If you’re trying to build a website quickly, both Weebly and WordPress are solid options from which to choose. They each give users the ability to create a website from scratch in just minutes. By knowing the key differences between the two products, it becomes easier to decide which one is right for your needs. Here are the facts you need to know in the Weebly vs WordPress debate.
Simplicity: Advantage Weebly
If you’ve never built a website before and you need to get online for whatever reason, then Weebly has a definite advantage. The builder on this platform tells you everything that you need to include for design elements in language that everyone understands. You just drag and drop items into the platform and you’ll see what your page looks like as you’re designing it. Weebly also offers hosting within the Cloud as part of the account setup process.
WordPress offers a similar experience, but it is a little more technical in nature. You’ll need to install a template and then begin posting content through an editor that also lets you see what the content looks like as you’re creating it. To get a full preview, however, you’ve got to visit a test site through the dashboard instead of seeing it up close in a first-hand way like Weebly is able to provide. WordPress also requires an independent hosting arrangement and that means added costs.
Customization: Advantage WordPress
Weebly might be extremely easy to use, but ultimately there are only a handful of options available to users to help them fully customize their website. The drag and drop features are nice, but it is the little things on a site that give it a personalized feeling. That’s what WordPress is able to do very effectively. Between coding changes, plugin additions, and other customization options, the finest details can be perfected on WP.
WordPress offers 37,000+ and counting different plugins that all help to give website visitors a customized experience. There are thousands of free themes that can be used as well. This is because WordPress is an open source program that encourages third-party development. That’s not to say that Weebly doesn’t give people the chance to create beautiful sites. It just means that there are fewer options for customization over at Weebly.
SEO Benefits: Push
Many WordPress supporters will say that it is impossible to have a Weebly site get ranked. This simply isn’t true. The type of installation that is used as no bearing on what search engine optimization benefits can be received. Modern SEO is all about providing value to the website visitor. This means creating organic backlinks instead of paying for them. It also means having content that is valuable to a site’s targeted demographics.
If you have a solid SEO strategy, both platforms will help you achieve your goals. There are SEO plugins that can be used on WordPress that will green-light certain keywords as a point of emphasis, but even that can cause users to put in word densities that search engines will see as artificial today. This is why it is a push: SEO is about your strategy, not your platform.
E-Commerce: Advantage WordPress
WordPress is very easy to use as an e-commerce solution for small businesses. The costs are the same on WordPress to have a store as well, though there may need to be changes to the hosting provider’s account in order for all of the information to be hosted. Everything comes in the single or multisite installation unless you are choosing to blog without having your own domain included. If using the open source option, WordPress is free. Otherwise is can be up to $24 per month.
Weebly, in comparison, offers a full e-commerce solution that is fully hosted for $25 per month. This is $21 per month more than the starter plan that is offered. There is more support for the Weebly domain compared to the third-party supports that WordPress offers, but the starter plan doesn’t even offer password protection or site searching. You’ve got to upgrade to a Weebly pro plan for full multimedia features.
If you need a simple system of content management, then Weebly has an advantage. If you’re looking for a comprehensive blogging solution or an e-commerce site, then WordPress may hold the advantage. In the Weebly vs WordPress debate, make sure to keep these key points in mind as you examine both options so that you’ll choose the correct platform that meets your needs today.
