How to Create a Website on Weebly

Are you a non-coder trying to build a workable website without beating your brains out? Weebly is designed exactly for you! The site builder offers a simple procedure for creating professional, beautifully looking websites for various purposes. You won’t need to code!

Still, a manual with step-by-step instructions on how a user should build a Weebly website can be handy. Read this article until the end, and your site’s creation, publication, and maintenance will be a breeze for you.

Step 1. Signup

Weebly belongs to non-downloadable platforms, so it all starts on the www.weebly.com site. Here, you need to create a new account even if you’re going to use the builder’s free version. The signup process includes three simple stages.

#1 Getting Registered

On the starting page, you need to press the registration icon:

You also can click on the central “Create Your Website” banner. The next step will be the same anyway.

You’ll see a pop-up where you should indicate a few personal details like your name, email, and password. No long-continued completion is involved here, and this is Weebly’s big plus.

Once you complete the form, you have to agree with the Weebly policies by ticking the corresponding box. In case you wish to learn all the usage conditions, you can use the links given.

Now, you’re ready to get registered. Press Continue to complete the signup.

#2 Website

Although you have created an account, you need to specify what website you wish to build on Weebly. The more precise you are, the better result you get in the end. There’s nothing difficult here. First, you have to indicate whether your project is a personal website or a business one.

You should choose the Try Square Online banner when planning a company or an eCommerce site. Don’t worry about the different names. Weebly has been part of Square Online Group since 2018.

You’ll continue building your site with the help of Weebly. The only difference is that you’ll be able to empower your website with Square Online tools for online sales and other professional activities.

Next, you make further precisions. Thus, if you have opted for Square Online, you’ll be redirected to another window containing several descriptions that may correlate with your website’s main activities:

If nothing fits you, you can tick the box next to “None of these apply to me.” The system will let you describe your website’s specifications yourself.

Finally, you have to choose how complex your website should be regarding the number of pages. If you plan a single page presence, opt for “Single shopping page.” When a full-size eCommerce website with an online store is needed, choose “Full website + Online store.”

Pay attention to the Online Checkout Links option here. With its help, you can add links to your social media accounts or blogs and thus let your customers purchase your goods or services without creating a separate website.

Are you not sure about what option to choose at this stage? You can click the Help Me Choose icon, and Weebly will guide you through the matter. If you’re ready with your choice, press Continue.

#3 Dashboard

Once you define your website’s needs, you are redirected to the Weebly Dashboard. This will be your unified control panel, through which you can keep your profile updated and manage every little aspect of your website.

Weebly worked out a very handy interface for its Dashboard. You can see all the necessary options on the left. However, since the building process only starts for you, the Setup Guides in the right corner will be more useful for you now.

You can press the Edit Site icon and start creating your website at once. No complicated manipulations will be necessary. Yet, stick to the following order of steps to make your building process smooth.

Step 2. Weebly Theme

Your edits start with defining a template. Once you click on the Edit Site button, you’ll see a new window with Weebly themes available for your project. Choose the one that suits you the most.

A great thing about Weebly themes is that you can choose any without long hesitation. If you dislike the final result, you’ll be able to change the theme at any time – the option we miss so much in Wix.

Weebly’s choice of themes is not too big, and they aren’t the top design offers in the industry. But these are professionally built, appealing themes with great responsiveness. They all are free! You can test any theme, by the way, before selecting it. The Preview option will let you see what the chosen design will look like on desktop and mobile gadgets.

You can preview as many themes as you wish. After your choice is made, you can proceed by clicking the Customize button. Besides the design, you’ll be able to tune up your website’s SEO, social media connections, and many more. Among others, Weebly allows you to duplicate your site and apply various changes at once.

Step 3. Domain

However, there will be one more important step before the customization process. The system will offer you to connect a domain to your website. Supplying your project with a domain is crucial. No domain means no address on the Internet.

There are three domain options available on Weebly:

• registering a custom domain through Weebly;
• connecting your own domain purchased elsewhere;
• using the Weebly subdomain.

Let’s start from the end. What are the advantages of connecting a Weebly subdomain to your site? Surely, the vital benefit is that you get the option for free. The only drawback is that your website’s URL will contain the weebly.com element.

Such an address doesn’t look professional, so the free domain option can scarcely suit a solid brand. However, for an individual user or a small company starting their online activities, this is quite a workable solution.

When you already possess a domain, you can easily connect it to your website under construction. You should click on the banner with “Use a domain I own elsewhere.”

Pay attention that you’ll need to upgrade to any paid Weebly plan to access the option. Once you do it, you can type in the necessary domain and click on Verify. Your domain will be checked and connected to your website in no time.

Do you not have a domain but wish your business to look pro? Weebly offers to purchase a custom domain right on the platform. Here, you also need to be on a paid plan.

If you opt for the option, your website will get a unique address like mybrand.com. You’ll need to pay for it on a yearly basis. If planning serious eCommerce, company site, portfolio, or whatever, a custom domain will pay by all means.

Weebly offers several price options for purchasable domains. The most expensive one is $19.95 a year.

Step 4. Design Customizations

Technically, your website is ready for publication. You only need to smooth up your website’s appearance. You cannot expect universal freedom in customizing your site with a Drag & Drop site builder like Weebly. However, it’ll be enough to let you build an attractive website with a clear and original design.

Your design options on Weebly will include the following:

• Header logo and Footer branding;
• fonts for headings, paragraphs, etc.;
• color styles;
• button shapes and spacing;
• the background image and text;
• adding specific sections.

On the free plan, you’ll miss several significant options. For instance, you won’t be able to add your custom fonts or customize spacing. Yet, the logo options, color scheme modifications, and such likes are available on any Weebly plan.

When it comes to a logo, you can apply one of your images or ready-made logos from your computer. There’s also a bank of free images you can use for creating your logo. One more option is to connect your Instagram account and choose a proper image from there.

Want to enliven your website? Weebly offers an awesome element menu. You need to press the Add Section icon to access it. Through this menu, you can provide your website with everything you need to get in touch with your customers and engage them:

• featured items or their menus;
• featured product categories;
• donation forms;
• event invitations;
• membership forms;
• Instagram feed;
• specific text or text+image boxes;
• an image gallery;
• a video;
• a button;
• embed code;
• a pdf doc;
• informative forms like Contact Us, email newsletter, working hours & locations, etc.;
• RSS feed.

You can remove sections as well. There are Redo and Undo icons here, too. Use the ‘+’ button in the upper left corner to add pages, new sections, products/items, or categories:

Mind that Weebly’s editor belongs to WYSIWYG platforms. ‘What you see is what you get’ stands behind this terrible acronym. That is, all modifications you make appear right before your eyes, and you see your site just the way your visitors will see it after the publication.

During the customization process, you can switch from desktop to mobile mode. The Autosave option will protect you from losing important edits. All this will let you work out the very design you need that will look impressive across all gadgets.

Step 5. Apps

Weebly is ready to integrate your website with over 300 apps created for various purposes. In the new Weebly interface, you can access App Integrations through the Settings or the Online sections:

Here, at your disposal will be a huge choice of app categories, including eCommerce, marketing, delivery & orders, points of sale, team management, and many more. Smart searching will simplify your choice.

Thus, you can sort out the most popular, the newest, the highest rated, and the most reviewed applications available in the Weebly Marketplace. Moreover, you can specify your price preferences and minimum rating expectations.

Want to get all the necessary apps for your project with one click? Then, opt for the Collections menu. Here, you can find app packs designed for specific industries like restaurants, beauty & health care, and so on.

You can expect to find about 50 free applications on Weebly. However, the best part of the apps will require extra investments from you. Every app goes with a detailed description and customer reviews. You can learn if the app has a free plan, a money-back guarantee in case it is paid, etc.

We recommend reading all the info given to your chosen app before integrating it with your website. Adding an app is simple. You need to press the Get Started button placed next to your targeted app.

Step 6. Weebly Plan

The Weebly free plan is an excellent option for individuals and tiny companies exploring online possibilities. You can also start with the $0 plan to try the Weebly site builder and decide whether it is worth your while.

For all the other purposes, we’d recommend subscribing to at least the Personal package available at $13 a month when paid on a month-to-month basis. This solution will let you connect a custom domain to your website and give you access to more extended customization tools.

Still, you should be ready for certain limitations within the cheapest paid plan on Weebly. You’ll need to upgrade to the Professional ($16/mo.) or even Performance ($29/mo.) plans to get rid of Weebly ads and unlock all the important features. They include unlimited storage, password protection, and more.

Step 7. Publishing Your Weebly Website

Is your website ready for publication? You can check its appearance and equipment using the Preview option. You can change modes to test how it all works for desktop and mobile users of your website. Then, you only need to click Publish, and your site will go online within seconds.

Another advantage of Weebly is that you can change your site’s design and other options after it is launched. Unlike other site builders, Weebly allows editing your project as much as you wish. Be aware that no changes will appear until you confirm them by pressing Publish once again.

There are situations when a website needs to be fully reconstructed or temporarily go offline. Weebly will let you unpublish your site with a single click as well. You can do this via the Settings menu.

Step 8. Weebly Website Management

No matter how well you equip your website before the launch, you’ll need to keep it up-to-date and make it grow. On your Weebly dashboard, you are sure to find all the necessary instruments for maintaining your project. Your options will be as follows:

• product management tools;
• reports with all sorts of analytics;
• the delivery and shipping menu;
• various marketing tools for running campaigns;
• the pop-ups section;
• a messenger;
• the abandoned cart menu;
• checkout, sales taxes, notifications, and tracking tools to control your website’s performance;
• social network sales, and many more.

Want to add another website? No problem. Need to update your content or add new pages to your site? Again, Weebly will let you do this. You can also upgrade to Weebly premium plans and thus upscale your project.

Create Sites Easily with Weebly

In a long row of today’s website builders, Weebly ranks as one of the best solutions for creating websites. This simple but multi-functional platform can suit various projects, from low-budget startups to medium-sized eCommerce.

The most precious benefit of the Weebly site builder is that any user with limited or absent coding skills can use it. Although the building process involves several stages, creating a powerful site on Weebly won’t present difficulty to you.