There's plenty of software to construct a blog -- which is basically a Web site of course -- that is easy to construct, a breeze to update and includes no end of bells and whistles.
But try to build a nice, simple site introducing your product or service to new customers and suddenly you're diving into HTML books, relying on a cookie-cutter services or paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars to have a site built for you.
There's Got To Be a Better Way
There is. A handful of Web-based services are now available that let you build a legitimate small business Web site, including Homestead, Yahoo Web hosting and Microsoft Office Live.
But today, I wanted to take a look at a particularly slick new service that I ran across this weekend: Weebly.
I think it just might have the right mix of tools and price (free) to get any small business started with a Web site to support their operations.
What makes Weebly worthwhile?
Let us count the ways:
1. Simple Start - Once you've signed up, you're greeted with a simple form to name your site. You can start with a name.weebly.com address or go right to a custom URL. Domain registration is one of the most confusing aspects of starting a new site. Weebly makes it easy.
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| Start a site quickly, even add a custom domain (click to enlarge) |
2. Sharp Designs - Most site creation services let you choose among templates. Weebly offers a nice mix of options, with a slick interface that lets you preview them before you make your choice.
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| Choose a design and drag to implement (click to enlarge) |
3. Easy Editing - While WYSIWYG HTML editors flourished for a while, the trend lately has been to give more control back to Web site designers. But that, unfortunately, leaves us non-designers behind. Weebly cuts the difference by making page design and the addition of page elements an easy drag-and-drop function.
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| Start building pages right away, drag and drop style (click to enlarge) |
4. Useful Goodies - Most basic site builders leave out the good stuff. Weebly doesn't. You can easily add YouTube or Google videos, insert ads, build a Flickr image library or deliver an integrated blog or RSS feed. Nice.
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| Add bells and whistles like video, pics, blogs and ads (click to enlarge) |
For its nice mix of features, sharp design features and great price (free, even for a custom domain), Weebly is work a close look.
