Do you want to create your own web page, site, blog, or landing page, but fear that you don’t have the necessary skills or the budget to hire a web developer? Then website builders could do it for you. In this article, you will find out what they are, how they work, and above all what are the mistakes to avoid in order to choose the one that best suits your needs.
What are website builders?
Website builders are tools that are used to create web pages without having to have any particular skills in computer science or design.
They offer numerous predefined templates that the user can modify by adding various functionalities. To move these widgets to the desired position, all you have to do is pick them up and physically drag them with the mouse, without having to write a line of code.
As you can imagine, website builders have a number of obvious advantages: ease and speed of use, the ability to add complex functions in a simple way, immediate responsiveness, and much more.
An example above all, to understand what we are talking about. For WordPress, one of the most famous and versatile (and slow) is definitely Wp Bakery. It offers endless customization possibilities.
But let’s go in order. There are two types: offline and online. Let’s see the differences.
Online website builders have the advantage of requiring neither installation nor updates. They allow you to work on the construction of your own page at any time from any part of the world. Often the providers of these services also offer web hosting solutions at the same time, making building a site even faster and more immediate.
On the other hand, offline website builders force the user to download all the files that make up the website to their device, while allowing a greater degree of customization and control over them, even when not connected to the Internet. .
There are many website builders available on the net, and they offer many different services at many different prices. A detailed look at these activities can be found in this article. But in the face of such a variety, how do we decide what is right for us? So here are the 6 factors to be absolutely taken into consideration when choosing to avoid mistakes.
Functionality
To choose a website builder that is right for you, it is essential that you first decide the direction you want your site to take.
Assuming you need to assemble a straightforward page for individual use, maybe a little blog, complex capacities are not needed. In actuality, an excessively convoluted manager could make the work more troublesome.
But if you want to build a bigger page, you obviously need to start looking for something that offers more. A good platform should allow more experienced users to customize the HTML code to make detailed changes, giving more control over the site’s source file. In this way, in case the functions offered by the builder do not satisfy you, you can modify them to your liking in order to satisfy your needs.
In addition, this type of program has a tendency to write code inefficiently, which can lead to slowdowns, one more reason why having the ability to control it directly can always come in handy.
Compatibility with mobile devices
In today’s world, having a suitable mobile counterpart to your site is not just optional – it’s essential. Here you will find tips on how to make the user experience mobile-friendly. Yet this is often overlooked. In many cases, code generated by a builder is optimized for computer viewing only. This could make the page practically unreadable if viewed from a phone or tablet, an error that always costs very dear to the traffic of the same. A suitable website builder with customized software for your website must offer the option of building a site that is compatible with all mobile devices.
Aesthetics
From an aesthetic point of view, it is also important to have a clear direction for the site in mind. Relying only excessively on the predefined templates, there is a risk that the page will lose its identity. Hence, it is vital that you avoid building a home page that is too banal or anonymous. Other than this, there are also few website builders that coerce the customers into advertising them with banners or logos, that can be only removed after payment. A good builder should offer varied and flexible customization options, giving that personal touch that will make the website truly unique.
SEO
If you want to build a successful website, you need to pay close attention to SEO. Unfortunately, a disadvantage of many website builders is inadequate SEO management, due to the “weight” on the code side of the builders.
Earlier, we mentioned the code problems that some editors suffer from. Not everyone knows that these problems can lead not only to a reduction in the performance of the site, but also to a penalty of the same by the search engines. Leading to a lowering of the site’s authority. A good platform should not only be able to avoid these problems, but it should also offer adequate tools to monitor its SEO, and if necessary to make the necessary changes.
Presence of the SSL certificate
To ensure the security of your site, and also the trust of your users, it is essential that you employ a builder that includes the SSL certificate. It is a protocol for the secure transmission of digital data through encryption. The presence of this protocol is indicated by the presence of a padlock to the left of the site address. Here is an article to learn more about how this protocol works.
What if you can’t do it alone?
In case you can’t build something like a website yourself, you can hire web developers and web designers to help your idea take shape professionally, with attention to detail in a beautiful and functional solution.