Site123 Review 2021

Is Site123 the best website builder? Find out below.

Overview

Site123 is an easy to use web builder which means that it appeals to a lot of people who want something that will not take very long to learn. It has an advanced wizard with lots of tools as well as premade styles and layouts so you will not have to be creative to use it. This means that even with no coding experience, it will be possible to easily put together a professional-looking website very easily. The sites are all mobile friendly too, as they are scalable and they are also SEO ready. The 123 reflects the easy three steps that it will take to make a website. It is easy to just choose a design, add content and then go online.

Plans & Pricing

The pricing can be a little complex. It could seem like there is a free plan and one paid for plan when you first look at it, but there are actually a series of different plans. You have to create a free account and then you will be able to see what plans are available to you. The free plan allows you to try things out and will be good enough for a small website, although it does have site123 ads on it. However, for 11.87 Euros you will be able to have a site that can handle ecommerce with 10 orders a month with offline payment methods. This lowest priced option still have a site123 footer tag so will not be the most professional option but could suit smaller businesses. The advanced option is 15.58 Euros and shows no ads. It allows Paypal access for ecommerce and there is the option to translate the site to one other language. The professional package is 21.14 Euros and it includes credit card payments on the ecommerce. It can also have three languages for the website if required. The final package is gold and it is 26.70 Euros. It includes everything such as ten mailboxes, unlimited orders and up to five languages.

If you pay annually you will get a free domain for the first year but you can connect to an existing domain if you wish to. The price may decrease if you opt for a longer-term. These prices can be expensive compared to some other web builders, but you will need to think about value for money when comparing them and consider which you think will work the best for you.

Tools & Features

• Site123 has an editor available in more than 20 languages which can be very useful but they also have multilingual websites which are great for those people hoping to appeal to an international market. How many languages you can offer will depend on the pricing plan that you choose, but it can be up to five.
• The designs look good but there do not offer much creative freedom. You will find there is predefined structures and so you will not be able to move things around to different places. So, for example, the pictures, videos etc can only be in the specified place. However, if you are not good at making creative decisions, then it could suit you really well, as you will be able to quickly complete the site and get it published.
• As it is not possible to add external code, then it is trickly to monetise your site. You will be able to use affiliate links but there is no way to add banners or other ads of this nature.
• SEO is easy as adding SEO titles and descriptions are very simple to do. You will also find the SEO advisor can be useful, especially for those that are new to building a website. It will scan the site to look for SEO improvements which can also be handy for anyone, just to check if they are on the right lines. It will save a lot of time compare with doing it yourself.
• Sites are all mobile friendly and so they will be able to easily be used on PCs and mobile devices which is extremely useful. It can be annoying if you have to check for this with different themes or templates, but with Site123 all of them will work, so you will not have to worry about this.
• There is a basic blog available, but there is no option for comments which can be a nice addition for some websites so that readers can comment on the content. There is also a newsletter tool where you can send up to 10,000 messages a month to your subscribers if you have the highest plan.
• There are visitor statistics tool which means that you will be able to see a basic traffic overview. You can also connect in with Google analytics which means that you will be able to get a more detailed analysis of how well your site is doing. This is not only handy for general tracking, but it means that if you try a specific marketing idea out, you will be able to easily see whether it is having an impact on your site traffic.
• You can set up password-protected areas and member areas with personal logins. There is up to 270GB of storage available on the premium plan but there is not backup and restore function.
• Support is available through live chat or email and there are also FAQs with videos to explain different things. There is no telephone support.

Themes

The designs are split into general categories such as business, online store or portfolio. These are then broken down into more specific areas and will include things like gardening, hair salons or law firms, which means that there should be something that will suit everyone. You will be asked to choose whether you are setting up a website, online store, blog or landing page and then you can choose the appropriate theme. All of the options for website are business, handyman services, restaurants & food, photography, events, technology & web, transportation services, hospitality & tourism, music, creative arts, health & wellness, recreation & sport, CV & portfolio and community. If you online store you can choose between fashion & clothing, jewellery & accessories, food & drinks, Electronics & technology, home & décor, arts & books, kids & babies and pets & animals. If you pick blog you get the choice of fashion & beauty, art, music & culture, business & marketing, restaurants & food, technology & web, travel & tourism, recreation & sport and pets & animals. If you pick a landing page you can choose from call to action button, call to action form or call to an action email subscription. You can also click a no match link if none of those themes will work for you.

Pros & Cons

The builder can be a bit restrictive and so if you want to be really creative, you may find that it will not be right for you. However, it is a great tool for those without any programming experience, that want something that is easy to use. It does mean though that you will not be able to get a really unique looking website and if you want to make changes using coding this will not be possible. You can also have one level of navigation on the websites being designed which will be good for small sites but not for more complex layouts.

There is a free plan which you can use for as long as you wish and is perfectly adequate for a smaller business and also allows you to test the site for a long time while deciding whether you want to pay for it. However, the free and cheapest options do have ads on them and the more expensive packages are expensive compared to other website builders.

Domain Names

If you pay for a plan then you will get a free domain name for a year. You will also get 10 email accounts if you pick the premium plan. It is possible though, to connect to your own domain. This means that if you already have one or you want to pay for your own that might be cheaper than what they offer after the first year, then you will be able to do this.

Ecommerce

The paid plan has the option of ecommerce. It is possible to sell physical or digital goods using it. The options vary depending on the pricing plan that you have. The higher the amount you are paying, the more items you will be able to sell and the more payments options will be available. The cheaper options only offer offline payments methods but pay more and you can accept payments from Paypal and if you pay even more to accept credit cards. You will not be charged transaction fees which can be useful. There is also the option of using cart abandonment emails, so if someone has shopped but chosen not to pay, you can email them to ask them if they still want the items and to remind them that they have not paid for them and need to return.

Conclusion

So site123 stands out really because it is easy to use. This means that anyone that needs something which is simple to follow and is not interested in adding in code or being overly creative, will find it very useful. The templates are fixed in design so you will not have much flexibility when designing, but this can be attractive for some people as they prefer just to leave things as they are. The multi-language feature also sets it apart from a lot of other web builders as many struggle to provide a service like this. It is definitely designed with the smaller website in mind as you will not be able to have lots of sub-categories and you cannot tweak the code to allow this as there is no option for coding it at all. However, it does have ecommerce options, so even small shops will benefit. It can be wise to try out the free editor and see what you think and as it is available forever, you can even just stay with the free plan, if you find that its suits you but you will need to pay if you want more sophisticated functions. There are various price plans and you will be able to pick the one that is most suitable for your needs, but they can be more expensive than some other web builders so check them out to make sure that you feel they offer good value for money for you.