If you are new to the world of online businesses, building your first website can be an intimidating thought.  Of course, you know that having a website is important and can greatly increase your business.

Using a website builder, rather than design software, can make the website process quicker and easier to tackle.  If you are contemplating your choices, here are a few reasons why you should consider using a site builder.

Using a site builder can save you money in the beginning.  Design software can easily run upwards of $200 or more.  Many website builders will cost less than $20 per month, and that will usually include your hosting.  And, since your website builder and web host are connected, publishing your site will be as easy as pushing a button.

Take note that while you may save money in the beginning, the long-term charges for this service will end up costing you more than buying the web design software.  After you have built your site, if you decide to keep it up on the web for the long term, you may want to invest in some other software and buy your own hosting plan.  You can find hosting plans for under $4 per month.





Website builders are designed to be easy to use.  They will feature a “what you see is what you get” editor (known as WYSIWYG). This allows you to see exactly what your website will look like while you create it.  You will not need to know HTML at all.  When you look at the editor, you will see something similar to a word processing screen.  You simply type away and are able to apply text formatting, insert pictures, and more.  What you see on your screen is what your website visitors will see when they pull your website up into their browser.

Most website builders will come loaded with various templates and graphics that you can use.  While web design software programs will usually have some templates or themes installed, they do not usually come packaged with any graphics.  If you want to include pictures on your website, you can use stock images found online.

A stock image is an image that has been submitted to a website by the photographer or illustrator who created the image.  There are some very affordable stock image websites, but there are also some expensive ones.  If you plan on using lots of graphics, using a website builder could potentially save you some money.

As mentioned above, the monthly fee you pay for your website builder will include your web hosting service.  Other features, such as message boards, online photo albums, shopping carts and more may also be included.

Website builders will also include some type of technical support.  This may include phone and email support, or just one of the two.  Either way, it will be much easier to get in touch with them for help, rather than calling Microsoft for help with FrontPage.