StartUp Guide
- Launch
- 1. Name Your Business
- 2. Domain Name & Business Website
- 3. Business Email Accounts
- 4. Phone & Fax Number
- 5. Business Mailing Address
- 6. Form an LLC
- 7. Employer ID Number
- 8. Business Bank Account
- Build Your Infrastructure
- 1. Select a Business Credit Card
- 2. Bookkeeping
- 3. Business Computer
- 4. Back Up Your Files
- 5. Payment Processing
- 6. Get Small Business Insurance
- Grow Your Business
- 1. Order Business Cards
- 2. Create Basic Marketing Materials
- 3. Promote With Social Media
- 4. Select an Email Marketing Service
- 5. Build Your Team
RELATED LINKS
Website Builder Comparison
Compare the best website builders that let you create a low-cost, professional-looking website in a matter of hours. Use our simple comparison grid below, or, if you'd like more information about each company, skim through our review summaries and click on the Full Review option for any company to get in-depth information. The full reviews cover Ease of Use, Customer Suport, Account Features, Pricing and Upgrades. We personally tested each website builder on our site so that you can make an informed buying decision.
The Best Website Builders for 2023
Website Builders |
Weebly |
Squarespace |
GoDaddy |
1&1 |
Wix |
WebStarts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start your |
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| Name of Plan | Weebly Starter | Personal | Personal | Personal | Combo | WebStarts Pro |
| Price Per Month *including hosting |
$8.00 | $12.00 | $5.99 | $11.00 | $4.89 | |
| Domain Registration Cost | 1 Year Free | 1 Year Free | Included | 1 Year Free | 1 Year Free | N/A |
| Free Trial | ||||||
| Number of Templates | 40 | 41 | 50 | 200 | 500+ | 100 |
| E Commerce Tools | Yes | Yes | No, but | Yes, but | No, but | No |
| Hosting Space | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1 GB | 10 GB | 3 GB | 5 GB |
| Customer Support |  |
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What is a Website Builder?
A website builder is a low-cost online tool that helps you build and launch a professional-looking website quickly and easily without any programming knowledge. All website builders will "host" your site for you, which means that everything that you need to get your website on the Internet is included with the website builder's service. Some website builders will let your register your domain name with, and the ones that don't, make it really easy to connect to the domain that you've registered through another company (like GoDaddy or NameCheap).
All website builders offer templates to help you get started, which you then customize by adding your own images and content, choosing your favorite color schemes and fonts, and creating pages (like "About Us, "Services," "Pricing," etc) to cover all areas of your business. The best website builders make it easy to modify the content, manage images and provide excellent customer support.
Why Buy a Website Builder?
Save Time: Using a website builder, you can create a professional business or personal website that is informational and/or sells products online in a matter of hours. These tools are so simple that it would likely take you less time to build your site than it would to get a proposal from a web designer. If you hire a web designer, you spend a lot of time communicating back and forth with the company about your vision of the site and sending them the information you want to be displayed on your site. In contrast, website builder software allows you to tweak or modify your site in a matter of minutes.
Save Money: Compared to the costs of hiring a designer (costs typically start at $5k), website builders are incredibly inexpensive. When hiring a designer, you not only have to consider the cost of the initial hire, but you also need to consider the costs of future website changes and of maintaining your site over time. The website builders we’ve reviewed on the site are within the $5-$10 per month range, which includes hosting costs. Independent web design contractors will typically charge a minimum of $50 per hour of work to build your site.
An online website builder is a quick, convenient, easy and fun option for building your website.
Who Should Use a Website Builder?
Anyone can create a professional website, thanks to online website builders that have made it easy and inexpensive to build a website. Most website builders are user-friendly and designed for people who have minimal to no HTML coding experience.
Website builders are good for the following types of users:
- Small business owners or entrepreneurs looking for a way to establish their presence on the web quickly and easily or to begin selling their products online
- Retailers or restaurants looking for a way to give their customers access to directions, their menus or daily specials, printable coupons, and special events
- Niche marketers looking for a way to get their information out to their communities
- Event promoters who want to reach a wide audience quickly
- Non-profit organizations looking for a cost effective way to increase their visibility
- Individuals, freelancers or job-hunters who want to market themselves online and link to their online resume or portfolio
What to Look For in a Website Builder
We reviewed all of the plans from the website builders on our list and created what we consider to be the ChooseWhat Market Standard for these services. Our Market Standard provides you with a list of standards to consider when choosing your website builder.
ChooseWhat Market Standard
- 30-day free trial or money-back guarantee
- $5-$10 monthly fee
- Direct template editing feature
- Includes Search Engine Optimization tools and help
- E-commerce tools available with an upgrade (including PayPal acceptance)
- Phone customer support available
- WYSIWYG editor (WYSIWYG stands for "What You See Is What You Get" and is a website builder editor that precisely represents what your site will look like to your visitors while you are editing it.)
- Drag-and-drop feature (The ability to move or drag pictures and blocks of text around on your site.)
- Ability to add your own text, images, videos, and additional pages quickly and easily
- Ability to directly edit the HTML of the site
