Our Website Review
The website builder that simply just works...and works very well. Probably the best little website builder in the world.
The story of how our website came into being.
A longer read but Well Worth reading if you're considering building your own website
When my lovely wife first tasked me with creating a website to bring her company into the modern age,I honestly did not know where to begin.Yes I am fairly computer literate,but I was imagining having to learn about coding and all different aspects of building a website.I even thought of hiring a professional website creator for what at first seemed to be a daunting task.
A friend of mine told me to look on the net as there were many website builders that didn't need coding,so I did as my friend had advised.
He was indeed correct there was a myriad of website builders.
As my friend also suggested, I experiment with 3 or 4 of the most popular website builders,which I did,but after giving these a try, found I was unable to get along with them.
I was becoming disheartened to the point of almost saying to my wife,"Let's get a professional in"
Not to be beaten, I continued to scour the net,until I happened across this website builder that I used to build this site, and jolly pleased I persevered.
We only required a basic type of website to enable us to sell our products to the world,nothing flashy and this builder provided the answer.I can only liken the act of building a site to a giant jigsaw puzzle,whereby the builder provides the pieces required,you then customize them and place where you want the pieces to fit until you have your site looking how you want it to.
You can create a single page website where you place different pages on a single homepage scrolling up from the homepage to view the various pages,or you can create a multiple page menu based site where your content is viewable by clicking multiple single pages from the menu.
With this site,as you can see, I have done a bit of both which is also possible.
Please read on,I have provided a small review of the builder.I needed a certain amount of requirements with a builder and I have to say this builder fulfilled all of my criteria.
My personal requirements
consisted of the following "most needed features and tools"and I have provided a list below with a summary at the end:-
Ease of use
Packages&Prices
E-Commerce
Other features
Domain name
Hosting
S.S.L(Secure socket layer)
Whois privacy
Live support
Free plan
A longer read but Well Worth reading if you're considering building your own website
When my lovely wife first tasked me with creating a website to bring her company into the modern age,I honestly did not know where to begin.Yes I am fairly computer literate,but I was imagining having to learn about coding and all different aspects of building a website.I even thought of hiring a professional website creator for what at first seemed to be a daunting task.
A friend of mine told me to look on the net as there were many website builders that didn't need coding,so I did as my friend had advised.
He was indeed correct there was a myriad of website builders.
As my friend also suggested, I experiment with 3 or 4 of the most popular website builders,which I did,but after giving these a try, found I was unable to get along with them.
I was becoming disheartened to the point of almost saying to my wife,"Let's get a professional in"
Not to be beaten, I continued to scour the net,until I happened across this website builder that I used to build this site, and jolly pleased I persevered.
We only required a basic type of website to enable us to sell our products to the world,nothing flashy and this builder provided the answer.I can only liken the act of building a site to a giant jigsaw puzzle,whereby the builder provides the pieces required,you then customize them and place where you want the pieces to fit until you have your site looking how you want it to.
You can create a single page website where you place different pages on a single homepage scrolling up from the homepage to view the various pages,or you can create a multiple page menu based site where your content is viewable by clicking multiple single pages from the menu.
With this site,as you can see, I have done a bit of both which is also possible.
Please read on,I have provided a small review of the builder.I needed a certain amount of requirements with a builder and I have to say this builder fulfilled all of my criteria.
My personal requirements
consisted of the following "most needed features and tools"and I have provided a list below with a summary at the end:-
Ease of use
Packages&Prices
E-Commerce
Other features
Domain name
Hosting
S.S.L(Secure socket layer)
Whois privacy
Live support
Summary
This is not a full review so I just wish to touch briefly on each of the above points.
Ease of use
Ease of use
First of all I didn't want anything that was complicated to use as this was my first ever attempt at building a site.Upon doing some research on the net,I found this web builder had received some very good reviews for simplicity.
A bit like buying a new cellphone,you need to experiment with the different settings from within and move things around until it looks how you want it to. Hmmm sometimes easier said than done,but after a while using and experimenting with the various features of this web builder,and much similar to a jigsaw puzzle, all of a sudden everything seems to fall into place. The more familiar you are,the more confident you become with the web builder,and you will soon find you are able to locate features that you need faster and make things happen much quicker.
It just requires a little patience and perseverance to work your way through it and experiment with the various features,but it does have a really user friendly interface.
Packages&Prices(Good discounts available)
The sites provided are totally free for a lifetime,I say sites as you can create as many different sites all under one paid or unpaid account as you like and can work on each one as much or as little as you want to,and they are always there for you to resume where you left off.There are also 5 paid packages of various price ranges.
Basic,advanced, professional,gold and platinum.Obviously the more you pay, the more features you get.All packages come with a free personalised domain name(subject to availability)free for the first year which you really need to have to give your site a more professional look and feel.It also includes personalised e-mail boxes up to 25 (dependent on which package you choose)
As stated earlier I was not looking to build anything flashy,but I needed a platform which required a store and a payment gateway in our case PayPal.The best option that gave us that was the middle of their 5 packages,the professional plan.
A bit like buying a new cellphone,you need to experiment with the different settings from within and move things around until it looks how you want it to. Hmmm sometimes easier said than done,but after a while using and experimenting with the various features of this web builder,and much similar to a jigsaw puzzle, all of a sudden everything seems to fall into place. The more familiar you are,the more confident you become with the web builder,and you will soon find you are able to locate features that you need faster and make things happen much quicker.
It just requires a little patience and perseverance to work your way through it and experiment with the various features,but it does have a really user friendly interface.
Packages&Prices(Good discounts available)
The sites provided are totally free for a lifetime,I say sites as you can create as many different sites all under one paid or unpaid account as you like and can work on each one as much or as little as you want to,and they are always there for you to resume where you left off.There are also 5 paid packages of various price ranges.
Basic,advanced, professional,gold and platinum.Obviously the more you pay, the more features you get.All packages come with a free personalised domain name(subject to availability)free for the first year which you really need to have to give your site a more professional look and feel.It also includes personalised e-mail boxes up to 25 (dependent on which package you choose)
As stated earlier I was not looking to build anything flashy,but I needed a platform which required a store and a payment gateway in our case PayPal.The best option that gave us that was the middle of their 5 packages,the professional plan.
This plan currently sells for $19.80 per month over a 12 month period,but reduces to just $7
per month for extending the plan to a 120 month period so the longer you purchase a plan for,the more the discount increases.For example we purchased a 10 year professional plan for the equivalent of $7 per month. Paying for a website that incorporates your own chosen domain with personalised email,and an online store with a payment gateway to accept payments was to me, an excellent deal,along with all the other features that this builder incorporates when you upgrade to a paid plan.
per month for extending the plan to a 120 month period so the longer you purchase a plan for,the more the discount increases.For example we purchased a 10 year professional plan for the equivalent of $7 per month. Paying for a website that incorporates your own chosen domain with personalised email,and an online store with a payment gateway to accept payments was to me, an excellent deal,along with all the other features that this builder incorporates when you upgrade to a paid plan.
Below I have left you what each of the first 4 plans include and their prices.There are 6 prices for each plan and I have deliberately started off for each price plan the most expensive first to demonstrate to you how much discount is available the longer you invest in a plan.
Included in the plan.
Basic plan
Prices
Free plan-$0 for a lifetime.
Professional plan
The free plan includes a sub domain name which consists of a series of jumbled up letters, numbers and forward slashes.Imagine telling someone your sub domain web address and expecting them to remember it?
So without a doubt you are much better off purchasing your own domain,but with this and other web builders cannot be done without purchasing a subscription to a package.
With any paid package you get your first years personal domain name of your choice(subject to availability)included free of charge,then it is charged at just $15 per year thereafter,but also includes up to 25 personal e-mail addresses depending upon your chosen package, and is a feature that is extra on some other domain plans.
Also as earlier stated having your own domain and personalised e-mail address(es) give your site a far more professional look and feel.
If you're happy to have a free for life site without the added features, using just a sub domain,that's also fine,it's always there and available for you but upgradable,should you decide to do so in the future.
Again free plans and all subscriptions include S.S.L(Secured socket layer)
To anyone who is not familiar with this,look for the little padlock icon on the left at the top of each page,and when clicked upon states...
"Connection is secure
Your information (for example passwords or credit card numbers)is private when it is sent to this site"
This was important for me as it inspires confidence in potential customers and could prove the difference between a sale or no sale.
This is also another feature that some other domain providers charge extra for.
Yet again another free feature included in purchasing your domain name with this web builder and again another feature that is sometimes extra with other domain providers.
Whois is a database that holds the names and addresses of every domain name holder,and when a domain name is searched on the whois database then without whois privacy protection your name and address is revealed,this feature was essential to me in order to protect my anonymity.
Live support
Whether you have a free plan or a paid subscription,if a problem should arise or you need advice on a particular issue, just turn to this web builders excellent support team which is at hand 24/7 via way of live chat to provide answers and solutions.I have personally tested this out,but to be honest I have only needed to enlist their help on approximately five occasions,but their response was lightning fast and problems were resolved within minutes.Absolute phenomenal live chat support,highly recommended.
Summary
I have to say that after the initial
frustrations of experimenting with other website builders and not being able to get along with them,this website builder for me has unlocked the solution and provided the answers I sought, and I am pleased and fulfilled at the whole overall experience of creating this "giant jigsaw puzzle". Patience and perseverance is the key to gain confidence.
I am happy to say I am now able to build a basic website using this website builder. Infact after the experience of building this, my very first site for my wifes business,I started to enjoy building websites. So I built another one using this website builder,which although isn't overly complicated,can be a touch frustrating at times.
Before you go,if you would like to build a website for yourself,please click on the blue highlighted link found at the very bottom of this review to create your free forever website and should you decide to purchase a package,we at HerbalandGenerics.com will receive a small commission at no extra charge to yourself.If you find any difficulty using the builder,please email us enquiries@herbalandgenerics.com and request a link to 111 bite sized step by step tutorial videos totally free, to aid you building your site with this excellent website builder,which I praise so highly that we purchased a ten year package.
The best part of it all was that I managed to build our site using just a smartphone.No computer was necessary whatsoever.
E-commerce
Even on the free for life plan you can build your own store,but given the storage limit of the free plan 500MB,you will not be able to fill it with as many products as purchasing a package.You will also not have a pay by PayPal option with the free plan,which for me was important,as it offers buyers protection,and you cannot sell products,which also for me was central to my site without purchasing at least the professional package.
A paid package also removes all advertising banners promoting the web builder,and also gives you a variety of other features.
Please don't misunderstand,although 500MB of storage on the free package is not huge,it really allows you to gain a very
A paid package also removes all advertising banners promoting the web builder,and also gives you a variety of other features.
Please don't misunderstand,although 500MB of storage on the free package is not huge,it really allows you to gain a very
good understanding of the web builder.
What I actually done was to build my site first using the free for life plan,then purchased the professional package at the finish when I needed to add other features such as PayPal.
What I actually done was to build my site first using the free for life plan,then purchased the professional package at the finish when I needed to add other features such as PayPal.
Other features
I am a great believer in not having to pay for anything more than you actually require.
For example where is the
sense in a gentleman paying for a medical insurance policy that includes X amount of dollars of maternity cover,which although he is paying for will never receive the benefit of?
So although this web builder has many paid features,a lot of them were of no use to me,so I have only subscribed to a package with features that I require.
You can read all about the various plans and features in the link below.
For example where is the
sense in a gentleman paying for a medical insurance policy that includes X amount of dollars of maternity cover,which although he is paying for will never receive the benefit of?
So although this web builder has many paid features,a lot of them were of no use to me,so I have only subscribed to a package with features that I require.
You can read all about the various plans and features in the link below.
Domain name
The free plan includes a sub domain name which consists of a series of jumbled up letters, numbers and forward slashes.Imagine telling someone your sub domain web address and expecting them to remember it?
So without a doubt you are much better off purchasing your own domain,but with this and other web builders cannot be done without purchasing a subscription to a package.
With any paid package you get your first years personal domain name of your choice(subject to availability)included free of charge,then it is charged at just $15 per year thereafter,but also includes up to 25 personal e-mail addresses depending upon your chosen package, and is a feature that is extra on some other domain plans.
Also as earlier stated having your own domain and personalised e-mail address(es) give your site a far more professional look and feel.
If you're happy to have a free for life site without the added features, using just a sub domain,that's also fine,it's always there and available for you but upgradable,should you decide to do so in the future.
Hosting
The Hosting of your site is included with the Free plan and all paid packages.
S.S.L
S.S.L
Again free plans and all subscriptions include S.S.L(Secured socket layer)
To anyone who is not familiar with this,look for the little padlock icon on the left at the top of each page,and when clicked upon states...
"Connection is secure
Your information (for example passwords or credit card numbers)is private when it is sent to this site"
This was important for me as it inspires confidence in potential customers and could prove the difference between a sale or no sale.
This is also another feature that some other domain providers charge extra for.
Whois Privacy
Yet again another free feature included in purchasing your domain name with this web builder and again another feature that is sometimes extra with other domain providers.
Whois is a database that holds the names and addresses of every domain name holder,and when a domain name is searched on the whois database then without whois privacy protection your name and address is revealed,this feature was essential to me in order to protect my anonymity.
Live support
Whether you have a free plan or a paid subscription,if a problem should arise or you need advice on a particular issue, just turn to this web builders excellent support team which is at hand 24/7 via way of live chat to provide answers and solutions.I have personally tested this out,but to be honest I have only needed to enlist their help on approximately five occasions,but their response was lightning fast and problems were resolved within minutes.Absolute phenomenal live chat support,highly recommended.
Summary
I have to say that after the initial
frustrations of experimenting with other website builders and not being able to get along with them,this website builder for me has unlocked the solution and provided the answers I sought, and I am pleased and fulfilled at the whole overall experience of creating this "giant jigsaw puzzle". Patience and perseverance is the key to gain confidence.
I am happy to say I am now able to build a basic website using this website builder. Infact after the experience of building this, my very first site for my wifes business,I started to enjoy building websites. So I built another one using this website builder,which although isn't overly complicated,can be a touch frustrating at times.
Before you go,if you would like to build a website for yourself,please click on the blue highlighted link found at the very bottom of this review to create your free forever website and should you decide to purchase a package,we at HerbalandGenerics.com will receive a small commission at no extra charge to yourself.If you find any difficulty using the builder,please email us enquiries@herbalandgenerics.com and request a link to 111 bite sized step by step tutorial videos totally free, to aid you building your site with this excellent website builder,which I praise so highly that we purchased a ten year package.
The best part of it all was that I managed to build our site using just a smartphone.No computer was necessary whatsoever.
A website builder that fulfilled all of my criteria.What's not to like?
And the website builder that I used to build this site and put above the well known others that I tried out for a variety of aspects but above all,ease of use is this Website builder.
And the website builder that I used to build this site and put above the well known others that I tried out for a variety of aspects but above all,ease of use is this Website builder.