The Web-1 Hosting Website Builder

In today's business environment, establishing a website is not an option - it is a must.  Approximately 50 percent of small and medium-sized businesses in the United States currently have a website, and that number is expected to rise significantly over the next several years.  In fact, according to International Data Corp., the number of small businesses with their own websites is growing at a rate of 27.6% annually.  This means that the importance of a website for small businesses will only continue to increase over the next several years.

Individual Internet users are also increasingly using the web as families, teams, groups and associations continue to move online.  Home Internet usage is rising while access and hosting prices are dropping; creating an environment that allows virtually everyone to establish a professional, reliable website.

Whether for individual or business use, a website can have a multitude of purposes, each of which has its own technical requirements.  Your website requirements are an important consideration to determine before creating a site of your own, as you will need to ensure access to the corresponding tools required.  Consider, for example, the tools required to build these different types of websites:

• Individual/personal website: Individual Internet users now use websites for a wide range of functions, including for photo sharing, coordinating group activities and more.  Services like these typically require advanced tools such as photo albums that need to integrate seamlessly into the rest of the website.
• Brochure/company information: Although often simple to build and maintain, these sites still require graphics, templates, forms and feedback options.
• Public relations/marketing: Aside from the requirements of a simple website, these sites often require marketing tools like search engine optimization tools.
• Ecommerce: Implementing e-commerce features not only requires a website, but a shopping cart, payment gateway and integration with these services as well.

Web development efforts related to establishing an online presence can be costly, even for individuals and small businesses.  In fact, research by the Yankee Group estimates that the average cost of developing a business website is close to $1500 USD.

Possibly the best way to lower and consolidate the costs inherent in establishing a web presence is to use an online website building tool.  This greatly reduces the costs involved in establishing a website and, if the right solution is used, ensures you will always have access to the latest site design features and technologies.  In the case of websites for small businesses and self-employed individuals, using an online website building tool also allows you to invest your time and money in your core strengths.

Evaluating Online Site Design Tools

There are several criteria to consider when choosing an online website building solution.

Basic features: There are several basic features that should be included in any online web site design tool you are considering:

• Programming-free editor: One of the main objectives of an online site design tool is to simplify the process of designing a professional website.  Reputable online site design tools include a 'point and click' design interface.  Using this interface, you do not need any experience or knowledge of HTML to build a great site.  Instead, you are provided with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment that is similar to a word processing software suite, allowing you to design a website without any programming knowledge.
• Template styles: Most online site design tools also provide you with professional design templates to ensure a consistent, professional look and feel.  An extensive template selection also decreases the chance that your site will look the same as someone else's site.
• Navigation manager: As a website grows, keeping track of its organizational structure becomes increasingly difficult.  The purpose of a navigation manager is to simplify the process of incorporating and maintaining the overall structure of a website.  Your website design tool must have a solution to manage this complex task.
• Browser-based: Choosing a fully integrated, web-based solution ensures that annoying software downloads and updates are never required.

Value-added options and plug-ins: Additional features that extend beyond basic website functionality can increase visitor retention and result in more time spent on your website. You need an online website design tool that offers these plug-ins, which often include maps, news and hit counters.  These tools not only enhance the end user experience on a customer site, but can also generate more traffic.

Scalability: An online website design tool should be able to provide you with more advanced features and solutions as your site grows.  Choosing a scalable solution will ensure you can incorporate additional features into your website when required.

Redundancy and reliability: In order for your website to be effective, it needs to be online. The same goes for a design tool - if it's not online, you are not able to make important changes to your site.  Make sure to choose a solution that has a reputation for uptime and redundancy.

The Web-1 Hosting Website Builder Solution

The Web-1 Hosting Website Builder is a powerful online site building solution that allows you to create websites without any HTML knowledge.  The tool offers an unparalleled number of intuitive wizards, templates and site editors that make website design simple - with no software downloads required.

Features include:

• Entirely web-based functionality that eliminates the need for update downloads or patch installations.
• A simple, cross-browser WYSIWYG interface that allows you to create professional, feature-rich websites without any prior HTML experience.  You can create forms, tables, lists and more with the click of a button.
• More than 10,000 templates, divided into several theme-related categories including Health & Lifestyle, Business & Retail and many more.
• Website preview and publish features that allow you to see what your sites will look like prior to production and publish them with the click of a button.
• A powerful link wizard that allows you to design in-depth site architectures and linking structures without having to learn how to program.
• A site page editor and shop wizard that allows e-commerce functionality to be set up in a matter of minutes.
• Many add-on "goodies" for customer websites, including Google search boxes, a Yahoo! Messenger status feature, language translation capabilities and more.
• Advanced marketing tools, including: Search engine optimization tools and Interactive guestbook
• An easy-to-use flash editor that allows you to create a variety of professional flash animations and presentations in a matter of minutes.
• Online translation tool that provides site text translation in several languages.

The Web-1 Hosting Website Builder is also very easy to learn, as every step of the site set-up and design process is accompanied by in-depth tutorials.

Five Robust Packages

While Web-1 Hosting Website Builder can help you build a large, complex, ecommerce site, you don't want to pay for those features if you aren't going to use them.  As a result, Web-1 Hosting Website Builder is available in five packages, and you can upgrade to a more sophisticated package whenever you require additional tools.  The packages are tailored to the needs of different audiences:

• Business Card Website: A basic, one-page package for customers in need of a small website. This package allows you to display contact information.
• Starter Website: A simple three-page package that includes personal templates, a photo album and more.
• Personal Website: For individuals seeking a more established presence.  Features of this 10-page package include a site creation wizard, image editor, photo album and sample content pages (e.g.  resumes).
• Small Business Website: Includes a custom form creator, Flash animation editor, maps, driving directions and all the features of a personal website.  This package is accompanied by 30 pages.
• E-commerce Website: For individuals or companies that wish to build an online storefront. Web-1 Hosting Website Builder's e-commerce wizard allows you to set up a store and integrate with many industry standard payment gateways in a matter of minutes.  This package includes 70 pages.

Conclusion

Internet tools have now progressed to a point where you no longer have to rely on expensive design firms if you wish to establish an online presence.  Instead, you can now build a website yourself using online website design tools.  Establishing an Internet presence has never been easier.

Unfortunately, not all website building tools are created equal.  You must be vigilant in your selection of a web hosting company and website design tool.  Make sure your choice can scale with your needs as your site continues to grow.

Web-1 Hosting Website Builder delivers an unparalleled number of features that are suitable for websites both large and small, and exceeds every requirement of a functionally robust online website building solution.  The tool's WYSIWYG interface makes developing feature-rich sites easy, and allows you to develop a complex website that would typically cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars for only a fraction of the price.

Web-1 Hosting Website Builder is a reliable, feature-rich solution that can deliver remarkable cost savings, and that can be easily integrated with the services you currently subscribe to. Please contact us for more details.