Introduction
In today's digital world, an online presence is absolutely vital for businesses and brands to reach and engage with their target audience. Studies show that over 90% of small businesses now have websites, highlighting their importance. However, many startups and small business owners may not have the coding skills or budget to build a fully custom designed website from scratch. This is where intuitive website builders come in - empowering anyone to create beautiful, functional websites without needing to write a single line of code.
With user-friendly drag and drop editors, modern templates, and built-in ecommerce features, website builders enable entrepreneurs to quickly launch sites that convey credibility and resonate with their target market. They provide an affordable, scalable solution for non-technical founders to establish their digital footprint and start capturing leads and sales.
In this article, we will review some of the top website making platforms that allow you to showcase your brand online, even if you have no prior web development experience. The criteria used to evaluate these site builders include:
- Ease of use - intuitive drag and drop or WYSIWYG editors
- Design templates - professionally designed, mobile-friendly themes
- Integrations - forms, live chat, payments, and other tools
- Ecommerce capabilities - payments, shipping, inventory management
- SEO optimization - metadata, sitemaps, alt text, etc.
- Support - documentation, tutorials, customer service
The goal is to explore website creators that empower startups, bloggers, small businesses, and anyone without coding skills to produce stunning, functional websites quickly and easily.
User-Friendly Website Builders
Here are some of the most popular do-it-yourself website platforms that allow you to create professional-grade sites through visual editors and pre-made templates:
Wix
Wix is a leading freemium website builder known for its intuitive drag and drop editor and extensive template library with over 500 designer-made templates. It allows for easy customization and includes powerful features like Wix ADI artificial design intelligence. Integrations, ecommerce, and marketing tools provide robust functionality for businesses. Pricing starts at $14/month.
Squarespace
Squarespace provides beautiful templates optimized for blogs, portfolios, and online stores. The flexible editor makes it easy to customize pages. Powerful ecommerce capabilities and SEO tools help drive sales and traffic. Ideal for creative professionals. Plans start at $12/month.
Webflow
Webflow offers a robust web design platform for creating complex, interactive sites. Animation tools bring sites to life, while also optimizing for SEO and speed. The advanced capabilities attract experienced designers. Pricing starts at $12/month.
Unicorn Platform
Unicorn Platform focuses specifically on startups and SaaS companies, with landing page templates, lead capture forms, and easy customization. The intuitive builder is designed for non-technical entrepreneurs to create sites quickly. Plans start at $9/month.
WordPress
WordPress is the most popular open source CMS platform. The thousands of free templates require self-hosting but are very customizable. Plugins and integrations enable powerful features and functionality. Hosting and domain name required.
Shopify
Shopify is the leading ecommerce platform. The built-in tools like payments, shipping, and marketing simplify running an online store for entrepreneurs. Hundreds of themes and integrations optimize the shopping experience. Pricing starts at $29/month.
Key Strengths
Some of the key strengths and capabilities of these user-friendly website builders include:
- Intuitive drag and drop interfaces for easy site building without coding
- Modern, professional-looking templates and themes to choose from
- Built-in ecommerce capabilities like payments, shipping, and inventory management to sell online
- Forms, popups, and other conversions focused tools to capture leads
- SEO optimization features to improve search visibility
- Responsive design for optimal viewing on all devices
- 24/7 customer support via live chat or phone
- Affordable subscription plans to fit small business budgets
Ideal Users
These website makers are ideal for:
- Entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses with limited technical skills
- Users wanting beautiful sites without needing to code
- Bloggers looking for integrated blogging features
- Ecommerce retailers needing sales capabilities
- Companies wanting SEO optimized sites to rank higher
- Organizations needing forms and automation to capture leads
- Anyone seeking an affordable, easy website building solution
In summary, the leading options empower anyone to create stunning, functional websites through intuitive editors, professionally designed templates, and built-in ecommerce and marketing capabilities.
Website Creation Steps
Here is an overview of the typical steps to create a professional website with an intuitive builder:
- Choose a user-friendly website builder like Wix, Squarespace or Webflow
- Browse the template library and select one that fits your industry and style
- Customize colors, fonts, layouts, and other design elements
- Add your business name, logo, images, text content, and other media
- Integrate lead capture forms, live chat, and other tools through plugins
- Connect your domain name and set up web hosting
- Enable SSL encryption, CDN, and other performance features
- Configure SEO settings like meta descriptions, alt text, sitemaps
- Publish your new professional website!
- Track analytics and optimize site for conversions
Crucial Platform Features
Some of the most crucial features to look for in a website builder platform include:
- Intuitive drag and drop or WYSIWYG editor to easily customize sites visually
- Modern, mobile-friendly templates and themes to choose from
- Media galleries, animations, and design effects to enrich sites
- Contact forms, live chat, and email marketing integration to capture leads
- Ecommerce capabilities like payments, shipping, and inventory to sell products
- SEO tools like meta tags, alt text, sitemaps to optimize for search engines
- Speed optimization and CDN for fast performance
- 24/7 customer support via live chat or phone for assistance
Top Integrations
Popular integrations to enhance website functionality include:
- Email marketing - MailChimp, Constant Contact, AWeber to build email lists
- Payments - Stripe, PayPal, Square, Apple Pay to accept payments
- Live Chat - Zendesk, Drift, Intercom to engage visitors
- CRM - Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho to manage contacts
- Calendar - Google Calendar, Outlook, iCal to schedule appointments
- Social media - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn to expand reach
- Analytics - Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Heap to track insights
- Surveys - Typeform, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms to get feedback
- Video - YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia to add engaging content
By leveraging an intuitive website builder’s features and integrations, anyone can create a powerful, professional site quickly and easily.
Benefits of Website Builders
Website builders offer a variety of advantages for non-technical users looking to establish an online presence:
- Allow anyone to make a professional site without coding skills
- Save 50-90% in time and money versus custom development
- Provide SEO optimized sites for better search visibility
- Offer easy built-in ecommerce capabilities to sell products/services
- Enable business owners to update sites themselves without a developer
- Give access to modern designs, features, and integrations
- Integrate with essential marketing and sales tools
- Offer affordable subscription plans starting around $10/month
- Provide scalable solutions that grow alongside businesses
For Startups & Small Businesses
Key benefits for startups and small business owners include:
- Quickly create a polished online presence
- Showcase products/services in an attractive way
- Capture leads through built-in conversion tools
- Get found online with SEO best practices
- Save thousands in web design and development costs
- Launch MVP websites fast without a big technical team
- Easily make changes as your business evolves
- Focus resources on core startup priorities and growth
For example, a jewelry startup could use a website builder to create an elegant online store with an integrated payment system and email collection forms to start selling and capturing leads in just a few days.
For Bloggers & Content Creators
Key advantages for bloggers and content creators:
- Design beautiful blog sites optimized for writing content
- Monetize through built-in ecommerce tools, ads, affiliates
- Engage readers through comments, forums, polls and more
- Grow your audience and email lists with popups and forms
- Create a media-rich experience with photos, videos, animations
- Manage your blog and content from one intuitive platform
- Get detailed analytics on content and traffic performance
- Requires no coding knowledge to launch a site
A food blogger could use their website builder to quickly create a visually appealing site with integrated recipe plug-ins, comment sections, and a shop to sell cookbooks, merchandise, and ingredients.
In summary, website builders empower startups and bloggers to establish their online presence quickly and easily by providing professional templates, built-in features, and intuitive editing capabilities.
Limitations to Consider
While website builders provide an easy way to create a site without coding skills, there are some limitations to consider:
- Less customization options compared to custom code
- Can seem generic without extensive personalization
- Limited design control relying on templates
- Advanced user may outgrow capabilities over time
- Hosting and domain often tied to company
- Some additional fees for addons and integrations
- Maximum number of pages and bandwidth caps
For many startups and bloggers, the limitations are outweighed by the simplicity, affordability, and speed of getting an attractive, functional site launched. But more complex sites with extensive customization may benefit from custom development.
Conclusion
Intuitive website builders provide a simple way for non-technical users to build professional sites. Leading options like Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and Unicorn Platform enable anyone to showcase their brand online without needing to code.
With drag and drop editors, modern templates, and ecommerce capabilities, website makers empower startups and bloggers to create beautiful, functional websites quickly, easily, and affordably. SEO, forms, and marketing integrations help drive conversions and growth.
For those seeking to establish their digital presence without technical skills, turnkey website builders provide the ideal solution. Their user-friendly platforms allow you to focus on your startup or content instead of web development. With the right website maker, launching a stunning, functional site is just a few clicks away.
Interested in creating a professional website? Unicorn Platform's intuitive builder makes it easy to launch a beautiful startup site without coding.
