Methodology: How We Review Website Builders

Depending on the website builder, it takes about 30-50 person-hours to write one review article and shoot the video. Hey, we are not slow but meticulous 😉. The majority of the time goes to testing.

EASE OF USE

This is the most important feature of any website builder. Some of the questions we try to answer during testing:

  • Can you create a fully functional website without a single line of code?
  • Is it a drag-and-drop website builder?
  • Is the interface intuitive?
  • Does the builder provide smooth onboarding with startup guides and checklists?
  • Do they have extensive knowledgebase, blogs, or video tutorials?
  • How helpful is their support?

DESIGN

Website design is critical in conveying trust and turning visitors into clients. You need a professional-looking and attractive website. How do we check the design intel?

  • We look at the number of templates. For example, Wix has 800+ templates, while Weebly has 60+.
  • The quantity alone is a vague indicator. How do these templates look? Are they from the 90s? Do they look very similar to each other?
  • Customizability. We should be able to upload custom fonts, insert custom code, or add third-party widgets.
  • Mobile and tablet editing. You should be able to deliver mobile-optimized experiences.

PERFORMANCE

Website speed and uptime directly influence your business revenue. We are very serious about it. Performance is a complex variable, but how do we approach it? We test the most important site speed factors.

  • Web hosting. Do you get enough hosting resources? Can you scale whenever needed?
  • Templates. Are they mobile-friendly and optimized for Core Web Vitals?
  • Media optimization. Does the builder compress the images or provide built-in support for WebP or AVIF?
  • The room for code optimization (minify, defer, remove, and preload the code). WordPress.org is a champ here because you can do whatever you want with the themes.

SEO & MARKETING

Building the site is just a small part of creating an online presence. The hardest part is promoting it. What do we look for?

  • Basic SEO functionality, aka On-page SEO (adding titles, meta descriptions, alt text, headings, etc.)
  • Advanced SEO features, such as adding canonicals, directives, schema, etc.
  • Mobile-friendliness and performance. The templates should be compatible with all mobile devices, and they should load fast.
  • Built-in marketing tools. Some builders have their own CRM like Wix or email marketing tools like Squarespace.
  • Smooth integration with third-party marketing apps, such as Mailchimp, Google AdSense, and Facebook Pixel.

ECOMMERCE FEATURES

Online sales are the future of retail. When we test the website builders, we focus on the following:

  • Ecommerce essentials: supported payment gateways, basic inventory and order management, product reviews, advanced search, and filters.
  • Advanced ecommerce features: abandoned cart recovery, customizable checkouts, omnichannel and international selling.
  • Limitations on the number of products and sales and on the amount of bandwidth and storage. For example, Hostinger Builder (Zyro) allows you to sell up to 500 products, while BigCommerce has an annual sales limit on every plan.
  • Transactions fees. You will anyway pay the fees for payment processing, but you do not want to pay extra. Some website builders charge additional transaction fees of up to 5%.

ANALYTICS

Here is simple.:

  1. We check whether the website builder has built-in analytics that is beginner-friendly. The users should be able to check basic metrics, such as site sessions, unique visitors, geo, and devices.
  2. The builder should easily integrate with third-party analytics apps, including Google Analytics or Hotjar, in a couple of clicks.

PRICING

We appreciate when it is:

  • Great value for money
  • Affordable
  • Discountable (annual, introductory, and special discounts).
  • With a money-back guarantee
  • Without hidden costs
  • With a free trial

SUPPORT

The more checks, the better:

  • Various contact methods
  • Round-the-clock availability
  • In-house support team
  • Helpful educational materials (knowledgebase, video tutorials, webinars)
  • Our experience with the support team. Yes, we do contact support several times during testing with different queries, ranging from pricing to technical ones.

USER REVIEWS

What do other users say about the website builder?

We try to extract valuable information from user reviews, separating noise and dishonest testimonials on third-party sites. Some of the channels we use include Trustpilot, Capterra, TrustRadius, social networks, and others.

COMPETITORS

Finally, we should see how the website builder compares to the competition for the above factors, features, and pricing.

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