Article on website design

10 Popular Tools for Building Websites Online

Discover ten of the best website builders around.

Sponsored10 Popular Tools for Building Websites Online

Disclaimer: This article includes paid promotion.

For a long time, web design was a mystery for many people. 

They thought of it as a privilege for people with advanced IT skills. 

Web design services were expensive and there were far fewer websites than there are at the time of writing.

However, times have changed. It has never been easier to make your own website than it is today. 

Among the many benefits brought forth by the rapid development of information technology is the availability of free web-design platforms.

The advantages that such platforms bring to the world-economy have gone underlooked.

Free platforms that are novice-friendly could be found in every corner of the Internet, but are they really so straightforward and how can you choose the best website-builder for you? 

If designing a website is your goal, here is a list of ten popular online website-builders that are not only free to use but could help you reach this goal:

Wix

Wix is a popular website design platform offering users a free subdomain.

It gives its users options that are paid-for services on other platforms, including the option to build an online store, mobile responsiveness, search engine optimisation, and a logo-maker. 

The platform has hundreds of design features and it is built with novice web designers in mind. 

Another helpful feature of Wix is their blog, where they share web design trends, tips, and tutorials on a regular basis. 

Some popular sites made using Wix include Cuts&Bruises, Seven Grams Caffe, and Linda Franzosi.

WordPress

WordPress is the most common free web design and blogging platform in the world. 

It is flexible to use. 

Users can easily add plugins, themes, and third-party functions developed by a plethora of developers. 

WordPress is available for both smartphones and tablets. 

Some of the drawbacks for novice web designers is that WordPress requires some basic html, css, and php coding skills to get the best of it, especially if you are self-hosting. 

Some of the most popular blogs in the world made using WordPress are The White House, Techcrunch, and Sony Music.

Squarespace

Squarespace became popular as a platform for making websites using the IOS operating system.

Since it showed very successful using Apple smartphones, it was later optimized for Android too.

It is the most user friendly option when designing a website using a smartphone, including enhanced drag & drop features,.

The values by which the creators of the platform are guided are that the owner of each site should create something they would personally admire. 

The only drawback of the platform is that is can only be used for free during a trial period which lasts 6 months and the options are limited. 

Some of the best sites made using Squarespace include Uber Eats, Lumio, and Fotio.

WebFlow

WebFlow is a web design platform that is suitable for both novices and experts. 

The company’s mission is to support creative individuals, professionals and laymen in their way of creating a web site for both private and professional purposes. 

You can choose from a variety of different templates to work with and there are four categories from: Designer, CMS, Editor and Hosting. 

You are allowed to use the platform for free but are limited to two work projects. 

If you decide to subscribe for unlimited projects, you should know that subscription can be canceled at any time. 

Popular sites built using Webflow include Chronicled, Bauhem, and Function of Beauty.

Simvoly

Simvoly is a new site-building platform created in 2016. 

The workflow is quite simple and convenient for those who don’t want to waste too much time creating a good website. 

Projects made on this platform are available for all devices. 

There is a drag and drop system for easier manipulation of text and images if you enjoy the creative process. 

If you don’t there are sections already made, so you can fully concentrate on the content itself. 

One of the main innovations is traffic analytics which shows you the statistics of your post.

Unfortanetly, because this platform is so new, no examples of websites created using Simvoly could be found.

Weebly

Weebly offers themes customized for e-commerce, business, portfolio, individual sites, and blogs. 

The main advantage of Weebly is that it is easy to handle even for people who have never done web design before. 

Weebly can be used on mobile devices and has a rich photo gallery, powerful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tools, a form builder option, the ability to add videos from other sites and to track visits to your blog. 

You also get a subdomain, as with other platforms. 

Some of the most popular sites built using Weebly are The Box Bros, Wall’in, and Ready Desk.

Jimdo

Jimdo is a free platform for blog/site design which is popular in mainland Europe and simple in essence. 

Choose a theme, upload a photo, edit text and post! 

It is convenient for designing various types of sites, like e-commerce, blogs, business pages, portfolios. Simply adjust the theme according to your needs. 

The platform is great for clients who are always on the move since it can be used from your mobile phone and each site looks equally beautiful at your computer’s monitor, tablet or mobile phone. 

The main drawback of the platform is that it is more expensive than its competitors like Wix or Weebly. 

Some of the most beautiful sites made using Jimdo include Burgunderterrassen, Heary, and Ristorante Geranio.

Site123

If you are looking for the fastest way to build a website Site123 is the right choice for you. 

You have excellent support along the way with a special chatbox feature which is there to answer all of your questions. 

Templates are available on both mobile and tablets. 

One feature that makes Site123 unique is that it doesn’t have a drag and drop system, but an editing sidebar which reduces the amount of time needed to design websites. 

It is available in multiple languages. The drawback is that it lacks the variety of features and freedom some users may need.

Some examples of websites made using Site123 include Echoes, Tandoori Grill, and Paprika

Shopify

Shopify is a well-known Canadian hosting platform specialized for e-commerce.

It is for people and businesses interested in selling products. 

Using Shopify, clients can build a professional, visually-pleasing website without any previous knowledge of web design. 

It is very easy to use and novice-friendly.

The main disadvantage of using Shopify is that is charges expensive fees for those who use a third-party payment method, while some of its competitors don’t. 

The most popular pages of online stores made using Shopify are Pop Chart Lab, Urbana Sacs, and Brosa.

Format

Last but not least on our list is Format, a portfolio builder platform. 

It offers a number of features like a live chatbox, and one of its crucial advantages is its’ simple online store feature that allows clients to exchange both physical and online products. 

Although it has a number of templates to offer, not all of them are easy-to-handle and some can be a little overwhelming.

They offer their customers a 2-week free trial and fees are quite reasonable. 

Format also offers an option of sharing your work and getting feedback from your clients. 

It may seem devoid of features for professionals, but they undoubtedly give the best value for money.

Popular sites built using Format include Lindsay Lauckner, Emre Uzer, and Anthony D’Elia.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Wix. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on Richtopia’s own views.

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