Website builder software allows you to develop professional websites without any technical know-how. However, you really should take some time to plan your website and look after the little details that make a website effective – before you even purchase website builder software.

Review of Niche Blueprint 2 Take out a pencil or pen and some paper. Pick out a nice quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed for the next hour, and start thinking first and foremost about the purpose of your website. Knowing what you hope to accomplish with your website builder software will save you a lot of time in the end!

Functionality

Websites typically have one of three purposes: inform, educate, or directly facilitate sales. The first two purposes can be fulfilled with even free website builder software on a free host, since the content doesn’t have to be scripted or anything else quite so fancy.Niche Blueprint 2 Bonus These are called brochure style websites.

If you just wish to inform or educate your visitors, without a password secured area, just seek out website builder software that will take care of the design elements you desire, or will make your life easier. This can mean features for fancy buttons, design templates, or built-in FTP for easy publishing and updating.

However, in order to directly facilitate sales with an e-commerce website, you will need more robust website builder software. Check your web host to see what kind of scripts you can use, such as PHP, and then seek out website builder software that can import those kinds of scripts.

Your audience

Niche Blueprint 2 Bonus Last but most certainly not least, you need to take into consideration the speed with which visitors can browse your website. If you are targeting low-income individuals, you should pick website builder software that works to optimize your websites, and doesn’t necessarily have features for flashy web elements like JavaScript, Java applets, or Flash introductions.

Why a free online website builder may not be enough

In all your fervor to launch that new website, have you stopped for a moment to really think about your website? Do you know what is the purpose of your website? Have you evaluated who will be visiting your website? What kinds of browsers and operating systems will they be using?

Having the answers to these questions will arm you with the knowledge you need to pick the right application to build your website. Not all website builders are equally capable, and a free online website builder is definitely no exception. Let’s just say, you get what you pay for.

Limitations of a free online website builder

Your typical free online website builder can only create brochure style websites. That is, no scripting, no shopping cart, no Flash, no Java, and nothing else particularly fancy. If you know how to manually code these things then you’re usually in luck – but then why use a website builder to begin with?

Although, you just might end up with a free online website builder than won’t allow you to manually edit the code. Some companies severely limit the capabilities of free applications on purpose, so that you are forced to purchase a more robust version.

Additionally, your website may not be fully compatible with all browsers, causing strange erratic design flaws. Sometimes this could just mean something isn’t aligned properly, or your website could be missing an entire section. Either way it just screams, “I’m an amateur, and I made this with a free online website builder – you shouldn’t trust anything on this website.”

Last but most certainly not least, if you are on a slow connection, editing can become very tedious, very quickly. Also, companies offering a free online website builder may not have invested as much as they should in their servers. If their servers go down, and you need to make changes to your website, well then you’re just going to have to wait until it’s fixed. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”