Design your way

An ideal website builder is affordable, easy to work with, and will give you practically limitless opportunities to transform your ideas and concepts into realities.

Not every affordable, easy-to-work-with design platform will allow wonderful things to happen however.

First and foremost, you want to select tools that don’t place limitations on your creativity. To avoid placing any unnecessary limitations on your design, there are several things to look for.

Pixel Level Design Control is a Must – Don’t limit yourself to using templates that feature a minimal amount of customization, e.g., changing colors, fonts, and backgrounds, but not much else.
Simple and Flexible Content Management – Since much of the work you do involves content, you want a tool that makes content modification and manipulation as easy as possible.
Mobile Site Design – The sites you build must play well on mobile. Otherwise, you risk losing 50% or more of your potential audience. In terms of SEO, correct display matters.
Widgets – Widgets make the difference between a humdrum website, and one that is rich in features and functionality.
Social Media Integration – Social media enables you to expand your brand as never before; especially among the mobile crowd. Insist on a social media integration capability – always.

These 10 Top Tools and Platforms Will Deliver What You Need

SnapPages

The SnapPages web design platform offers an ideal blend of simplicity and power. Instead of adding a long list of unnecessary features, the team at SnapPages has chosen to focus on what typical designers most want and need – a great website builder. The newest version, SnapPages 3.0, has been redesigned from the ground up to ensure that you have just the tools you need to create a modern, responsive website.

As far as simplicity is concerned, the editor is easy enough for anyone (yes, anyone!) to use. As the folks at SnapPages put it, building your website is essentially just a matter of ‘Drag, Drop, Done’. The design team has spent years developing 3.0 to ensure that your website building experience is the best that you can find on the market.

SnapPages offers many features that you’re bound to enjoy, such as exquisitely designed templates and their innovative page ‘Sections’ that allow you to create truly dynamic pages.
Unlike many of their competitors, SnapPages’ primary focus while developing SnapPages 3.0 was on the core website building experience, rather than needless add-on features. With that said, SnapPages still integrates easily with all the leading third-parties for add-ons.

Webflow

Webflow gives you the ability to develop responsive websites visually, so you can create production-ready code without hand-writing it. And this isn’t just another template-driven website builder, as you can start from a blank canvas and build exactly what you’re envisioning.

But Webflow’s also more than just a visual way to code — it also gives you the power to create a custom database for every website you create, and design around that real content.
That combination of visual design flexibility and an easy-to-customize CMS makes it a powerful tool for everyone from freelancers to in-house product designers.

Freelancers can build and launch a site without subcontracting a developer, while in-house teams use it to build fully functional, high-fidelity prototypes to hand off. Finally, it’s free to get started, so there’s nothing holding you back from discovering why over 500,000 designers count on Webflow.

Pixpa

Pixpa is a do-it-yourself website builder designed for creative professionals and small businesses looking to put together a website, without having to worry about any need for special technical or coding skills.

All Pixpa websites are responsive and search engine optimized. Pixpa also comes with integrated e-commerce and online client proofing tools to help you manage and grow your business.

Whether it’s a portfolio, an e-commerce store or a blog, it’s easy to build a professional website on Pixpa using its beautiful, customizable themes that help you get your projects off to a fast start.

A drag-and-drop interface, 24/7 support, fast hosting and affordable, cost-effective pricing makes Pixpa an indispensable tool for anyone looking to showcase, share and sell online with ease and style.

Themify Builder

Themify Builder is another drag and drop builder you can build beautiful pages with, without any need for coding. The Builder can be used as part of the Themify framework, or the Builder plugin can be used with third-party themes (it works with any theme).

More than 40 professional pre-designed layouts are included, the backend interface enables you to move modules around effortlessly, while the frontend mode lets you preview your design in real-time, WYSIWYG fashion.

Simbla Website Builder

This versatile platform enables you to create professional-looking websites and and database driven apps in a Bootstrap 3 environment. Simbla’s responsive templates and responsive website maker allow you to get your project up and running; and there are plenty of SEO, design, and development tools to see your project through to the end. With Simbla, it’s possible to build a code-free website in minutes. There’s nothing to install. Simply sign up, and you’ll be given instant access to your site.

Bookmark

Interested in what Artificial Intelligence can do for you?

Bookmark AI capabilities learn the needs and desires of Bookmark’s customers. This knowledge is then applied to create your perfect website.

Millions of combinations of data points are sampled to create a website characterized by a unique style, focus, and image. Watch the demo to view Bookmark ADI capabilities.

Simvoly

Simvoly is a platform designed to get a stunning website, online store, blog, or gallery up and running in no time at all. Simply select one of the beautifully-designed themes, put Simvoly’s drag and drop builder to work, and before you know it, you can start selling online. There are no transaction fees to deal with, your website is mobile friendly, and live chat support is there to help. Try the 14-day free trial to see for how smoothly and easily you can establish your online presence.

uCoz

Sometimes, you need to spend some time under the hood to create a website that really shines. With uCoz, you can edit HTML, CSS, and other codes, and take advantage of a rich set of features that compares nicely against any robust CMS.

uCoz provides the tools you need to create your own personal website. Sign up and try this free website builder out. Your email and a password are all you need to get started.

uKit

uKit is a modern website builder that was created with businesses in mind. This is a nice selection for novices who can do just fine by focusing on the visual aspects of building a website, without having to worry about the technical nitty-gritty. A wide selection of designer-produced themes is available. Select one, and everything is drag and drop. Your websites will be SEO and mobile friendly.

SITE123

SITE123 is for anyone and everyone. Whether you are a web designer, a baker, a blogger, or a plumber, just enter your content, and your website can be up and running.

SITE123’s system is easy to work with and it was built with amazing code that deliver great SEO results for any website.

You won’t be overloaded with options you don’t really need. The interface is intuitive, you get 24/7 support, you can manage your responsive website from your mobile device, and the website builder itself is free!

Something for everyone is a good selling pitch. In the case of these top tools and platforms, it happens to be true. Go down the list, and pick out what you need. There may well be more than one web design/development tool you’ll find helpful. You best bet however is to find what you can use and try it out. Prices range from affordable to free, so dive right in!