This review is of 1 and 1’s website builder.
Initially, I am hopeful that this is a decent tool. It looks like it might be high enough quality to compete with Intuit’s website builder. They offer many products in addition to their website builder and this typically means that the website builder product suffers, but, much like Intuit’s tool, at first glace this looks very well-planned.
Industry Specific?
Just like everyone else, 1 and 1’s templates can work for almost any industry.
Pricing
1 & 1’s pricing page spells out three tiers, none of which are free, but they do have a 30-day free trial. Their most affordable tier is $6.99/month and their highest tier is $19.99/month (these prices are promotional). The $6.99 account has a lot fewer features than the higher-end packages, and while this is normal, they offer the lowest-cost package a lot less than most comparable tools. If you use 1 and 1’s website builder, you are pretty much going to want to go with the $12.99/month package.
Would you like some free help preparing for your site? Cool. Here’s a free download I created just for you.
Mobile?
Yes. They are mobile friendly, but only if you pay for the middle or highest tier.
In What Browser Does the Website Builder Work?
As far as I can tell, it works in the most current browser versions.
Search Engine Optimization?
1 & 1’s website builder has a stats package, though it isn’t Google Analytics. I don’t see the option to put in third-party code, either. Also, I don’t see anything about custom meta information or custom page titles, so who knows. They do have SEO advisors for the highest account, but it is my opinion that all tiers deserve the ability to edit their own meta information and put in their own titles. Let down.
Blog Features?
I don’t see anything about a blog feature in any of their documentation or in their samples sites. This is a big oversight. Blogging is essential for most business’ online growth, especially when they are on a limited budget.
Ease of Use
1 and 1’s website builder tool looks fairly easy to use. They provide a number of introduction videos on their site showing the builder in action. It is drag and drop.
Use Your Own URL?
Yes.
My Initial Impression
I get that their target demographic is a small business owner who probably has never had their own website before, but still, don’t block them from industry-standard tools that help build presence online, such as blogs and Google Analytics. I know they have their own analytics tool, but my objection to being roped into their tool is that if you decide to use another provider somewhere down the road, you will probably lose your data. How will you be able to compare new efforts against old efforts if the old data has been deleted? Also, if they really don’t allow the user to put in their own page titles and meta description and keywords, that’s major. They might allow this but aren’t stating it in their documentation. I pulled up a couple sample sites and see that they don’t have custom, optimized titles or meta descriptions, which is super important to help search engines find your site. I would go with a dedicated website builder provider that offered all of the things these folks don’t even if I didn’t use them at first simply because it is such a drag on resources to switch providers at a later time.
This tool is about the same as Intuit’s. Both tools have similar features and lack of features.
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