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A website builder is a simple tool that helps you build a professional looking website with modern features, without you having to write any code. Using a website builder allows you to quickly get a new website for your business or organization up and running, with minimal hassle — even if you’ve never built or managed a website before.
A little background on websites
Coding websites
When people started creating websites in the 1990s, it was a lot like creating a computer program. You had to know how write code. As web design got more complicated, you had to learn more and more things. And the amount of code you had to write got larger and larger.
Desktop website designers
After a few years, companies started creating programs (like Frontpage) that would write the code for you. All you had to do was install their software on your home computer, pick a template, and type in your content. This made it much easier for anyone, regardless of skill, to publish a website. Small businesses, churches, social clubs, and non-profit organizations took advantage of this new software to publish websites without having to learn how to code.
Content Management
But then, web design changed. Websites got larger, and more complicated. People started blogging. E-commerce became normal. Social media took over.
Many developers – the people who know how to write code – stopped writing a bunch of code for each individual web page and started using dynamic Content Management Systems (CMS). Content Management Systems are a little bit like those desktop website-publishing programs. They make building a website a lot easier.
You’ve probably heard of several popular Content Management Systems, like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. They help developers make professional-looking, modern websites with all the features people have come to expect – online stores, social media links, blogs, image galleries.
But here’s the problem: We’re back to websites being built only by professionals.
In theory, you don’t have to know how to code to setup and use WordPress, but it really helps if you do. And if you don’t really understand what’s going on "under the hood," you’ll never get the best experience from using it.
Website Builders
Online website builders are the next generation of those old desktop web page creator programs.
These easy-to-use tools bring the latest and greatest features from the world of dynamic Content Management Systems to non-coders. They allow you to take full advantage of modern web development standards and professional graphic design, without learning to program or hiring a programmer.
With just a few clicks, you can have a new website for your business, church, school, club, or non-profit organization.
Two different types of website builders
The most widely advertised and increasingly popular website builders are SaaS (software as a service) subscription companies. This means that they handle all of the hosting and technical details, and you log in to edit or make changes to your web site through an easy-to-use GUI (graphical user interface).
Typically, you pay a monthly fee for this type of service. Some of the more popular SaaS-style Website Builders are Squarespace, Weebly, and Wix.
The other type of website builder is a "self-hosted" model. These are provided as free apps in a web hosting plan, and the actual website that you build is stored within your own hosting account.
SaaS vs. self-hosted – Which is for you?
The SaaS-style subscription based website builders tend to be a bit easier to use and often (though not always) have more contemporary looking designs and bleeding-edge features. They also tend to cost more.
More problematic than cost is lock-in. Once you’ve built your website at Squarespace or Weebly, you pretty much have to keep it there unless you want to completely redesign it and deal with setup again.
With self-hosted website builders, you aren’t usually paying for the site builder, you are paying for a hosting plan, and the builder is provided as a free add-on. This usually makes them much less expensive overall.
Sometimes, with the subscription services, you want to change something and you just can’t. Another reason to use a regular web hosting company is the need to use a web server for additional things besides just the website, such as email marketing, data storage, or customer relationship management.
How to choose a website builder
If you decide to go with a self-hosted plan, choose the one with the other features and pricing structure you need. You’ll have several website builders to choose from regardless of which hosting company you pick.
If you think a subscription based website builder is what you need, be sure to take into account all of the features you need before making a decision. Do you plan to sell products? Sell downloads? Do you need to accept donations? Host video? Publish a blog?
It’s easy to get excited about putting your business or organization online, and so a lot of people end up focusing on the technical decisions:
- Which host to use?
- Which website builder?
- Should I hire a developer?
Step back and figure out what you want your website to accomplish and what features it needs in order to do that. Then, you won’t just make an exciting decision, you’ll make the right one.
Further Reading:
Website builder services (hosting + DIY site builder): Weebly, Wix, Squarespace
Popular website building software: RVsitebuilder, Soholaunch, more below:
Website Builder Frequently Asked Questions
- What are some good reasons to use a website builder? Website builders are great for businesses and individuals who want to build their own site and save on the expenses required to hire designers, developers, and copywriters to bring your dream website to reality. If you have the inclination to go the “do it yourself” route for your web design – but lack the skills to build a website from nothing – then a website builder will be your best friend during the process.
- Are there any reasons not to use a website builder? Website builders do not allow their users to create 100% custom websites. Because website builders require each user to select a theme or a layout to build their entire site upon, there will often be some customizations that can’t be made when using this platform. If you are looking to add sophisticated applications to your site or a large volume of products to your online store, you may want to consider hiring an experienced website designer and developer over using a website builder.
- What are the alternatives to using a website builder? The most common alternative to using a website builder to publish your website is hiring a professional website designer and developer to complete the job for you. In this generation of website development, however, you are still likely to end up with a professional web designer who uses a website builder platform to design your site. So, even though you are getting a web design from a professional that might have certain custom elements that are outside of your programming capabilities, do not be surprised to login to your website and see a commonly used website builder software as the core management system.
- Do I have to know how to program to use a website builder? To put it as directly as possible – “it varies”. Depending on what website builder you select as your preferred platform, varying degrees of programming knowledge may be required. Many website builders have a “drag and drop” functionality that does not require programming experience. However, almost all website builders have the option to toggle between a WYSIWYG editor and a text and HTML editor. If you consistently see errors in your drag and drop/WYSIWYG configurations, some HTML programming knowledge may be helpful to fix those issues.
- Do I need to be concerned about installation? Your concerns about installing a website builder will vary greatly based on which builder you select. Many hosting providers offer website builders for blogs, forums, and more as an easy, 1-click installation. If the website builder you want to use is available this way, then you likely have nothing to be concerned about as long as you follow the instructions. If you select a website builder that is not available as a 1-click install, be sure to review the server requirements and settings before you install to make sure everything works with your server.
- Is there any reason not to use a one-click installation wizard? Again, this depends on what website builder you want to use for your new site. With so many website builders available as a 1-click installation, it doesn’t seem very logical to avoid 1-click install unless you absolutely want to use a platform not available in that manner. Consult with your hosting provider to determine what website builders they offer as a 1-click install before forcing yourself to go another route to create your new site.
- Can I host a website builder on a shared hosting plan? Yes. Shared hosting is actually very friendly to hosting most website builders. Unless you are programming a website from scratch in HTML or PHP, etc., your website builder is likely an essential tool to making your website live on the web. If you can’t host your website builder on your shared hosting plan, make sure you have a desktop software like Filezilla for easy file transfers of your website from your desktop to your shared hosting server.
- What does self-hosted mean? I don’t have to run a server myself, do I? Self-hosted websites do not require YOU to personally own a server and manage it to host your site. Instead, self-hosted simply means that hosting is not provided directly by the development team that created your website builder. In order to use a self-hosted website builder, you will need to contract a hosting provider before building your website.
- Do I need managed hosting in order to use a website builder? The answer to this question depends on your answer to the question “how much responsibility are you willing to accept for the maintenance of your website?” The more complex your site becomes with modules, features, and streaming applications, the greater your need will be for professionally managed website hosting. Shared hosting often comes with some managed services included. If you have a dedicated hosting solution, however, managed services are likely required as part of your agreement. This is the case with any self-hosted website builder.
- How does Website Builder Pro compare to Soholaunch as a website builder? Website Builder Pro is a premium website builder that has a license fee that costs in the hundreds to 1000s of USD plus a monthly fee. By comparison, Soholaunch is an open source web site builder available as a 1-click installation on many hosting platforms. Both have been used by 1000’s of website owners and have many of the same features. These two platforms – and the variety of costs associated with them for similar features – bring to light one of the biggest problems first-time website owners face when choosing a website builder. When you are selecting a website builder, perhaps you should find a premium platform that serves your purposes.
- Anything else you need to know about website builders? Selecting a website builder is not an easy process. However, as documented above in the comparison between Website Builder Pro and Soholaunch, many platforms have similar features and drastically different costs associated with them. Instead of finding a website builder that has high costs associated with licenses and renewal fees, take some extra time to search for an open source alternative to the premium version. You’d be amazed what you can find out there for no fees and also available as a 1-click installation with your hosting provider.
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