I recently started a Local SEO thread and have been talking about my progress in that area. I've gotten a bunch of PMs about the technical side of it. A common theme was from people who used Wordpress to make their websites.
To start with, I'll say the reason I'm making this post is that webstarts has an affiliate program that pays me $18 per person who signs up (0r $25 if they add the e-commerce package), if they start the free version through my link and eventually upgrade to paid. However, every word here is true.
If you're not a programmer, and you're interested in making basic websites for small businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, or friends, webstarts is almost certainly the best website builder for you.
First, Webstarts Bullshit
They aren't perfect. Don't buy their upsell packages, the basic "Pro_Plus" one is fine. They try to charge most of their customers for basic SEO stuff like submitting to google business directory. If you edit the actually html after you've worked on it for a while (if you don't use the paste html option to do it) it can get glitchy. Now that that's over with...
Why I Use it - Design
Most of the sites designed with online site builders are shitty because the designers are shitty, and that includes webstarts. If people put in 1/8 of the time to design well with webstarts, they could easily match low-medium level programmers and designers.
The drag and drop and interface is the best content management system at this price range on the web (as opposed to weebly, snappages, yola, wix, and webs.com.) The only limit on your design ability is your artistic ability; if you can make the graphics you can do just about anything on the site. I intend to hire cheap talent for future ventures, rather than design myself.
The choice of fonts, colors, and sizes for everything are really unbeatable in this program. If you need more choices, just paste from photoshop.
Pictures can be easily edited by size and opacity.
Everything you add to webstarts can be moved around by layers, which works well if you're really trying to design. You can edit things pixel by pixel as well.
Why I use it - Functionality
It allows you to easily embed lots of neat and basic additions; a form builder to collect email or whatever other information you want, slideshows, photo galleries (good for artists, for sure), as well as easily put in hundreds of other widgets, most of which are useless, but some (like easily inserting google maps) are very useful.
Here's an awesome part; ever work with GetClicky.com? Their most basic package that isn't the free version is 4.99 a month. Webstarts gives you their most advanced package free with your sign up. (see later for Webstarts prices)
It also lets you make a rudimentary contact list like ContactContact. It's not as good, but it's cool that it's included and fine for most small businesses.
You can easily embed flash, videos, or (ugh) music on to your website as well.
Why I use it - SEO
Webstarts lets you edit title, description, and meta tags very easily. You can upload your site map and work with google analytics. In addition, you can add custom HTML wherever, so you can add <h1> tags and all that for more SEO purposes.
Conclusion:
The version of webstarts that's worthwhile is Pro plus (pro plus gets rid of the "made by webstarts" footer) , for 5.83 a month. This includes everything I've mentioned above. Considering it includes getclicky which costs at the minimum 4.99 alone, and a lot of other cool features, webstarts is really valuable if you want to easily make websites and seo for small businesses. I also recommend you use the beta version of pluginseo.com (referrer techcrunch, code techcrunch) for free to assist in your SEO efforts.
I would appreciate if you sign up for the free version using my link, so I get paid if you ever switch to pro:
Make A Free Website | Free Website Builder | Website Builder
I'll be happy to answer questions regarding my experience here.
To start with, I'll say the reason I'm making this post is that webstarts has an affiliate program that pays me $18 per person who signs up (0r $25 if they add the e-commerce package), if they start the free version through my link and eventually upgrade to paid. However, every word here is true.
If you're not a programmer, and you're interested in making basic websites for small businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, or friends, webstarts is almost certainly the best website builder for you.
First, Webstarts Bullshit
They aren't perfect. Don't buy their upsell packages, the basic "Pro_Plus" one is fine. They try to charge most of their customers for basic SEO stuff like submitting to google business directory. If you edit the actually html after you've worked on it for a while (if you don't use the paste html option to do it) it can get glitchy. Now that that's over with...
Why I Use it - Design
Most of the sites designed with online site builders are shitty because the designers are shitty, and that includes webstarts. If people put in 1/8 of the time to design well with webstarts, they could easily match low-medium level programmers and designers.
The drag and drop and interface is the best content management system at this price range on the web (as opposed to weebly, snappages, yola, wix, and webs.com.) The only limit on your design ability is your artistic ability; if you can make the graphics you can do just about anything on the site. I intend to hire cheap talent for future ventures, rather than design myself.
The choice of fonts, colors, and sizes for everything are really unbeatable in this program. If you need more choices, just paste from photoshop.
Pictures can be easily edited by size and opacity.
Everything you add to webstarts can be moved around by layers, which works well if you're really trying to design. You can edit things pixel by pixel as well.
Why I use it - Functionality
It allows you to easily embed lots of neat and basic additions; a form builder to collect email or whatever other information you want, slideshows, photo galleries (good for artists, for sure), as well as easily put in hundreds of other widgets, most of which are useless, but some (like easily inserting google maps) are very useful.
Here's an awesome part; ever work with GetClicky.com? Their most basic package that isn't the free version is 4.99 a month. Webstarts gives you their most advanced package free with your sign up. (see later for Webstarts prices)
It also lets you make a rudimentary contact list like ContactContact. It's not as good, but it's cool that it's included and fine for most small businesses.
You can easily embed flash, videos, or (ugh) music on to your website as well.
Why I use it - SEO
Webstarts lets you edit title, description, and meta tags very easily. You can upload your site map and work with google analytics. In addition, you can add custom HTML wherever, so you can add <h1> tags and all that for more SEO purposes.
Conclusion:
The version of webstarts that's worthwhile is Pro plus (pro plus gets rid of the "made by webstarts" footer) , for 5.83 a month. This includes everything I've mentioned above. Considering it includes getclicky which costs at the minimum 4.99 alone, and a lot of other cool features, webstarts is really valuable if you want to easily make websites and seo for small businesses. I also recommend you use the beta version of pluginseo.com (referrer techcrunch, code techcrunch) for free to assist in your SEO efforts.
I would appreciate if you sign up for the free version using my link, so I get paid if you ever switch to pro:
Make A Free Website | Free Website Builder | Website Builder
I'll be happy to answer questions regarding my experience here.
