Creating Websites with iPage’s Two Site Builders

If you’re looking to create your first website and publish it online, there are a number of web hosts that cater to beginners. You may have seen ads on television by companies like 1&1 Hosting that have specific hosting plans that try to streamline and simplify the process of creating your own website and getting it online.

While 1&1 Hosting’s MyWebsite package is a great choice for newbies, many of the other web hosting companies are also offering website builders to help create websites more easily. In fact, iPage gives you two different site builders with their hosting plan. I’ve always liked the value and features you get with iPage Hosting. You can create your websites with content management systems like WordPress or Joomla. But for those that want an even more user-friendly environment, you can choose to use either the Weebly Drag and Drop Builder or the Website Creator by CM4all. Let’s take a look at both.

Of the two site builders on iPage, I found Weebly to be a bit simpler to use. On the other hand Website Creator allowed more customization and design options. I also tended to like the designs from Website Creator a little more, but that’s really just personal preference. Now, I need to mention that both website builders you get with iPage will allow you to create basic sites. If you need more bells and whistles, or a substantial amount of content, you’ll need to upgrade to the premium versions—which cost you extra. However, if you do need a more advanced website, you probably wouldn’t want to use a site builder geared toward beginners anyway.

Weebly’s site creation process consists of four steps:
1. Selecting your elements
2. Choosing your design
3. Creating your pages
4. Specifying your settings for site ID, SEO, etc.

Once you’ve completed these steps, you click the publish button and you’ve got your site.


Website Creator breaks the process down into seven steps:

1. Select the category of your site
2. Choose the design, color, and graphics
3. Enter personalized information
4. Create your pages
5. Edit text and multimedia
6. Enter your website settings
7. Publish your site

Here’s a sample of categories in Website Creator:

Here’s a sample of a site created with Website Creator (with the default unedited text!):

While simplified website creators may not be for everyone (especially those that are more tech savvy), they can be a useful alternative for those starting out with their first website.

Click here to learn more about the website builders you get with iPage hosting.