Weebly websites are easy to build. Just ask Florence, who’s been using a Weebly site to power her business for more than six years. “When I discovered the simplicity of Weebly, I was so relieved,” she says. “The themes, drag-and-drop design, and integrated G Suite were all so easy. I had a professional-looking website within two days.”
A cynical reader might think this sounds too good to be true — surely an easy, free website builder can only lead to legions of drab lookalikes. In fact, the Weebly Site Editor offers great variety. Here are the main elements you can tweak to build a one-of-a-kind website through Weebly.
Weebly themes and templates
First off, let’s get the terminology straight: You won’t see much mention of Weebly templates because those templates are built into themes. There is no Weebly theme without a Weebly template, and vice versa — at least not unless you’re on the developer side of things.
A Weebly template is an HTML file, written in the Mustache templating language, that dictates the placement of elements on a completed page. These elements typically include
- A navigation function, typically a menu
- A banner or headline field at the top of the page
- The body of the page; the template provides instructions about how fields or sections of content fit together within the body
- A footer section, which is the same on every page of the site
The Weebly theme, on the other hand, contains page templates along with all the instructions that make a site visually consistent, including
- Fonts and color schemes
- Collections of stock images
- Options for each element; for instance, a theme might allow you to choose how or where the navigation bar displays, or provide color overlays for certain fields
- Additional functionality; JavaScript allows theme developers to control mobile display changes, preprogram responses to events, and more
The theme you choose determines what your finished site will look like.
To alter the look of your site, select Theme from the command menu at the top of the Weebly Site Editor. Your options will display in the sidebar on the left. Depending on the theme, you can switch colors, change fonts for each type of text (headline, paragraph text, links, buttons, etc.), and toggle optional features on and off.
Once you’ve altered your theme to reflect your unique tastes, it’s time to really switch things up with the power of Weebly apps.
Tools, features, and integrations from the Weebly App Center
The Weebly App Center is packed with options for expanding your site-building toolbox. Many of these apps focus on backend services, providing tools for marketing, social media, e-commerce reporting, and communications. (Check out the Weebly Jotform integration to create and publish forms within the Weebly Site Editor.)
New online business owners should pay particular attention to the App Center’s SEO category. That’s where you’ll find keyword ranking tools like Positionly ($19 to $99 per month) and on-page analyzers like RabbitSEO (free to $45 per month). Check out the options to boost rankings for all of your important keywords. After all, pursuing visibility in search engine results is a crucial marketing strategy for any online endeavor.
The Weebly App Center isn’t just full of marketing tools; it can also help make your site unique. The Site Tools & Features collection is full of apps that will actively change the look and feel of your custom website:
- Does your site need one or more tables? If your theme doesn’t include a table builder, choose Simple Table, a free Weebly app that adds tables to your pages.
- The Tabs app helps you organize site content by nesting topics within tabbed fields.
- The App Center’s Video category lists a variety of players that let you add videos to your site.
- If you’re looking for ways to set your site apart from the crowd visually, browse the App Center’s Structure category. There, you’ll find dozens of specialty features that change the look of your pages, from call-out boxes to custom borders to automatic popup windows.
All these options can be overwhelming. To get an idea of the possibilities, look at some existing Weebly websites that have successfully blended all the elements before you start to build your site. Here’s our list of some of the best-looking Weebly websites out there.
If you’re still not ready to get started with Weebly, stick around. We’re about to discuss exactly why Weebly is such a powerful tool for so many types of users.
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