In the nascent days of the Internet, building your own website was something of a time-consuming and costly undertaking. Not only did you need to know how to write in a variety of different programming languages, but you also had to use one of a number of expensive computer applications to perfectly design the site in question to make sure that every visitor to your site got the same experience. As technology continues to advance, though, building your very own website becomes easier and cheaper with every passing day.
There are a variety of free website builders that are available for you to choose from, depending on your needs. While a free site or service may lack some of the more advanced features that their expensive counterparts include, they are still invaluable tools when it comes to getting your personal or business website off the ground and onto the Internet as efficiently and inexpensively as possible.
1. WordPress
2. IM-Creator
The reason why IM-Creator will always make any list of free website builders has to do with just how easy it is to use and exactly what it allows you to do. IM-Creator is a website builder that allows you to create elegant personal websites in the simplest ways possible. If you want to design your site from the ground up, you have the freedom to do so. If you want to use one of the built-in templates to get started as quickly as possible, you can do that, too. You don't have to worry about understanding complex programming languages, as IM-Creator allows you to drag and drop content onto your site and have it appear in the exact location that you want it to. You can also update, maintain and even promote your website right from the same graphical user interface.
3. SquareSpace
Another service that will always be high in the running on any list of the top website builders is SquareSpace. SquareSpace includes a drag and drop interface that makes it easy to create your own site from the ground up, even if you don't even know what a programming language is, let alone how to write in one. Your account includes design tools, a domain name and even hosting. You can get your own custom domain name, which is one of the key benefits that SquareSpace offers that certain other free website builders lack. You can also market your site directly from the SquareSpace interface and drive traffic to it from sources like Bing, Google and even Yahoo search engines.
4. Weebly
One free website builder that is gaining in popularity in recent years is Weebly. Weebly is a free website building platform that allows you to start the process of creating your own website quickly and easily by picking one of the themes that comes with your free account. You can choose a theme based on the way you want your site to look and feel to visitors and can even change that theme later on once you get your content in place. Weebly is great for blogging in particular and even supports eCommerce features and mobile applications. Not only will you be able to take payments on your website via Weebly, but your visitors will also be able to do so right from an interface that is tailor-made for their smartphones, tablets and other types of portable devices that they may be using.
5. Wix
Wix is a free website builder that currently boasts more than 51 million users. The major selling point of Wix is that it allows you to create a website that is easy to customize without the need to really get down and alter the code. There are hundreds of different templates that you can choose in a variety of different categories, all of which are totally compatible with HTML5. This means that your website is essentially future-proof as HTML5 replaces traditional HTML as the programming standard on the Internet moving forward, which is a process that has already begun.
We've reached a point where the technology and technique behind building a website has become so advanced that you can quickly and easily make a site that suits your exact needs, even if you don't necessarily know what it is that you're really doing. Drag-and-drop editors abound, especially those that are compatible with HTML5. If you're making the decision to shun a costly web-building application and instead want to go with a free, online counterpart, you'll have everything you need to make sure that the job gets done properly in some of the top website builders on the Internet today.