Website Builder Review: Yahoo

Today I’m reviewing Yahoo!’s website builder.

Industry Specific?
They offer a bunch of templates that are customizable to any industry, like most website builder tools.

Pricing
Yahoo! has website hosting plans that run $2.99/month for the basic, $4.79/month for the advanced, and $7.19/month for the premier plan. From what I can tell, this is 40% off their normal pricing.  The hosting allows the customer to use their Site Solution tool or for the user to create their own site using other means, like WordPress.

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Mobile?
The site builder does not produce a mobile-friendly site. Yahoo! encourages the customer to use Duda mobile, which is part of the hosting account.

In What Browser Does the Website Builder Work?
It doesn’t say, so I’ll go with the assumption that it works in the most modern browsers, like Chrome, Firefox, and IE 10. The majority of builders don’t say anything about this; because of this, I’m giving everyone the benefit of the doubt.

Search Engine Optimization?
There is some form of SEO help with the tool, though I can’t tell what the tool allows, like custom meta tags, etc.  It does allow Google Analytics integration.

Blog Features?
It doesn’t mention blogging capabilities. I looked at the screenshots they provide of sample sites and none of them show blogging.

Ease of Use
This is a drag and drop editor. They have a demo video showing how it works, and it looks pretty simple.

Use Your Own URL?
Yes.

My Initial Impression
I think the tool would provide a good starting point for many who are brand new to the web; it isn’t visually striking, but should get the job done.  The designs look a little dated, but could be dressed up easily with the right photos and color usage. My biggest concern is the lack of a blogging tool and search engine optimization capabilities.
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