Weebly makes great starter websites. Square now owns it, so if you use Square for selling in person, Weebly is an easy way to add a website for your business.
I would rank Weebly as the second-easiest platform to get a basic website up and running.
Who is it for?
Weebly is for people who want a simple, starter website without the tech hassle.
It's for small 5-page websites and small e-commerce sites. It's for low-traffic websites and people who don't need a lot of customization or advanced SEO.
Weebly is a good option for people who already sell a few products in person using their Square reader and want to put them on a simple website.
For the people who need an economical way to get a website for their business, Weebly provides inexpensive plans. It's the most economical way to get a straightforward e-commerce store online quickly.
Who is it not for?
Weebly is not for people looking for customization, advanced design, or complex features. Additionally, I don't recommend it for bloggers because of the lack of search engine optimization options.
Features
Weebly offers a simple website builder and automatic mobile optimization. With photo galleries, forms, and a mobile app for editing, Weebly provides a surprising number of features for a budget-minded business.
While you don't have extensive design options, you do have a few choices for color palettes.
Weebly offers some basic SEO options like page titles and descriptions. However, while you can add alt text to images, it doesn't put it in the code correctly for search engines to find it.
When you add in basic email newsletter subscriptions, low-level customer management, native analytics, and the ability to integrate Google Analytics, Weebly comes out as a decent all-in-one starter site platform.
Other Weebly features:
- An app store for adding functionality to your website.
- Automatic security certificates for all their websites.
- Website hosting (they store your website and do the technical maintenance)
- Custom domains allowed on all paid plans
It's easy to integrate your Square store with your Weebly website or to create an online-only e-commerce store as well. However, the features are fairly basic, so I'd recommend it for small online stores only.
Plans and cost
Weebly plans range from $6 to $29 per month, depending on the plan level and whether you pay annually or monthly. E-commerce is allowed on all plans.
The plans vary based on storage limits for your files, analytics, and removing Square ads. On the highest level plan, intended for e-commerce, you can accept payments via PayPal, print shipping labels, and send abandoned cart emails.
While not full of advanced selling features like some other platforms, Weebly's e-commerce functionality lets you sell online or in-person using your Square device.
Positives
Weebly is a great starter website platform. For the person who feels like even Wix is too much tech to handle, Weebly is a simpler option. All the features are slightly more limited and basic, but it is easy to get a website started.
Also, it makes an easy way to take your Square store online and sell in between craft fairs.
Watch out for
The limitations of the basic features can be a downside for this platform. Also, I don't recommend this platform for bloggers because of the SEO limitations. I don't recommend it for photographers or anyone else who needs search engines to find their photos.
Summary
For simple business sites or small e-commerce sites, this platform is ideal for a beginner or non-techy person. You have some design options to make the site look and feel like your brand, but not so many options that it is overwhelming.
Here’s the link to the Weebly platform, if you’d like to explore it.
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