Whether you are a large business owner, a sole proprietor or just a newbie in the field of business, you would know much essential it is to create a website for your company in today’s technology progressive world as it will prove to be an important advertising tool.
Since the website will represent your company, it has to be exceptional and unique. Are you still a newbie in terms of website building? If yes, then don’t worry because this guide will help you to create a website through Weebly. Weebly is a drag and drop, intuitive website builder which several small businesses use to launch their eCommerce or professional website.
For a minimal price of $4 per month, Weebly’s website builders provide you a business reliable, customizable and fast loading website which will showcase features like social share buttons, forms, and analytics. Moreover, with the help of Weebly website builder, you can create a website even in under an hour. It is natural that now you would be curious about how to proceed from scratch. So, we have prepared a step by step instruction for you. Read ahead to know more!
Read: Weebly Review and Coupon Code
Step 1: Sign Up and Choose Your Weebly Website
The first step is quite an obvious one, to go to Weebly.com and click on one of these options- Sign Up, create your online store or Build a professional website. If you an eCommerce store owner for which you need to design a website, then you need to choose ‘Create your online store’ option, whereas if you just need a website to represent your business and not sell any products, then you go with the ‘Build a professional website’ option.
However, if you choose ‘Sign Up’, then you will be taken to a page where you can choose your website type. Once the sign-up screen pops op, you need to enter details like your name, email, and password. Then you need to select whether you want to start an online store or just need a website. If you are not ready for a store yet but plan to open up one in the future, then don’t worry because you can add an online store to your website at any time. But if you want the website solely for the purpose of a blog or a portfolio, then it is best to choose ‘I just need a website’ option.
Step 2: Pick a theme
There are six major categories of website themes that you can choose, ranging from business, event, portfolio, blog, personal and other. You must choose a theme that meets your business goals, is your industry-specific and aligns with your brand too. For instance, a designer would probably choose a portfolio theme with a view profile button on the homepage that directs customers to view their work. If you want to see a preview of any theme, you just need to simply click on the theme image. Once you are done selecting the theme, click on the Start Editing option.
#Tip: While picking a theme, you must know a few things. Firstly, with the Weebly website builder, you can change your website theme anytime and the prior information is automatically imported to the new theme. Choose a theme in which you need to spend less time to customize it according to your industry and also keep in mind your ultimate goal. If you want a more informative website, then you must choose a theme that has clear tabs on top and several links to other pages which will help the visitors to navigate through your website.
Step 3: Get yourself a domain name
You can search and buy your own domain name with Weebly. If you buy one of their web hosting plans, you even get a free domain, otherwise, you can use the free Weebly subdomain, purchase it from a third party registrar or connect a domain you already own to your Weebly website. If you don’t have a domain, you can purchase one through Weebly after selecting your theme. If you plan to use your own custom domain, you must keep in mind that for it you will have to purchase a Weebly website premium plan. Every paid plan includes a unique domain as well.
Step 4: Get familiar with your editor
After selecting the theme and getting a domain name, your next step should be to get familiar with the Weebly editor. There are individual page elements such as images, text, sliders, buttons, titles, slideshow, map, sections and so on which you can drag and drop onto your theme from the element bar on the left-hand side of the page.
You must also explore the sitewide features with site tabs from the navigation tab on top of the page. The tabs are ‘build’, ‘themes’, ‘pages’, ‘apps’ and ‘settings’ with which you can add new pages, add apps, change themes and even update sitewide settings. Lastly, you should also check your design with the real-time site preview as you edit. By clicking on the computer icon on the top of your page, you can see how your design ill look on various devices. But keep in mind, that this option will only show how your site will appear on different devices and not how it will work.
Read: Benefits of Using a Website Builder
Step 5: Add and Edit Pages and Navigation
Now you can start building the pages of your website by clicking on the ‘Pages’ tab on the top of your website builder screen. Once you click on the tab, you will be taken to the Pages screen where you can use the icons to add, rearrange and hide the pages to create drop-down menu options or sub-pages as well as your preferred navigation menu.
Whichever page you will have on the top will automatically become your homepage. If you wish to change it, then drag your new desired homepage to the top of the page list. You can also edit the settings of each page by clicking on the little folder icon present.
Step 6: Change or Edit Text
This is a very easy step. If you have not entered any text, then when you click on the area, a text setting bar will pop up. Through this bar, you can edit fonts, change colors, size, formatting and in case of a button, you can also copy links. For editing the title or text box, you need to click on the text box while for editing the text inside a button, you must click on the button. You can even link the button to a PDF, URL or a contact form by clicking on the ‘link’ from the pop-up menu.
Step 7: Add or Change an Image
For adding or changing an image on your web page, you must click either on an existing image, upload a new one or add an image element to your page. You can use the URL of an online image, upload a computer file or use a Weebly image while adding a new image. Images can be added in headers, backgrounds, galleries, or on their own.
Step 8: Add Apps and Other Elements
Once you are ready with designed the text and images, you can add additional page elements such as sliders, tables, dividers, forms and so on. Though the functioning to edit these is different but Weebly’s easy to use editor will guide you thoroughly. You can simply drag and drop the elements according to your liking on the web page and then edit the fields or parameters.
Step 9: Publish Your Website
As soon as you are done with all the initial editing, you are ready to publish this website. You can make changes to it any time even after going live, through Weebly website builder. For publishing the website, click on the orange-colored ‘Publish’ button on the top right-hand corner of the editor. Once you very you being a human by the CAPTCHA code, you must click on ‘OK, publish my site’ option.
Step 10: Upgrade as you Grow
As you will work with the Weebly website builder, you will get more and more aware of how and which all features you can use and accommodate to improve your website. Moreover, each of the paid plans of Weebly gives you access to the website builder.
If you connect a domain name you already own to a Weebly website, then go with Connect plan while if you want to exclude the Weebly ad link on the bottom of your website and get a custom domain as well, then choose the Starter Plan.
Conclusion:
Your company’s website will not only serve as an important resource through which the customers can find information about your business, but it will also help you in building your brand awareness and even selling products as well as services directly.
However, for all of this to happen, you need to ensure that you have a great website and for that, you need to have knowledge about how to create a website. However, we hope that with the easy to use Weebly website builder, you were able to create your website efficiently and super-fast!
