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Sophisticated Website Builders for Startups on a Shoestring Budget

Scott Gerber
Scott Gerber
business.com Member
Jul 01, 2020

You don't need to spend a ton of money to build a great business website.

A high-quality website can attract customers and give them a positive experience with your company. If you don't have much web design experience, though, you may be concerned about the cost and time it might take for someone else to build the site for you. Fortunately, there are tons of website-building tools that allow you to create your own business website, even if you don't know how to code.

Many of these platforms offer plenty of sophisticated features without the hefty price tag, while also being user-friendly. To help you explore your options, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share their favorite low-cost, high-quality website builders. Check out these DIY tools before you outsource the job.

1. WordPress

"Over 450 million websites use WordPress, and for good reason. The platform is inexpensive and easy to use, and when combined with an optimal theme, the SEO is strong out of the box. Many plugins (some free) enhance the website. My agency has migrated many business websites from platforms like Wix over to WordPress, and the results were always excellent – including SEO and client revenue growth." – Ron Lieback, ContentMender

2. ClickFunnels

"You can build almost anything with ClickFunnels. It is great for getting an MVP up of a product and testing something for under a couple hundred dollars. Our funnels sell hundreds of millions of dollars, but we still start them out in ClickFunnels to test ideas and emotional triggers. Do not build a corporate site first. Get an offer and sell it." – James Guldan, Vision Tech Team

3. Beaver Builder (WordPress)

"WordPress is an amazing CMS, but its enormous flexibility can be really overwhelming. That's why we recommend pairing it with the Beaver Builder theme and page builder plugin, which gives you a WYSIWYG experience creating page designs and stunning layouts, from opt-ins to landing pages and online course layouts." – Nathalie Lussier, AccessAlly

4. Google My Business website builder

"If you are truly on a shoestring budget, try Google's website builder. It's a free tool by Google that allows you to create a fully customized single-page website for your small business. You can customize themes, fonts, colors, CTAs, etc. Also, the tool itself is run through Google My Business, so if you haven't set up your Google My Business account, you can get everything done in one shot." – Jordan Conrad, Writing Explained

 

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5. Weebly

"Weebly is easy to use, flexible with its designs, and has outstanding customer support. I always recommend it for people with zero web design experience. It also has a very reasonable pricing structure if you're on a tight budget. If you don't feel very tech savvy and want to easily put together a website, Weebly is the best website builder to use." – Ibrahim Alkurd, New Mine

6. Wix

"I have used Wix to build smaller websites for some of our clients, and it works great. They have a huge collection of templates, and the site speed is great. They also have SEO support to add keywords and metatags to make it easier for on-page SEO. There is a matching app as well that can be downloaded." – Piyush Jain, Simpalm

7. Webflow

"Webflow provides a variety of in-depth features and an intuitive CMS for business owners who want to publish lots of content on their site. Plus, there are free first-party tutorials available on YouTube to help beginner developers create their own responsive website from scratch. It's an excellent solution for non-developers looking to create a modern-looking website to host content on." – Amine Rahal, IronMonk Solutions

8. Sitebuilder.com

"Sitebuilder.com is less known than some of the other offerings out there, but is feature-packed, simple to use and priced a lot more competitively than the more well-known options." – Josh Weiss, Reggie

9. Bubble

"While Bubble has a somewhat steeper learning curve, it really doesn't take much more than a couple of YouTube videos to find your way around the platform. It's part of a new no-code movement fitting for 2020. The best part: There are templates, plugins and all sorts of things, and you can even create native mobile apps for your business." – Joey Bertschler, bitgrit

10. Squarespace

"I've built so many websites using Squarespace. Their templates are user-friendly, clean and easy to modify. They always look professional and get the job done. Most recently, Squarespace has added enhanced features like scheduling, which is a real game-changer for solopreneurs." – Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage

11. Divi (WordPress)

"Divi is not just a WordPress theme ⁠– it's a completely new website-building platform. Divi is used by web design professionals and new users alike. One of the distinguishable factors is their customer support. Say you want to add a new custom layout to the landing page: Just drop a message to their support and they'll revert with a custom code that you can just copy and paste." – Kelly Richardson, Infobrandz

12. Domain.com

"Domain.com can truly be described as having a plan for a shoestring budget. Their plan starts at $1.99, and they have so many free additions that make creating a healthy website easy. You've got templates, SSL certification and other neat features. It's pretty awesome for a new business professional who needs basic features." – Blair Williams, MemberPress

13. Elementor (WordPress)

"Elementor is a page builder available for WordPress. It has both a free and premium version, but the free version is very flexible and robust. Use the drag-and-drop builder to add animations, shape dividers, gradient backgrounds and headline effects. Your site will always look good on mobile, as it includes responsive page-building tools. Use it to create an online store, portfolio or business website." – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

14. Shopify

"Shopify has free and cheap website options for e-commerce and dropshipping businesses. Its Abandoned Cart Recovery feature is a really good option to remind customers about the brand, the products they want and the possible transaction a customer is missing out on." – Daisy Jing, Banish

15. Constant Contact Website Builder

"Constant Contact's website builder uses artificial intelligence to create a customized site to fit your needs. No coding knowledge is required, which makes it perfect for beginners. It includes a drag-and-drop builder as well, which makes it easy for non-techy individuals to create the website of their dreams." – Jared Atchison, WPForms

16. Gator

"Gator by HostGator is a pretty awesome choice for anyone who's looking for an affordable website. It's useful because you can also get a free domain name and free hosting from HostGator. It's all-in-one, it's simple, and you can just focus on lead generation and content creation." – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

17. Any WYSIWYG WordPress builder

"When selecting the best website platform, there are three key considerations: (1) What is your budget, (2) what features do you need, and (3) what do you want your website to do for you? For smaller-budget websites that still need functionality, WYSIWYG WordPress builders are the clear winner! The top ones are Divi, Beaver Builder, Elementor, Visual Composer and Thrive Architect." – Ryan Meghdies, Tastic Marketing Inc.

[For more information on the top services for web design, check out our reviews of the best website builders and design services.]

Image Credit: Motortion / Getty Images
Scott Gerber
Scott Gerber
business.com Member
Scott Gerber is the founder of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. Gerber is also a serial entrepreneur, regular TV commentator and author of the book Never Get a “Real” Job.