The Internet is a realm of all things bright and beautiful, and there are a million ways you can get a piece of that cake.
For all your needs and whims, there is a service or a product available on the net that you can grasp at a moment’s notice.
But what if you want to provide a service to other people? What if you wish to have an identity on the Internet?
In that case, grab a URL on the web and get down to building a fantastic website! There is nothing more attractive than a well-built aesthetic website of your own.
A personal website can do wonders for any goal you might have set – right from composing a blog to creating an e-commerce platform.
If you are facing woes in creating a website, fret not. With truckloads of website-building tools available on the Internet, you can easily make your mark on the web.
Weebly is one such website builder that can assist you in creating your fantastic designer personal website without writing a single line of code. Moreover, it is free.
Weebly is not a coding language. It is an application, a service whose function is to aid and assist in creating a website. The experience of using a website builder is a very visual one, synonymous with playing with Legos – you are building something that you imagined but from scratch.
Let us get down to it and build a personal website using Weebly.
Design a Personal Website
#1 Signing-Up On Weebly
For starters, you need to go to Weebly’s homepage and click on “Get Started.” Next, Weebly will ask for your personal details and a new password for your account.
Once you have filled in all the necessary information and clicked “Sign Up,” Weebly takes you to a new page to ask you about the website you want to design.
Weebly will ask you, “what kind of website would you like to create?”. Here, the builder gives you a choice between two options – a simple website or a website with an online store.
You can choose whichever option suits your needs. Remember, this choice is not final. You can add an online store to your website anytime in the process.
#2 Choosing a Theme
Once you have chosen an option after the sign-up page, Weebly will direct you to the “Select a Theme” gallery.
Weebly has an unending array of themes to choose from. These themes have been catered to specific genres; you can get all “blogging” themes in one place and all “business” themes in another.
Weebly has numerous genres that will serve all your needs. The builder also has certain specific themes, like restaurant themes or cleaning service themes, under the Business section.
These designs save time because you only have to fill in proper nouns on the website, and you’re good to go.
The themes that Weebly offers all modern, sleek, and aesthetic. Moreover, they are all compatible with a mobile phone screen. You can preview each theme by clicking on the thumbnail and experience the theme full-screen.
Once you are satisfied with the theme of your choice, you can click “Start Editing.”
The template is what your visitors will see first upon coming to your website. It would be best if your website homepage had precise information about what you’re trying to showcase.
Would you like a call-to-action (CTA) button, like “Book Now?” Or would you like an introduction to your blog along with a few pictures of yourself and maybe your logo? Weebly already has something to serve your needs.
By the end of this step, your website has started to take shape. You have browsed through Weebly’s theme gallery, chosen a theme for yourself, and picked a design that you like. So let’s move on ahead.
#3 Claiming Your Domain Name
Every website has a domain name. It is literally what you want to name your website. This name appears in the website address, and it is how people will find and reach your showcase. For example, Weebly’s domain name is “weebly.com.”
Once you have started to paint a look for your website, Weebly will ask you to choose a domain name. Since you’re recruiting Weebly to build your website, it can get a free Weebly subdomain.
That means your website URL will contain “.weebly.com”. While most professional websites choose to purchase their domain names, a personal website can afford to use a Weebly subdomain, mainly because it is free.
In case you want to register a new domain name, you can do so through Weebly. In the pop-up domain choosing box, click on “choose” next to whatever name you like the most.
Remember, you will have to pay some money for this and upgrade to a paid plan on Weebly to keep your website up. Weebly has plans ranging from $14-$20 per year for purchasing a new domain name.
Getting your domain is like reserving a parking spot on the Internet – you will have to pay some money to get it. However, the upside to this is that your website looks very professional and has finesse.
Now that your site has an address on the web let’s develop what visitors would see when they show up there.
#4 Designing The Website
After choosing the domain, Weebly takes you to its website builder screen. It will show you a constant preview of your website according to your chosen theme.
That is where you can go nuts about what you want on your website and what you don’t. You can formulate content like text and multimedia that will show up on your website.
You can drag and drop media, or click and edit text, without needing to code because Weebly is a “What you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) website builder.
You can also change the background image to suit your needs. Moreover, you can add elements to your webpage. You can create a media gallery, or add buttons, or add text anywhere you like.
You can upload multimedia from your device or use Weebly’s database for the same.
You can also edit, add, or subtract the pages on your website. Go to a different page by clicking “Pages” on the top Navigation menu, and then you can design the page yourself. Add whatever elements you feel are necessary.
Weebly even has a variety of choices when it comes to creating a new page. It has templates in place for whatever type of page you want to add – a blog post page, a shopping page, etc.
Now that you’ve created the body of the website, it’s time to give it life.
#5 Choosing Apps And Creating Stores
Weebly allows you to do a bunch of things with your new website. The most common feature used is the shopping e-commerce application.
With a few clicks on Weebly, you can convert your website into an e-commerce bazaar. You can check out different apps in the Weebly App Center.
Weebly even has apps that can boost the performance of your site. The App Center has more than 300 apps and categorizes them for sales, traffic boosts and recommends the same for your content as well. Out of these 300, roughly 50 are free to use.
If you chose a simple website first, but now you want an online store there, don’t worry. Weebly has you covered. It would be best if you went to your account dashboard, check the menu on the top left, and click “Store.”
Or you can choose “Products” in the website builder. Weebly will guide you in the process of creating an online store. You will have to add store info, add products, set up shipping, payments, taxes, and start accepting orders once you publish.
Weebly has some professional tools for a business website – shipping calculators, email PR, advanced analytics, etc. However, most of these services have to be purchased.
A professional plan on Weebly will remove advertisements, give you a unique domain, unlimited storage, and additional security.
Finally, it would help if you chose a Weebly plan before publishing. You have been on the Free plan all this time, and it is just fine. You can publish your website without spending a single cent.
However, your website will constantly feature Weebly advertisements and operate with a ‘.weebly.com’ subdomain on a free plan. There are other plans that you can choose from, and they are not very expensive either.
For hobby sites, blogs, or portfolios, you can choose Weebly’s Personal plan, costing $6 for a year. You get a custom domain name, but don’t lose the adverts. In addition, you can get a Professional plan or a Performance plan for commercial purposes.
#6 Publish!
That’s it. You can now publish your site if you’re satisfied with what you created. However, if you ever want to change some things, you can always go back to the editor and make amends, even after publishing.
Now, click on the blue “publish” button in the top right corner. Voila! Your website is live.
Additionally, if you want to take your site down for some reason, you can do so with a single click. Scroll to the very bottom of your profile settings. There, you will find an option to unpublish the site. Easy!
Weebly’s USP
Weebly is a solid, robust website builder that can make you a website for free without having to write any code. It is an ideal tool for those looking to bank on the Internet in their very own spaces.
With an enormous amount of themes and pictures to choose from, Weebly makes a designer’s job very easy. Anyone can set up their website from the ground up with a few clicks, and that too in no time. So go over to Weebly, and make your personal website, now!
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