Drag & Drop site building has become way more popular (and respected) over the last decade and has resulted in numerous competing brands all vying for attention.
If the chance to easily create your own website has fired your imagination then this guide to three of the most popular services will help find the perfect solution for you.

Wix

Originally a tad clunky and odd, nowadays Wix is generally considered to be the best all rounder Drag & Drop product. The fact it’s the biggest supplier of online web building, with 110 million websites, tends to support the claim.

Pros:

• Freemium business model – great for beginners learning the ropes.
• High quality templates providing pre-built websites for various uses.
• Highly customizable with the ability to independently adjust how its viewed by mobile visitors.
• Their App Market offers a massive selection of third party widgets for your website.
• Constant back up service ensures you’ll never lose your hard work. You can also keep multiple versions of your site saved to easily revert if you change your mind.

Cons:

• The subscription upgrades are more expensive than Weebly (but still fair for the features and support offered).
• Your site is locked to its original template at creation. The level of customization does negate this somewhat but still, pick wisely!
• As they’re third party, if an App creator shuts up shop Wix won’t be able to help you.
• Shallow navigation makes it unsuitable to complex sites.

Overall:

With good quality and customization, availability of a free plan and competitively priced packages, its only major downsides are shallow navigation options and a lack of automatic mobile adjustment.

Weebly

Our next entrant is slightly less popular but, at 40 million users, still have significant following. The fact that’s achieved without the intense marketing campaigns of their rivals certainly suggests they have something going for them!

Pros:

• Another freemium Drag & Drop service, with very reasonably priced subscriptions offered.
• Weebly is by far the easiest builder to use thanks to simple, intuitive controls.
• Good quality themes that are highly effective at adapting themselves to mobile display.
• App centre has a variety of features from Weebly itself (so they will be supported) in addition to third party developers.
• Tech support is high quality and typically resolve problems in a quick and professional manner.

Cons:

• Noticeably lower customization ability – the rigid grid layout in particular. Sadly this is the major cost for ease of use and automatic mobile display.
• Lack of choice and variety in its themes compared to Wix or Squarespace.
• No immediate recovery options. If you delete something accidentally you’ll have to wait for support to get it back for you.
• Phone support is only available at higher subscriptions.

Overall:

The go to for novices looking to get a site up and running quickly, simply and cheaply. Due to customization constraints something more professional may require one of our other candidates however.

Squarespace

Finally for today we have Squarespace. While its exact numbers aren’t released, millions of sites have been created with the service since its founding in 2003 and, in 2016, Squarespace was ranked #8 on the Forbes Cloud 100 list.

Pros:

• The templates. It’s the sites major strength and their quality is second to none, providing a highly professional appearance.
• There’s no need for a mobile editor as the templates adapt automatically.
• The powerful, flexible editor is praised for the level of customization it provides.
• This is another service where you can tinker with the HTML directly if you spring for above-basic subscriptions.
• If you have any problems its 24/7 support is considered speedy and highly competent.

Cons:

• Minimalist UI and range of tools available can be overwhelming for beginners.
• Cost. Its high compared to almost all other services available.
• Google’s Page Speed Tool gives low ratings to Squarespace. That’s likely to hurt your rankings and put off visitors. Especially those on mobile.
• You can reinstate deleted pages and blog entries up to 30 days after removal but there is currently no backup functionality whatsoever.

Overall:

Top level customisation, clean UI and an excellent utility for bloggers but its SEO limitations will be a turn off for some uses while its cost and complexity may drive away novices.

So there you go! A brief rundown of the three main Drag & Drop site builders to help you decide who to go with for your next website. If you’ve found this guide useful you should check out the rest of our Blog. There are some great little ‘How To’ articles in there to ease you in to cyberspace. Alternatively, follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter where we frequently post tips to improve your digital knowledge.