Despite a few limitations that might not matter to rookie site owners, HostPapa offers an easy-to-use web builder with a surprising number of features.
Coding experience or not, designing a website can be a long, confusing process. Hiring someone to do it for you can be expensive, stressful, and still doesn't guarantee you'll end up with something you like.
CEO Jamie Opalchuk told us how HostPapa's site builder lets you avoid all the hassle and get a beautiful, professional website by yourself in a matter of minutes.
Build and manage your site on your own, whether you're starting from scratch, getting a fresh look, or looking for a better tool.
We dug into the drag-and-drop editor, which is intuitive for the earliest of beginners — just click on the text you want to edit or area where you'd like to upload an image. For the more advanced users, you can customize your site even more by taking a swing at the HTML or CSS code.
When we started our site, HostPapa showcased more than a dozen responsive template options. Once we made our selection, we could see more than 100 other choices. Not many site builders allow you to change templates once you've started adding content, so we appreciate the flexibility that HostPapa allows.
HostPapa's builder really shines, however, in the number of widgets you can add to your site. Easily add text, images, maps, videos, and social media widgets right from the start, or upgrade to include one-click publishing to Facebook or an ecommerce store.
You can build forms with HostPapa's own tool or through Wufoo, just like you can add email marketing features through a Constant Contact integration.
"Our play is what we can supply a small business owner to help in any kind of way with their web properties," Jamie said. "We want to provide a seamless, easy experience."
Once your site is set up, you can preview how it will look on both desktops and mobile devices. You can always update on the go, from any web browser.
The site builder is included for FREE with HostPapa's shared hosting plans, or you can buy builder-specific plans to add even more features.
If all else fails, HostPapa offers Do It For Me managed web design services. The company will write your copy, design your site, and optimize it for search engines and mobile devices. Contact HostPapa when you need to update your site, and they'll take care of you.
