However before we go ahead with the review of most popular solutions I would like to mention the most important disadvantages of these tools. Here they are:

• the most important disadvantages of these tools. Here they are:
• generally there is no way to switch to another web hosting provider
• offered website templates are not very customizable
• some of the website builders’ editors lack flexibility
• generally you can build only one website per account

Now it’s time to check what the most commonly used online website builders are. Here is the list of the tools we are going to review:

1. Wix
2. Moogo
3. Weebly
4. WebStarts
5. Sitegalore
6. CityMax
7. Homestead
8. Only Business
9. Site2You
10. Doodlekit
11. Yola
12. Webnode
13. Moonfruit

1. Wix

 Wix.com represents an online website building tool built using a Flash platform and designed to help users to create different kinds of websites and web content. It has a really nice looking drag and drop interface enabling you to create any website in a very simple way. It was released in June 2008 as a beta version.

One of the greatest things about Wix is that it’s absolutely free. However from October 2008 they have a Premium upgrade offer allowing the users to get more storage and bandwidth, the option to remove the Wix tags, and the option to connect their Wix design to their own domain name. The last point is the one of great importance because as it was mentioned before in general online website builders do not offer the opportunity to switch web hosting provider.

Here are a couple of screenshots of Wix’s online website editor for you to have an idea of how it looks.

The Website Editor itself:

 A Sample Site (4 pages) that was created approximately in 2 minutes: 

 Despite the fact that given screenshots help you a lot in checking the user interface of the Wix’s editor, they can hardly tell you something about the functionality of this tool. That’s why I would strongly recommend you:

1. To check the Video Room
2. To create an account in order to check Wix in action

As far as the characteristic features of this solution are concerned, the following ones should be emphasized:

• The ability to use your own domain
• The opportunity to add Google Analytics or any other stats counter
• You can create anything you want (from a template or a blank page)
• You can design and publish your full MySpace layouts
• The opportunity to add PayPal to your website and many others

Thus Wix.com being a very multifunctional tool is rightfully considered to be one of the best of its kind.

2. Moogo

 Moogo.com is an online service that helps you create a website in a matter of minutes without sacrificing style, versatility, or ease of maintenance. Although it has been recently launched and as a consequence lacking some features that are going to be implemented in the near feature (for example: online store feature, online order options and etc.), even now it represents a really multifunctional tool that seems to be very promising.

One of the most important advantages of Moogo consists in the fact that it doesn’t cost anything unless you decide to subscribe to a higher level services. There are three packages you can choose from depending on your needs: Free, Personal and Business. Please visit this page to check what the features offered by each package are. Of course, if you would like to use your own domain, have a decent storage capacity and so on, you will need to get a paid package.

In addition to that you have the opportunity to transfer your own site (domain) to Moogo in order to make the process of updating your site much easier in the future.

Let’s check the screenshots made from user account.

Here is the page I created using one of the templates available on Moogo:

 And the Website Editor:

 As you can see the user interface can hardly be regarded as the simplest one, still you will get used to it pretty soon. But the fact is that it’s not as intuitive as you might want it to be. Unfortunately there is no decent video or screenshot tour to take, so the best way for you to learn more about this tool is to create a free account.

Now it’s time to mention the main characteristic features of given solution which are the followings:

• The ability to create email accounts
• If you are an advanced user there is an opportunity to use HTML and CSS
• Advanced Visitor Statistics: allow you to follow the number of visitor to your web site from a number of perspectives
• Mailing list feature: users can join the mailing list and receive e-mails and text messages sent via the service.
• Quick Polls: asking your visitors’ opinion on a current issue
• Search Engine: searching for material in the content of you website and etc.

To find out more about the features of Moogo, please visit features page.

Related posts:

1. Online Project Management Tools Part 1

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Tags: CityMax, create free website, creating a websote, Doodlekit, Homestead, Moogo, Moonfruit, online website builders, OnlyBusiness, Site2You, SiteGalore, Webnode, website builders, WebStarts, Weebly, Wix, Yola