(by 6 people)
This lens is a review of the best online services for building websites. These services keep things simple by bringing together design and hosting and making it possible to render changes to the site and access e-mail from any Internet connection in the world.
I have tried out DOZENS of such services, and I'm reviewing the best of them here.
I'll also feature the best TOOLS available for integrating into such services.
I am a professional writer, and NOT a master of HTML, so all of these are tools that require minimal skills to make SHARP LOOKING websites that can score well in the search engines and that help to convert more sales.
If you find this webpage useful, please take just a moment to rank the page at the very top. Thank you.
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Links to Useful Website Tools
- Instant PopOvers
- Creates popOVER ads that are supposed to be unblockable and show up for all of your website users. They have a nice, sticky-note look to them.
- Ad Copy Creator Pro
- If you don't consider yourself a great writer, this can help you to produce powerful advertising copy for your website.
- Cover Software Pro
- If you need a graphic for your website when selling just about anything, this software can help out. The great thing about this software: you can create more than just book and CD/DVD covers. You can also make VHS graphics, membership cards, 3-ring binders, and the like.
cityMax
cityMax is one of the online website creators worth keeping an eye on ... but not necessarily the best one to choose at this time. I actually DO use it for a couple of sites, because of all the features ... and because I don't have the time to move them elsewhere for now. That said, there are a lot of "pros" and only a couple (but important) cons:Pros:
The beauty of cityMax is that they pull together so many of the features you really want under one roof when running a website. For instance, they include:
* A mailing list
* A store builder with shopping cart
* A calendar
* A message board
* A photo album
* A guest book
* Feedback forms
* eBay integration
* Plenty of templates to choose from
* More
This puts a LOT of options in your hands for building a website, and yes, the whole system is pretty intuitive, so if you're at all comfortable with computers, you shouldn't have much trouble putting something together. But let's take a look at the other side of this service.
Cons:
While cityMax has a ton of features, most of them are pretty limited. For instance, you cannot see how many people you have on your mailing list (unless you export the list, put it into something like Excel, and then see how many rows are used). You also can't collect any info besides an e-mail address for each sign-up, and all e-mails can only be sent in plain text (which isn't all bad, but many people want to be able to send HTML newsletters).
Likewise, the guestbook has no spam protection, so your guestpage gets FILLED with spam entries, and you have to spend lots of time clearing these out.
The store builder is pretty basic. Same with the forum. And I just don't think the templates allow for good looking sites. I'm pretty good at taking templates as far as they can go, and these are fairly limiting.
Bottom Line:
If you don't mind a basic look and basic features, I haven't yet come across any online website creator that gives you SO MANY features, and at just $20 per month, it's really a decent value.
I no longer personally choose this for websites any more, but I will keep my eye on them, because better templates and improvements to some of their features would probably bring me right back.
Get cityMax here.
Squarespace
Here's another one worth watching, and one I'm entrusting right now with a couple of important new websites -- ones that DON'T need to many features.Pros:
Squarespace is easy to use and helps to build VERY clean and professional looking sites. Actually, the feel of their templates is much like the feel of Squidoo (the website you're looking at) and other popular sites like blogger.com.
Not only that, it offers a built-in blog that uses RSS to get your content out to the world and a simple-to-use contact form.
Plus, they'll be coming up with many more features over time, and the primary downside to Squarespace is that they're not available at the time of this writing (June 2006). So, onto the cons.
Cons:
The cons on Squarespace are the fact that they don't have everything in place yet. They plan to eventually add:
* A calendar module
* A site search feature (I believe this is coming first)
* Mailing list capabilities
* A poll/survey feature
We'll have to wait and see how professional these features are as they arrive. And hopefully they'll continue to add others like autoresponders for improved business usage.
Meanwhile, Squarespace is pretty low-cost, starting at $7 per month -- but, if you want your own address (rather than a Squarespace.com address), you'll start at $12 per month. That's a good price for a site with many features ... but since Squarespace is a little sparse on features at the moment, I only wish they would start their pricing lower for now and ramp up as they improve what they offer.
Get Squarespace here.
SiteKreator -- All the Benefits
This is one of the best, hidden gems you'll find online when it comes to building websites. In fact, it is testament to how many site creators I've used and how far I go to find them that I'm using SiteKreator at all, because it seems like not many people know about it ... yet. But that is bound to change when others get a whiff of just what's offered here.SiteKreator actually offers both free and paid services. For certain uses, I'm sure the free version would suffice. Since I'm not a big fan of the templates offered for free, though, I'll focus on what's available in the business edition.
First, the business templates are awesome. They look very professional and they are easy to customize to a substantial degree. And besides the overall look, the whole system is easy to use once you get familiar with it ... which doesn't take long.
Here's a list of other features:
* Photo Galleries. Share photos and even print them. Multiple views, including slide shows.
* Forums and Blogs. RSS included for distribution of your content. Members can sign up for AUTOMATIC e-mails of any updates to these. (No extra work on your part.) You can define access for members and non-members of your site.
* Mailing Lists. You can have one or more, and you can restrict access to any page of your site to people who are signed up for a particular list. You can also MANUALLY place people on private lists -- so if you wanted to have a paid membership site, you could receive payments, add them to the list, and you're all set. You just can't automate paid membership.
File Areas. Store files for download by visitors. You can set passwords or allow access only to those on certain mailing lists.
Web Forms. Make it easy to receive information from visitors. You can even set up a template for receiving their messages in HTML e-mails. You can also customize the message they get once they submit the form.
HTML Snippets. Add 3rd party features like PayPal buttons, Google Adsense, etc. Check out useful tools from further down on this page. (Coming soon.)
It also lets you provide tags for search engine optimization and check on unique hits by the page and for the site as a whole.
And check this out -- you get it all for only $95 per YEAR. (Less than $8 per month.)
Of course there are a couple of things to be aware of before jumping in. SiteKreator has so many benefits, I have to start a new module to address them.
SiteKreator -- the downside???
If there's a downside to SiteKreator, it's that they're still developing so much ... which means that there are more templates, more features, and IMPROVED features still to come. Here are some of the details:
The next release of SiteKreator (2.1.1 -- currently due in mid-June 2006) is supposed to improve loading speeds and offer more control over text and styles. (Right now, you're pretty limited, for instance, on font types, sizes, and colors ... although their choices keep things pretty professional.) It's supposed to include at least one new business template.
Right now, you can only join a given mailing list from ONE page of a website. (Although they could join OTHER lists from other pages.) So if you only have one mailing list, they have to go to ONE page to join it. Soon, you'll be able to let them join from any page.
You'll also be able to control both confirmation and welcome messages that they receive by e-mail when signing up for a list.
(One more thing they'll have to fix is automation of messages so that they conform to spam laws. Right now, you need to make sure to provide your contact info and unsubscribe links at the bottom of each e-mail. But their customer service is OUTSTANDING -- they're always listening, and will no doubt address this in an upcoming release.)
They'll also improve search engine optimization and moderation of forum posts.
Future releases will allow you to send e-mail to one e-mail address and have it distributed to your entire mailing list. This means you can format in HTML if you like and even attach files.
They'll also provide for RSS syndication and add a visitor polling option.
3.0, which may not come out until 2007, will really make this THE choice for businesses. It will add a shopping cart with S&H and tax calculator, along with CC processing. It will add site wide text search; automatic site maps; more templates; multi-user content syndication; etc.
So, there's a ways to go with SiteKreator, but that distance isn't needed to make it a terrific choice for building your site. It already IS a terific choice.
But if you make that choice, your options for your website will only improve as you go along.
The next release of SiteKreator (2.1.1 -- currently due in mid-June 2006) is supposed to improve loading speeds and offer more control over text and styles. (Right now, you're pretty limited, for instance, on font types, sizes, and colors ... although their choices keep things pretty professional.) It's supposed to include at least one new business template.
Right now, you can only join a given mailing list from ONE page of a website. (Although they could join OTHER lists from other pages.) So if you only have one mailing list, they have to go to ONE page to join it. Soon, you'll be able to let them join from any page.
You'll also be able to control both confirmation and welcome messages that they receive by e-mail when signing up for a list.
(One more thing they'll have to fix is automation of messages so that they conform to spam laws. Right now, you need to make sure to provide your contact info and unsubscribe links at the bottom of each e-mail. But their customer service is OUTSTANDING -- they're always listening, and will no doubt address this in an upcoming release.)
They'll also improve search engine optimization and moderation of forum posts.
Future releases will allow you to send e-mail to one e-mail address and have it distributed to your entire mailing list. This means you can format in HTML if you like and even attach files.
They'll also provide for RSS syndication and add a visitor polling option.
3.0, which may not come out until 2007, will really make this THE choice for businesses. It will add a shopping cart with S&H and tax calculator, along with CC processing. It will add site wide text search; automatic site maps; more templates; multi-user content syndication; etc.
So, there's a ways to go with SiteKreator, but that distance isn't needed to make it a terrific choice for building your site. It already IS a terific choice.
But if you make that choice, your options for your website will only improve as you go along.
Get SiteKreator
- SiteKreator
- One of the hidden gems among online site creator tools.
SiteSpinner & Nameroute
One More Site Building Option
- Get SiteSpinner
- Although I've focused this page on ONLINE site creator options, I want to draw your attention to one software you store on your computer and use from there. In this case, you still of course need to arrange for your own hosting, though this usually costs less than the integrated options mentioned above.
SiteSpinner is HIGHLY popular site building software, with a 5-star rating from CNET (download.com) and 4 1/2 stars from users, along with nearly 200,000 downloads of the trial.
For those who don't want to become professional webmasters but DO want to use software, I recommend SiteSpinner. It's the only SOFTWARE I use anymore, and I've built dozens of sites with it. MANY powerful features, and it's an unbelievable value at just $49.
If you want software for building your site, PLEASE check it out. I bet you'll love what you see! - Get Nameroute
- If you're going to build a site with Site Spinner or any other software, you'll need hosting. Of course godaddy.com is one of the most famous places to register your domain name (and it's under $10 per year), but hosting is still probably going to cost you at LEAST another $36 per year.
At Nameroute, you register your name for $15 for the year and you get a free, basic hosting package INCLUDED. If you are just putting together what is basically an online brochure (selling your services; getting people to your bricks-and-mortar store; or selling a few products with PayPal), this free package should be all you need.
Website Tools & Resources
Now that we've looked at my favorite website creators, I'll introduce (below) all the best website tools I can find. I'll include only those that I have personally experienced to be of the highest quality, or those that have received wide acclaim from users in objective reviews.
Quality Website Graphics
If you want your site to look professional rather than "newbie" (you know, cheesy-looking clip art), you'll want to use some quality graphics. Here are a few links to some good choices.
- iStockphoto
- This is possibly the greatest value in royalty-free stock photos available. High-quality images, starting at just a buck. No kidding. And in fact, for websites, you only need the $1 photo, because the more expensive images are for high-quality printing.
- Web Marketing Graphics Pack
- Graphics for money, memberships, guarantees, and the like.
PayPal
After putting together a great site, full of content and enhanced with quality graphics, the first critical tool EVERY webmaster should be aware of is PayPal.This is a tool that lets you accept credit card payments. OR, people can send you money directly from their PayPal accounts -- whichever is more convenient for THEM.
The tool is free to use and requires no merchant account or monthly fees. But -- just like when you accept credit cards with a merchant account, there are transaction costs.
With PayPal, the seller (you, when it's on your site) pays 30 cents plus 1.9 to 2.9% of the transaction amount. So if you sell a $20 book, you will pay between 68 and 88 cents as a transaction fee. (Your fees drop as you sell more items.)
Compare that with a credit card transaction via merchant account. In this case, you're probably looking at something like 25 cents plus a 2.2% transaction fee. So the $20 book has a CC fee of around 69 cents.
However, PayPal is EXTREMELy easy to implement and involves no credit check or paperwork. And with credit cards, you have to pay monthly fees, usually of around $20 to $30, in order to use them.
So ... how many books would you have to sell before credit cards cost you less? How many people would prefer to have paid with money already in their PayPal accounts. And since PayPal eventually drops down to 1.9% transaction fees ... well, PayPal makes a lot of sense as a payment option, if not your sole payment solution.
(You can also use it to implement a shopping cart across your website. Again, it's free to use -- there's just the usual transaction fees.)
If you're not already a member of PayPal (used by nearly 100 million people worldwide), make sure to sign up by clicking the link below.
Get PayPal here.
All-in-One E-commerce
- Get 1MerchantCart
- If you plan on accepting credit cards with a merchant account, or you just want something that incorporates a whole lot more than just a shopping cart (which is all that PayPal offers you), check this out.
There are a lot of online options for hosting shopping carts with tons of features that are perfect for the serious, business website. These can include:
* Autoresponders
* Affiliate programs
* Mailing lists
* Product Management
* Ad Trackers
* More!
For example, check out 1shoppingcart.com (a service I used to use). It does all of this, and -- for everything it does -- I feel that it's a good value at $79 per month.
1MerchantCart, however, is a SOFTWARE that you buy once and own forever. You can even use it to build shopping carts for OTHER PEOPLE and make THEM pay monthly fees.
Compare the price of this against the monthly fees of other comparable systems ... you'll see that 1MerchantCart is a powerful bargain.
Constant Contact
- Get Constant Contact
- If your website builder doesn't allow you to automatically add a mailing list, you'll want to get a 3rd-party service to supply this for you. Keep in mind that you can't just build an e-mail list to be sent from your regular e-mail program -- you'll be limited to just a few e-mails before your ISP shuts you down for spam!
Constant Contact is probably the most popular solution for those who don't want to run a list from their own servers. It's easy to set up and place on your site with a simple HTML snippet. It allows you to send HTML e-mails or plain text, depending on what each sign-up prefers. It gives you plenty of stats about how many people are on your list, how many read your letters, etc. And you don't pay a penny until your list is over 50 people.
Once you start paying, the prices are still very reasonable. Most places allow you a certain number of e-mails per month. So if you're allowed 1000 and you have 480 people on your list, you can only send out twice before being charged extra. With Constant Contact, if you have 480 people, you're charged a flat rate of $15 per month no matter how many times you e-mail your list.
Instant Dropship Site
- Instant Dropship Site
- If you don't want to build your own site or worry about receiving payments or shipping products, you can have your own dropship business up and running in no time.
Click the link above and get access to 35,000 WHOLESALE products. You can quickly choose what you want your site to look like, adjust price margins on your products, and start selling immediately. They handle all payments and shipping, and you're simply sent the profits once a week by PayPal.
Instant Resale Package
- Get the Instant Resale Package
- I'm not kidding when I tell you it would probably take you 3 years to go through everything in this package. It includes thousands of e-books plus probably hundreds of programs.
(One of the "single products" they mention on the site is a package of 6000 e-books. Other "single products" are also collections of books or tools.)
I am NOT so nuts as to tell you that all of this will be useful for you. And I would AVOID any of the website submitters included. But there are tons of useful programs here -- many of which I have paid more for in the past than this entire package costs.
Yes. $19.99 for the entire bundle. It's unbelievable what people can sell electronic goods for. And guess what? You can resell almost any of this on your own website.
More Website Tools Coming
There are plenty more website tools coming for review here. Make sure to check back from time to time to find the most important gems online.
And if you've found this page useful, please take just a moment to rank it back at the top.
Thanks for reading, and good luck with your site!
And if you've found this page useful, please take just a moment to rank it back at the top.
Thanks for reading, and good luck with your site!
