Site builders

Many websites offer their own free website builders. For people who want to create their own site but don't know  any coding such as HTML and PHP - and who don't understand web building concepts - site builders are brilliant.

Be warned though - some site builders are so basic and limited that you may easily become frustrated trying to put together a web site using one of them.

Never pay for web hosting just because the hosting comes with a free site builder - unless you fully test the site builder before purchase.

If there is no fully functioning demo that allows you to fully test the site builder before purchase - run away!
Even then, you should carefully consider whether you want to be tied to a particular web host.

You might also want to ask some pre-purchase questions of the web host - such as:






Make a list of the features you want in your website, and then check to see if the site builder comes with those features. This list might include:

Here is a list of popular sitebuilders. Each of these can help you build your own wonderful website.

Swsoft SiteBuilder
Online site builder demo: http://www.swsoft.com/en/products/sitebuilder/demo
This is an extremely easy builder to use. You can very quickly put together a slick, professional-looking website, with a minimum amount of effort. It comes with a variety of templates that are pre-installed. (no need to download them)
Also features a shopping cart, gallery and blog.
You won't be able to customize your website with your own design, or put some page elements (such as images) exactly where you would like to place them. There are limited options with placement of banners and logos.

You will have to buy this site builder to be able to have it on your own hard drive. Some web hosts include it with their packages, and you will need to log in online to edit your site. Web hosts that include Swsoft SiteBuilder in their hosting include Dotster (US) and StudioCoast (Australia)

Soholaunch
Online site builder demo: http://info.soholaunch.com/Demo_Signup.php
Soholaunch is popular with people starting up their online shop. It comes with an extremely easy to use shopping cart, where you simply drop in photos of your items. "....product categories, shipping methods, tax rates, payment options, exchange policies, and much more; all without typing a single line of code."
Items are dragged from a menu into a grid. You can have blogs, event calendars, email newsletters, form builder, and even a talking character.
The included templates are fairly basic, and there is not a lot of functionality for customizing your website with your own design.


Blue Voda
Online site builder demo: http://www.bluevoda.com
The Blue Voda site builder has a higher learning curve than other site builders  - it may take you several weeks to get your website how you want it - but this may be because you'll be busy trying out all the features.
With the Blue Voda builder, you can build a site from the ground up, exactly the way you want it. If you can imagine it, Blue Voda has the features to enable you to build it. This website, make-website.com is made with Blue Voda.
For a total newbie, some things may be confusing, or take a little time to understand - the tutorials do not cover everything, and you may spend days wandering around their forums trying to find an answer!
For the degree of customization available, Blue Voda is strides ahead of other site builders. You can download it for free to your hard drive, and design your site. But to put it online, you must also sign up for VodaHost hosting.


SiteZen Pro
demo: http://sitemagix.com/main/page_user_features_live_demo.html
SiteZen Pro has a shopping cart, very nice templates and lots of features and widgets ("Widgets allow a script to be packaged in a way that can easily be incorporated into a web site by novice users.")

·	Does the site manager come with an automatic installer to install the software? Or will I have to use FTP?
·	If I have problems in uploading or installing your site builder, will you help me to upload or install it?

·	photo gallery
·	your own banner
·	your own logo
·	amount of pages (one? five? One hundred? More?)
·	one website? two websites? A hundred websites?
·	guestbook
·	online shop
·	paypal facilities
·	be able to insert ads
·	multimedia capabilities - music, videos