The Comprehensive Reviews Of Weebly | Up-To-Date News 

This article will provide comprehensive reviews and the latest news coverage of the popular website-building platform Weebly. Beginners, small businesses, and professionals widely use Weebly to create visually appealing websites without coding knowledge.

Key Takeaways

• Weebly is a top-choice eCommerce solution for beginners to build essential business sites quickly with plenty of features and value at affordable prices.
• Weebly provides a powerful all-in-one toolkit for building, managing and growing any website.

Weebly Pros & Cons

Pros

• User-Friendly Interface: Weebly’s drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for beginners to create and customize websites without coding knowledge.
• Templates: Weebly offers a range of professionally designed templates that are responsive and mobile-friendly, allowing your site to look good on various devices.
• App Integration: Weebly has an App Center that allows you to integrate third-party applications and tools, adding functionality to your website.
• eCommerce Capabilities: Weebly has built-in eCommerce features, making it suitable for small businesses looking to set up online stores.
• Customer Support: Weebly provides customer support through various channels, including email, live chat, and a knowledge base.
• Affordability: Weebly offers different pricing tiers, including a free plan with basic features, making it accessible for users with different budgets.
• Hosting Included: Weebly handles hosting, security, and updates, which simplifies the technical aspects of website management.
• App Store improvements: he latest round of testing saw marked improvements, with Weebly’s app store experience rising substantially – a total 66.67% increase – in the rankings compared to last time. 
• Helpful SEO Guides: According to many recent reviews, Weebly provides a robust help and support section containing handy resource guides on search engine optimization best practices. 

Site owners can access informative articles and tutorials addressing important SEO topics like on-page coding and structuring, keyword research methodologies, and tactics for improving a site’s ranking and organic traffic.

Cons 

• Limited Drag-and-drop customization: While Weebly markets itself as an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder, the level of customizable design flexibility afforded by its visual editor has some noteworthy constraints. Users may find the editor relatively confining and rigid in allowing elements to be moved, formatted, and styled creatively on pages. 
• Outdated designs : Weebly’s pre-made visual layouts and stylistic elements could generally appear slightly more dated and conventional rather than cutting-edge.
• Poor mobile optimization: Weebly has some limitations when appropriately adjusting website designs for viewing on mobile devices like phones. Specifically, the platform’s handling of re-layout and reformatting web page elements for smaller screens could be insufficient, leading to sites constructed with Weebly needing to display or function in the most user-friendly way envisioned when accessed on such smaller form factors. 
• Scalability: Weebly is better suited for smaller and simpler websites. Larger businesses or those with complex requirements might outgrow its capabilities.
• eCommerce Limitations: While Weebly has eCommerce features, it might not offer the same level of advanced functionality as dedicated eCommerce platforms.
• Limited Blogging Features: While Weebly supports blogging, it might not have the same extensive blogging features as dedicated blogging platforms.
• Data Portability: Moving your website away from Weebly to another platform might be challenging due to limitations in data portability.
• Ads on Free Plan: Weebly’s free plan includes Weebly advertisements on your site, which might not be suitable for businesses looking for a more professional appearance.

Weebly Pricing

Weebly offers four different plans to suit various budgets and website needs. Their free basic plan allows for building a simple site without spending money. 

Free pricing plans

Using embed codes, the free plan allows users to embed content from other sources like YouTube videos, Google Maps, tweets, and other media. This adds functionality without coding knowledge. 

Moreover, Weebly’s free plan automatically comes with a free SSL certificate installed. This secures the connection between visitor browsers and the site, ensuring sensitive information like payment details are safely encrypted in transit.

Paid pricing plans

For more advanced features, Weebly provides three paid subscription tiers. 

• The Personal plan comes in at a very affordable $10 per month. It has a new function apart from the above function of Free Version: Connect a Custom Domain. This helps customers easily connect their site to a domain they own or find the perfect new domain with name research and registration tool. 
• The mid-tier Professional plan is $12 monthly and adds increased storage and traffic, including Advanced Site Stats, Free Domain, Remove Square Ads and Password Protection.
• The Performance plan at $26 per month (for sophisticated sites with high visitor traffic) is designed to support advanced performance, security, and speed optimization features such as Accepting payments through PayPal, Item Reviews, and Abandoned Cart Emails.

Review of Weebly Price

Overall, Weebly’s pricing delivers good value for money, especially for small businesses on a budget. The free option also lowers the barriers to starting a website. Upgrading is flexible, too, if needs change.

Weebly Ease Of Use

Real-time page construction

Unlike other website builders that require switching between a back-end configuration view and a published front-end display, Weebly provides a seamless “what you see is what you get” approach. 

Site owners can precisely position and style content like images, text, and widgets simply by interacting with the page, as it will be seen publicly, without needing to edit underlying code just to make minor changes to visual components. 

Constructing pages within Weebly’s visual interface is designed to be intuitive for anyone to grasp. Users can add new content simply by selecting the desired element type, prompting a popup to enter or upload files. 

Drag-and-drop editor

One can contribute text snippets, photos, videos, maps, or other media through straightforward forms. Design aspects can be maneuvered effortlessly, too, since elements drag and drop like on a single screen in a click-and-move fashion. 

Anyone accustomed to putting together multimedia slideshows on PowerPoint will pick up the basic skills to assemble good-looking Weebly site layouts with equal ease. The drag-and-drop editor removes technological barriers, letting creative ideas shine through with minimal effort.

Low customizability

While many find the process of initially putting together a primary Weebly site straightforward and intuitive, reviews suggest limitations arise when occupants desire more specific personalization. 

The drag-and-drop builder excels at the fast setup of fundamental layouts and structures but may need to improve for those wishing to refine designs into unique visual expressions tailored to their unique brand or artistic flair. 

Weebly Website Builder

While Weebly provides functionality adapted to various use cases like blogging, e-commerce, and portfolio presentation, reviews suggest it may cater most appropriately to certain site objectives over others. 

The platform offers a balanced assortment of capabilities applicable to personal journals, commercial entities, and creative showcases. 

Nonetheless, considering customization styles and different feature requirements, Weebly seems best positioned overall for more straightforward small business digital presences whose support is to share information and services online.

Here are some sample fields with which the Weebly website builder is most appropriate.

Business site

Weebly primarily aims its site-building tools at businesses, as evidenced by its marketing which emphasizes assistance for companies looking to establish, expand, and profit through online operations such as attracting clients, selling goods, and digital growth.

The various features provided by Weebly are specially designed to facilitate the development of an online commercial image for businesses, with some main features including:

• Business-specific themes
• Logo maker
• Strong SEO tools and support
• Ecommerce tools on all plans (yep, even the free plan!)
• Marketing tools such as blogging and newsletters
• Analytics to provide insights on your performance and visitor interactions

Weebly further streamlines the process of online merchandising through its frictionless compatibility with Square’s transaction solutions. This allows any physical or temporary retail outlet and dedicated ecommerce platforms to readily initiate product sales over the Internet.

However, there are better choices for businesses wanting to grow online significantly than Weebly. It needs to provide more tools to help business growth truly. As a result, Weebly offers fewer features than most similar services. 

Entrepreneurs serious about starting a small business online and wanting it to grow bigger would be better with Wix or Squarespace instead of Weebly.

Ecommerce site

Besides business sites, Weebly provides abundant support to eCommerce site development. Weebly has many valuable tools for small online stores, like its connection to Square for processing sales. Its search engine optimization and marketing features are important too. The designs you choose will also be set up well for online selling. So Weebly can be a good pick for basic e-commerce needs.

However, Weebly needs to offer more ecommerce features to build a successful store that can grow over time. If you want a personalized online shop, Wix or Shopify will work better.

One significant advantage for new US sellers with Weebly is that it’s one of the few sites that lets you sell products without paying any fees. In the past, this was the most significant benefit of e-commerce. However, it could be more impressive now since Square’s shopping site also offers a free plan but with better tools for managing sales.

Personal and Portfolio site

For building a personal or portfolio site with unique features, Weebly does not seem to be a suitable choice to work with.

Weebly’s template tends toward clean-cut basics over show-stopping aesthetics. However, their lack of complexity can only function well enough for simple informational sites. Those prioritizing commanding truly on-trend stylings would favor alternatives with flashier defaults like Squarespace, known for sleek visual impact. 

But Weebly covers general creative networking and profile use cases acceptably when flamboyance isn’t a top prerequisite. Core priorities like hassle-free setup make it a sensible choice for casual individual digital presences.

Features that make Weebly a popular choice for personal and portfolio sites:

• Built-in image editor 
• Parallax and reveal animation effects 
• Custom fonts
• Video backgrounds
• Newsletters
• Social media marketing

Blogging site

For individuals and companies wishing to implement blogging into their digital operations, Weebly has built a robust selection of features catering specifically to those needs. Here are some of the reviews of Weebly relating to creating blogs:

Blog-specific themes

Options like blog-themed templates assist with visual distinction and branding. Weebly provides website designs focused specifically on blogging needs that can help establish a distinctive online visual identity and impression. 

Templates themed for blog use offer out-of-the-box styles attuned to optimally showcasing periodically written articles and cultivating recognizable styles.

RSS and social sharing features automatically built-in

Syndication through RSS and built-in social media integration helps expand the discovery of new posts. Weebly enables users to automatically spread new blog posts across major social networks like Facebook and Twitter based on preset timing preferences. 

Rather than requiring active re-sharing of each individual article, this feature allows bloggers to schedule releases of content to selected platforms like Facebook and Twitter to occur at specific dates and times in the future. 

By simplifying the syndication of fresh writings across social media channels through a calendar-based scheduler, Weebly helps bloggers quickly expand the potential reach of their work over time in a hands-off, organized manner to keep engaged followers and expose pieces to new readers across diverse online communities.

Scheduled sharing across Facebook and Twitter

Scheduling sharing across networks supports audience expansion. By permitting the scheduling of social media sharing for blog posts, Weebly provides a means for increasing a site’s potential reach and readership over time. 

The ability to automate distributing new content to networks like Facebook and Twitter at customizable later dates/times supports the continual engagement of current followers while exposing fresh articles to new audiences.

Media integrations in your blog dashboard and app store

Weebly allows bloggers to include multimedia elements directly within the blogging interface and integrate additional features through third-party applications. The combination of built-in media inclusion and an expansive selection of optional external apps provides bloggers with more ways to make their written content visually compelling and interactive.

Category, tag, and sidebar customizations

Beyond the essential posting of articles, Weebly enables bloggers to further classify and arrange their content through taxonomic classifications like categories, tags, and informational sidebars. 

These supplemental organizational systems improve the navigability and readability of the blog content. Categories allow for a broad grouping of topics, tags provide finer descriptive labels, and sidebars display these reference terms to help readers intuitively explore related material.

Advanced comment management

Weebly equips bloggers with powerful comment tools that help maintain civility and assist in community management. Specific functionality allows close oversight of reader interactions and robust moderation capabilities. 

Blog owners are granted controls over how, when, and where comments appear, plus tools for filtering inappropriate content and interfacing with readers’ problem posts or users. These focused blogging capabilities empower diverse personalized content creation and community involvement from hobbyists to commercial practitioners, regardless of any supplementary site objectives.

Weebly Themes

Overview of Weebly Themes

The quality and selection of templated designs available on Weebly are among its weakest aspects. While Weebly offers a selection of approximately 50 ready-made website themes to choose from for starting a site, these templates are deemed to need more visual polish and flair provided by some competitors. 

The selection of themes is more limited in size than other builders, and the styles tend toward simplicity rather than showstopping designs. The templates get the primary job done without issues and can easily be swapped at any stage. 

But considering options from platforms like Wix and Squarespace, which integrate more dynamic, professional-grade pre-fabricated themes from the outset, Weebly’s theme assortment is relatively basic. It needs to measure up in inspiring innovative layouts.

Weebly Theme Categories

Weebly organizes its predesigned website templates into distinct categories to help users find an appropriate layout. The themes are grouped based on common website types or goals: 

• Business features professional styles for companies
• Portfolio displays artistic works
• Personal presents minimal profiles 
• Event plans gatherings
• Blog centers on article publishing 
• Online Store sets up online shops 

By segmenting their themes along typical site purposes, Weebly aims to simplify templated design browsing and selection for users to intuitively match templates to their specific goals, whether establishing a company presence, artist site, blog, or marketplace.

While Weebly’s templates may not be the most visually impressive designs available, they fulfill essential needs at a minimum standard. The pre-made themes on Weebly appear presentable enough in terms of their aesthetics. 

In addition, they can all be used at no cost. Weebly also offers a suitable range of layout options across different styles. Although not the flashiest designs, the templates address core requirements through acceptably good looks, complete affordability and diverse arrangement possibilities to match various needs – representing a passable selection that meets basic requirements.

Weebly Toolset And Features

While Weebly offers a full-featured website-building solution, reviews suggest its capabilities are only partially on the same level as some larger, more robust platforms within the industry.

App Center

Weebly has significantly enhanced its application marketplace, achieving a maximum score of 5 out of 5 – a substantial 66.67% increase from the previous rating of 3/5. The marketplace interface and selection of extendable features have been notably strengthened. 

Apps are sorted into the following categories: 

• Ecommerce
• Communication
• Marketing
• Social 
• Site tools and features

SEO Features

Site map

Weebly has solid site mapping capabilities through its automatic sitemap generator and admin controls. Weebly’s built-in XML sitemap generator automatically creates a sitemap for your site and notifies search engines like Google of new or updated pages. This helps search engines crawl and index your site better.

The sitemap lists all indexed pages on your site, including paginated blog and archive pages. This comprehensive coverage is important for SEO.

You can access and manage the sitemap from your Weebly admin dashboard. It also allows you to export the sitemap as an XML file. While not as robust as competitors like Wix, Weebly’s sitemap functionality provides strong basic support for SEO. 

SEO-friendly HTML formatting

Weebly provides good SEO support and guidance for beginners through its help and support center. It offers SEO tips like keyword optimization and coding tips to boost rankings. 

Users get the custom header and footer code which allows them to add things like meta descriptions, title tags, etc., to optimize pages for search engines. 

They can also customize page URLs, another important SEO factor. This helps pages have descriptive and relevant URLs. 

Weebly’s themes are optimized for SEO out of the box. Things like having descriptive page titles and meta descriptions are built-in by default. The builder also provides analytics tools to track visitor interactions and website performance. This helps users identify underperforming pages and work on improving them. 

Built-in sharing buttons and RSS feeds help increase backlinks and off-site traffic. The various blogging and newsletter features are also SEO-friendly as they help create fresh and relevant content regularly for search engines.

Meta description

Meta description is an important part of SEO as it provides a brief description of the page content in search engine results. Weebly provides good support for meta descriptions. It allows users to add custom header and footer code to pages which includes meta descriptions. 

Users can customize meta descriptions, titles, and other elements better to optimize their pages for search engines on Weebly. Having an optimized, unique meta description for each page can help improve click-through rates on search results and increase traffic from search engines. 

While the platform may lack some advanced SEO tools compared to competitors, it still offers strong support for meta descriptions and other on-page SEO basics that are important for optimization.

Email Marketing

Here is a collection of features that Weebly Email Marketing can support:

• Shopping Cart
• Items 
• Quick Shop
• Inventory management
• In-store pickup

Analytics and Reporting

All of Weebly’s subscription tiers offer fundamental analytics capabilities. Users gain insight into visitor counts, referral sources, and page views. 

These basics help us understand traffic patterns and engagement at a high level. For those needing deeper analytics reporting, upgrading is required. The Professional plan and above provide expanded metrics and details beyond the initial baseline stats. 

Only higher-priced bundles deliver advanced statistical evaluations and diagnostics beyond the cursory overview available as part of basic plans. This splits the analytics offering – fundamental metrics for all and more robust analytics reserved for those seeking premium insights through an upgraded subscription.

Hosting and Security

With a Weebly subscription, all website hosting and security concerns are addressed directly within the platform’s included offerings rather than requiring independent arrangements and expenses. Users need not search for hosting services or cover those charges separately since Weebly fully supports sites under its servers. 

Reliable protection from cyber threats like distributed denial of service disruptions and advanced encryption technologies for sensitive user data passages are automatically deployed to safeguard websites created on the builder. Right from account setup, an SSL certificate activates to shield any confidential visitor details transmitted. 

By taking responsibility for these back-end fundamentals as an all-in-one solution, Weebly minimizes user hassle and upholds baseline protections to preserve smooth, safe online operations as a priority included component of its full-service building solution.

Customer Support

Varying support levels

While all subscription tiers provide access to Weebly’s online forums and email customer support, telephone assistance is only available with the higher-priced Pro and Performance plans. 

Additionally, to take advantage of live chat or phone support, customers must be located in the United States on those qualifying premium plans. The basic plans top out at digital support options, reserving complementary call support for those within the US willing to upgrade to a costlier package.

Auto-save editor

While Weebly has shown signs of neglect in terms of modernization, there have been some valuable updates made. The website builder now features an auto-save function for the editing interface to prevent loss of work from accidental navigation away from the page. 

If auto-save fails to capture changes and progress is inadvertently lost, users can contact Weebly’s support team to take advantage of a restore option and recoup their unsaved edits. 

So while the platform may feel dated in general, auto-saving and retrieval options have been added for added convenience and protection against accidental data loss during the building process.

Support time

Weebly customers can access live chat support during specific weekday and weekend hours that follow the Pacific Standard Time zone. Live assistance is available from 6 am to 6 pm PST from Monday to Friday. On Saturdays and Sundays, the hours are shortened to run from 8 am until 5 pm in PST. 

The live chat option has set schedules tied to the PST time zone, providing coverage during core US working hours on weekdays and a slightly reduced timeframe on weekend days.

Customers subscribed to Weebly’s Pro or Performance subscription tier can access telephone support services during set Pacific Standard Time hours. The premium plans include contacting Weebly representatives directly by calling the telephone number 1-844-493-3259 between 6 am and 6 pm PST on weekdays. 

This provides an alternative live support channel beyond chat or email for issues that may require a verbal discussion to resolve for users of the higher-priced Pro and Performance website building plans.

Weebly Competitors

Weebly vs. Squarespace

When selecting a website construction platform, essential factors include intuitiveness, feature set, cost structure, and ability to scale over time. 

Both Weebly and Squarespace provide code-free solutions well-suited to beginners. Weebly offers more affordable plans, including a free option, whereas Squarespace’s cheapest is at $16/month but includes a complimentary custom web address for one year. 

Price-wise, Weebly arguably represents the better value. Squarespace offers users additional functions beyond Weebly’s, such as its app marketplace and varied integration options with programs like Google Analytics and MailChimp. 

However, Weebly does provide integrations as well. When comparing only templates, both supply visually attractive, fully customizable layouts leaving choice down to personal aesthetic tastes. Squarespace hosts a more comprehensive design selection. Its extensive ecommerce features make it the optimal selection for those seeking a shopping portal creator. 

Cheaper Weebly or feature-rich Squarespace depends on specific project and budget needs.

Weebly vs. Wix

Weebly and Wix offer simple drag-and-drop interfaces that allow the creation of websites without coding knowledge, making them ideal choices for novices. They provide the main ease-of-use advantage through a visual building. 

Weebly presents more affordable plans, including a free option, while Wix’s free tier is limited. Wix’s basic paid plans start at $16/month but include ads, whereas custom domains on Weebly begin at $10/month. 

Wix offers significantly more features through its extensive app marketplace and broad template categories. However, Weebly also incorporates various templates and third-party integrations. 

In terms of value, Weebly’s plans are more budget-friendly. But those needing robust extra functionality may find Wix a superior choice due to its deep app selection and diverse page designs. 

Both are accessible platforms, but Wix caters better to more sophisticated sites content-wise at a higher baseline cost. The best option depends on a project’s specific requirements and budget.

Weebly vs. WordPress

When weighing Weebly versus WordPress, Weebly represents the more straightforward beginner-level website construction, while WordPress delivers more advanced customizable options. 

Weebly acts as a training wheel compared to WordPress’ higher learning curve but more muscular versatility. Weebly removes care over technicals as it’s hosted – centrally, so you just simply register for an account to build. WordPress requires self-hosting through exterior web service providers, adding installation and server rental costs starting at $3.95 monthly. 

Both Weebly and WordPress.com deliver free basic plans. But the self-hosted WordPress.org necessitates monthly hosting payments, unlike Weebly’s all-inclusive service. Therefore, Weebly proves easiest for non-technical users, while WordPress suits those preferring deeper custom controls at hosting expenses. 

Overall, choose Weebly for pure ease versus WordPress’ robust flexibility carrying steeper learning demands and setup obligations.

Who Is Most Appropriate With Weebly

Weebly offers the best free option for beginners seeking fast website deployment due to its basic no-frills interface. Personal blogs and resume-style sites fit well with simple yet polished templates enabling writing and achievements. Multiple user login and social sharing supplement such uses. 

However, Weebly needs more creative control than alternatives like Wix allowing freer designs or Squarespace’s polished professional themes. Advanced functionality or scaling ambitions likely surpass Weebly’s constraints. 

While Weebly has e-commerce built on Square’s platform, those pursuing online storefronts benefit from starting directly in Square to avoid Weebly’s redirection eventually. 

Overall, Weebly excels for unfussy launches, but other builders provide preferable outlets for sophisticated ventures or commerce goals.

Weebly Review FAQs

Bottom line

In conclusion, Weebly remains one of the most accessible and user-friendly website-building platforms. For individuals and small businesses seeking an affordable starting point, Weebly delivers a stress-free way to launch an online presence quickly.