password-protected pages
· Membership module to allow users register and access personal sections of the Site
If some of those Above are must-haves for your site, you will have to upgrade to Weebly Pro. And for a more complete breakdown, please refer to our complete Weebly pricing comparison page.
SEO. How Will My Weebly Website Rank On Google?
Let’s get one thing out of the way first. if You’re an advanced SEO expert who certainly must rank #1 on search engines to get a really competitive keyword, you might have a difficult time with Weebly. It’s not impossible, but there are limits.
· Your headings are confined to H2. There is a free program which lets you insert headings from h1 to h6, however, it messes somewhat with your formatting. We wonder Weebly doesn’t incorporate it into their system.
· Particular pages (categories and product pages) include a compulsory string to your URL. You get things like www.yoursite.com/store/p1/my-product/yellow. Not a huge issue unless your site is not in English. Same with the website posts, they will have’/blog/’ in the URL structure and this can’t be changed.
· Adding structured data ( Rich Snippets) is done via source code. But you are on your own as Weebly doesn’t help.
On the other hand, Weebly does things actually Well when it comes to.
· URL, Title tags & meta-descriptions. You can customize themalong as Alt texts for images. This is particularly important to position your own images. Weebly Pro
· 301 redirects. It is possible to command them to prevent broken links when a page URL has been changed. Google deeply dislikes 404 pages.
· Picture optimization. Weebly does a fantastic job at compressing the pictures you upload. This improves speed, always a boon for SEO.
Still a little Confused about SEO? Do not forget that we’ve got a complete guide on the topic here.
Security & Backups. How Safe and Secure is a Weebly Website?
As far as we Understand, very safe. The business takes security very seriously. They promote strong passwords, and supply SSL encryption on all programs. Even the free tier will operate on https that delivers an excess layer of security. Especially crucial for onsite personal data exchange (e.g. credit card or email address).
Regrettably, we wish Weebly offered more in the way of backup and restore systems. You have to take care of it manually by conserving your website as a .zip file frequently. And there is no restore function in case disaster strikes. Wix, for example, monitors new adjustments and lets you jump back in time to a previous version of your site.
Weebly Design Options and Templates. Making it Look Good
We’ve Got a Detailed article about Weebly’s templates where you can read the main pros and cons. However, we wish to give you here a quick summary of the key features here.
The First thing to note is that Weebly doesn’t have a ton of template designs (around 50), but you should easily have the ability to find one you like. There are different categories out there. Online Store, Business, Portfolio, Personal, Event and Blog.
They mechanically look great on every Device (by being responsive), and they may be adapted to match your personal requirements, using the templates as a foundation. No need for you to get a web design diploma!
Of course, if You are all about design, and absolutely need to be able to customize it down to the last pixel, so you need to have a look at Wix also. Their template choice is unmatched and they have a much more flexible editor…
… unless you are confident with coding. This Is because Weebly, unlike other builders, provides you access to the template source code.
Want to dig under the hood and change the CSS and HTML? You will have free reign here, as you can see in the picture above.
Ecommerce. Can be a Weebly Online Store Worth it?
We would say yes, with a caveat. It’s great to Sell digital and physical products for small and medium-sized shops, but not for big ones. Although you may use the import and export function to manage large number of items, you might discover Weebly lacking in features for massive stores.
For Example, we don’t like this there Aren’t any offline payment options (only credit card, PayPal, etc). At $30 CAD per month it’s also rather pricey. Wix’s Online Store is only $20 US for instance (but also has less features). Weebly Pro
Finally, it’s worth noting that even though You can create a shop using the Starter and Guru program, updating to Business and greater makes more sense. You’ll find the automated delivery and sales tax calculator, which is extremely helpful for serious shop owners. Furthermore, you won’t have to pay an additional transaction charge of 3 percent.
Still confused About the various online store strategies? You may discover detailed information in our Weebly Online Shop review.
App shop. Can I Enhance My Site with Add-Ons?
You bet! There are no less than 300 apps in A number of classes like eCommerce, Communication, Marketing, Social, or Site Tools. Some are free, some are paid. Some are built by Weebly, some by third party developers. For the latter, there is always an (unlikely) chance that it may shut down one day. Additionally a shame the programs produced by Weebly are quite restricted.
However, 1 thing all the apps have in Common is that a super simple installation feature. One click and bam! All programs are tested and will work instantly on your own site. We tried some cool ones like a way to include tables, event calendars, and info bars to display special info. Our only qualm is the quality and amount of apps is a slightly inferior those from the Wix App Store.
Benefits of Using Weebly
Here’s What I discovered to be the experts of Weebly — not just compared with Squarespace and Wix or WordPress, but also as an overall online site solution.
Speed & Security
Weebly supplies Hosting for all of the websites which are constructed in their platform. That may be good or bad, however in Weebly’s situation, it’s an expert. They have rapid load speeds. Their sites are optimized for their hosting. They take care of safety against hackers and spam. With company plans, they even install and maintain SSL across your whole website. Here’s my speed test.
There Are still speed and security risks, but it’s an advantage for many site owners to have someone else take care of speed, security, backups, etc.. The price tag is bundled with pro and free accounts, so it’s a solid value-add.
Onboarding & Education
Whenever You start any piece of software — no matter how instinctive — there’s that moment where you think”ok, what do I do today?” That approach is known as onboarding, and it is also incredibly hard to execute well.
The Software manufacturer doesn’t want to be annoying, but they also wish to help. I love how Weebly assembles in strong onboarding and instruction not only via email trickle arrangement but also via little info buttons built with their platform.
Once You join, it is simple to dive right in. Weebly Pro
Site Building Process
One Promoted advantage of using a comprehensive website builder is that you won’t have to write HTML or CSS code. You can just drag and drop components. Everything you see in the builder is what you get on the website.
It’s Not necessarily that easy. There’s a lot of nuances to”drop and drag.” Most of us really mean”I want to click and drag this component and move it into a general area where it will look good — you know, mechanically focused, etc.” Put simply, it’s like playing tee-ball rather than baseball…or bowling with gutter guards up. You want to do the thing, but also have a little bit of assistance.
For The most part, Weebly pulls this off. Their drag and drop actually works. And, for the control freaks among us, they provide access to a custom CSS module, so that you may edit the template to exactly your own choosing.
Customer Support
For Free accounts, Weebly provides an email service alternative along with a well-done Knowledge Base. For paid accounts (even starter), they offer email, chat, AND phone. Response times for me were solid.
With An all-inclusive system, customer service can troubleshoot and fix any matter. This is a huge benefit of website builder platforms generally, but especially using Weebly because they have telephone support.
If You run your own site, you’ve got to figure out exactly who can fix a problem prior to getting in touch with them. With Weebly, you just get in touch with them.
Constructed Feature Set + Extensions
The Big advantage of building your own website on your own host is that you don’t have to depend on a platform’s attribute set. If you proceed the stage route, it is essential to make certain they have all the qualities you desire and need.
Weebly’s Feature set is strong. They have got all of the fundamentals — such as blog functionality, contact forms, etc, but also the necessary innovative features like URL redirects and page-level customized code positioning.
Even Past the advanced requirements, Weebly also includes features including forums, subscription choices, integrated advertising options, file uploads, etc.. They also have eCommerce alternatives, which I’ll cover separately below.
If You proceed the comprehensive site builder course, Weebly’s feature set should offer whatever you need for typical personal/business websites (though as we will see in the Cons section, you do need to be specifically aware of advanced options).
Also — Weebly has a lot of built-in attributes, but it does not have everything. Platforms overcome this by allowing 3rd Party programs (believe the App Store or Shopify’s App Store).
With your Own WordPress site, adding performance is as easy as installing a plugin. With Weebly — you can browse their growing (though still somewhat limited) app center.
They Also compensate for lack of attributes with letting custom JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. If it is possible to copy and paste a code snippet (say, for A/B testing, blog comments, conducting an auction, etc) then you are good. Weebly Pro
Anyone who retails online
Why? Square is a payments processor. They are huge offline and want to be bigger in the on/offline arena. That is why they bought Weebly — and why the future is really bright for Weebly’s ecommerce features.
If You’re starting a site and plan on selling a couple of things here and there or in case you have an offline presence (ie, pop-up shops) and you want to sell on the internet, the Weebly provides a ready-made solution with closely integrated ecommerce characteristics which should only get better.
Product Investment & Company Construction
I have Been using website builders for 20 years since the Homestead.com days and have been closely paying attention to this industry for the previous 5 decades. One overarching trend is a firm’s structure pushes product investment over the marketing group or the product team.
Even In a fast paced marketplace, a organization’s structure and finish goals will dictate how it acts and what investments it makes. As I outlined in my Wix vs. Weebly vs. Squarespacestructure can vary tremendously among direct competitors.
For Decades, Weebly was an independently owned and operated firm going for natural expansion. However, in 2018, they sold to Square — the big player in payments processing. Weebly now operates as an independent subsidiary of Square.
On One hand, that could be a big downside. Acquisitions are renowned for ruining value and companies. However, this purchase has a Massive upside for one market segment —
Overall Pricing
If You really do not mind your website on a subdomain (ie, http. //yourwebsite.weebly.com) then Weeblyis free with no expiry. A fairly good deal — particularly for temporary sites.
Total Pricing is quite aggressive not only in contrast to other all-inclusive site buildersbut also with purchasing your own hosting. Their Starter plan starts around $8/mo when paid up front. Plus they do not possess the typical caps of other website builders. The Pro program adds sound features and stays under $12/mo.
And Again — you’ll notice that everything is accessible and infinite. There are no limits on webpages or storage space. And unlike competitors like Wix, they remove all ads with the first paid tier.
Even Their small business pricing, while more costly than doing the exact same thing on your hosting, is considerably more affordable than similar plans with direct competitors.
Compared To constructing your own site on your server and especially with other site builders, Weebly’s pricing is quite aggressive. Price isn’t everything, but I really like how they structure it.
Disadvantages + Complaints About Using Weebly
However, Obviously, no Weebly review will be complete without studying the downsides. Each bit of software will have complaints. Let’s look at 3 unique cons I discovered.
Content Management System
A Content management process is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an interface which permits you to type, filter, edit, and print different types of articles on your website. Weebly Pro
Weebly Sort of features that. It has a Pages section that lists out all of the pages on your site. It permits you to drag and drop the hierarchy and then click on to edit each. Nevertheless, it’s far from an efficient system.
There is No way to add custom content types (except within an individual page). If you’re planning a large site (such as hundreds of pages), the content within Weebly would need a private system to maintain it all sorted and readily reachable.
This Disadvantage could be overcome, however that I want content could be more easily handled within Weebly.
Platform Lock-in
The Last huge drawback of Weebly is that moving to a new platform is not difficult. If you want to move someplace else, including your own WordPress powered site, migrating your content and redirecting your URLs will be a challenging procedure.
Weebly lets One to export your Page content via zip file but website articles will need to be manually copied and/or migrated via RSS.
Again — migrating platforms will always be difficult, but it is something to consider if you are considering quickly expanding content or traffic.
Advanced Advertising Tools
Since Weebly allows for HTML editing, most marketing tools and attributes can be added to your site. However, since you still do not have 100% control over your website & host — it can be challenging and/or impossible to include advanced marketing tools such as an EV SSL, customized email collection tools, custom analytics packages, custom social shares, specific Schemas and A/B testing software.
In The jargon — the principal issue is not having”root” or”FTP” access to your own server files. This is not an unsolvable problem, but it is something to be aware of if you’re planning a long-term project.
For Most all website owners with average traffic you’ll want to be aware of the constraints, especially if you’re planning for rapid expansion.
Weebly eCommerce Addendum
Here is Weebly’s advertisement showing their new eCommerce installation.
A bonus for Weebly is that their eCommerce functionality. You can sell products from your Weebly website without changing platforms or doing any special developments. It fits in effortlessly and contains solid performance.
The Pricing is cheap. On lower tiers, Weebly charges transaction fees but packages the full eCommerce bundle for company plans.
Ecommerce Is a nice bit of functionality, but remember that it is not a full-fledged eCommerce that online store platforms like Shopify or Bigcommerce have. Weebly has a shopping cart, basic stock management, and payment acceptance. Here is how Weebly fits on the eCommerce”spectrum” —
It is Great for sites that are mostly lead-generation, informational, etc but also want to sell a few products. It’s also a fantastic fit for anyone testing out products before moving to a long-term platform. It’s not a long-term match for sites which are eCommerce-first. For those, an online store you have with WordPress + WooCommerce or even a specialty eCommerce platform such as Shopify (review) or Bigcommerce (review) would be a much better match.
Product Investment & Company Structure
Now — the purchase from Square does include a downside. That’s regular website builder features. Weebly’s incentive would be to invest in features that make it even more valuable as a whole for Square. Weebly Pro
Characteristics Like appointment scheduling, blogging, etc are only valuable in so far that they gain the parent company.
If You’re looking to build a long-term articles or lead generation website, then I would consider WordPress.com (for content) or Wix (for overall drag & drop) instead of Weebly. Even if Weebly meets your needs now, they may not in the medium future.
Wrap-up
When we first started testing Weebly many Years ago, it was only another site builder. That’s completely changed. Weebly has evolved into an outstanding site building tool that is better than many competitors. It’s easy, uncluttered and easy to use — which is precisely what individuals with limited technical skills need in regards to making their own online presence.
Of course, it’s not 100% perfect. We’d like To observe a bit more templates, for instance. Getting an email address attached to a own domain is also a bit expensive, as they recommend G Suite, which costs $5 a month, per user. (Although there are workarounds, as you can see in the FAQ under ).
But all in all, Weebly reaches the top of our list of site builders. Their ease of use combined with cool tools like the iOS or Android program for editing your site on the go, or the number of add-ons out there in the app center makes it powerful, and fun to use.
Enough with the concept. Try it out for Yourself and see how you enjoy it!
Click Here to get started with Weebly today!