WebStarts offers a blank slate that allows you to create a website by clicking on straightforward and intuitive home page icons, using easy drag and drop functions, and changing styles and fonts with the click of a button. WebStarts is a goof-proof way to build your online presence quickly and easily. Read our WebStarts review below.
OverviewAs the owner of a small business, you know how important it is for current customers and prospects alike to find you online; it brands you as a professional and tells your business story. What you may not yet realize is that you have the ability to put together a website yourself, without any programming skills or advanced technical training. Online website builders can put you on the virtual map quickly and without a great expense. WebStarts is one of these platforms.
WebStarts offers a streamlined process to build a site that also allows for unlimited creativity by not limiting what you can do with your site; you start with an entirely blank slate, similar to building powerpoint presentations, and add your desired elements wherever you want on your page. The WebStarts platform offers a complete website building package for most any small business to get online, transact business and look professional.
Who is WebStarts recommended for?
WebStarts is for small business owners that need to get their business online inexpensively, especially those that are selling products because of the online store/eCommerce capabilities of this website builder. It is recommended especially for brick and mortar businesses that want to extend their businesses to the Internet and capture additional customers.
Does WebStarts offer any area of focus or specialties?
WebStarts provides a high level of features not commonly seen in a DIY website builder. For instance, membership and forum abilities, as well as the online store. To its benefit, the site offers all these features in an easy to use a product that makes designing and customizing a website simple even for novices.
What are WebStarts Technical Specifications or Limitations?
Tech gurus will not like WebStarts because of the lack of HTML needed and called for in the setup of the websites. Experienced website builders will feel something is missing.
Does WebStarts offer adequate scalability and room to grow?
WebStarts offers an easy scalability plan, starting from its free plan and tiering up to one with unlimited bandwidth. There is adequate room for growth of any business.
What is the money back guarantee policy?
We were unable to find any indication of money back guarantee policy for the company, so you would be wise to check that out upfront via phone or email with WebStarts before making a commitment.
What is their reputation?
Though we would like to say otherwise, it seems that WebStarts has some difficulties in this area. Doing a quick search of online customer reviews will show you some scary snippets, and reputation sites seem leery of WebStarts; Google’s Safe Browsing Site Status says WebStarts is partially dangerous as of this writing, with some pages containing deceptive content. TrustPilot showed some very poor reviews, and some glowing, over the top reviews with nothing in the middle. On a positive note: the owner of WebStarts is responding to reviews, and hopefully taking the criticism from the poor ones to upgrade the platform.
Why choose WebStarts website builder?
If you are new to website building but need to get online quickly and professionally, WebStarts can help you do that in less than a day. No coding skills required, no SEO knowledge, and no crazy design glitches. Signing up is super simple, directly from the homepage, and setup is easy as well.
Key FeaturesOddly enough, there is quite a disparity between user and expert ratings of WebStarts. The critics found the website builder to be a lot more lacking in certain areas than actual customers. The program receives especially low marks when it comes to available features. Basically, the experts concluded that WebStarts does not offer enough features and the ones that do come standard simply aren’t up to par. Users can create a blog and turn their site into an eCommerce store, but critics commented that these tools were too bare boned.
A short list of mediocre features also led to lukewarm scores for overall user experience. The experts were simply disappointed with the scope of the program and felt too limited by the capabilities offered. This is certainly something to consider, but bare boned might be just enough for new users who may get overwhelmed by too many complicated features.
Despite some consistent complaints about billing, WebStarts consumers appear to be more than pleased with the actual website builder program. In fact, it receives glowing reviews and an average of 9 out of 10 starts from users.
First and foremost, customers appreciate the program for its ease of use. Those without any prior design experience were able to create beautiful and functional websites in very little time. There were also a lot of positive comments about the quality of the templates. Users found that there were plenty of attractive options and were able to easily customize each theme to fit their business.
Finally, many comments mentioned the dashboard and navigation tools. Even beginners were able to find their way around and locate the tools they needed.
WebStarts is yet another website builder program that has gotten in its own way by practicing aggressive sales tactics. The majority of customers have positive things to say about the actual program, but they are not happy with the sales people, upselling strategies and unexpected charges.
Users were turned off by the number of sales emails from WebStarts that began filling up their email inboxes after they signed up. It seems that the company is more than happy to discuss upgrading service, but isn’t quite as helpful when it comes to solving technical or billing issues. A significant number of customers also reported unauthorized charges that they were then unable to resolve or have refunded. Make sure that you are very clear about any contract terms.
Design & CustomizationWebStarts offers users unlimited customization; you can drag and drop anything you want on your website. Start with an entirely blank slate if you prefer, or pick one of the pre-designed templates that you can customize to your preferences.
| Feature | Overview |
| Templates | Choosing a suitable template is simple with WebStarts; there are over 100 to choose from, and they are customizable from there as well.
Free: A wide range of nice-looking website templates are available for both free accounts and premium accounts. Premium: We did not purchase a premium account, but what we can say is that the broad range of templates available for free accounts is pretty awesome. |
| Interface | The website builder interface on WebStarts is excellent; easy to understand and use. You first choose a template, whether that is a blank canvas or a pre-built template that you can tweak to your heart’s content is up to you. From there, setup is pretty straightforward by following the My Pages at the bottom of the website builder. |
| Page Style Customization` | Page styles are virtually unlimited with WebStarts drag and drop, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) functionality. Each template is customizable, and you can see exactly what your page and your website will look like while you are creating it and customizing it. There are lots of beautiful and professional fonts available to change the look of your pages. Changing images is simple, and the drag and drop feature allows you to move or pinch and resize easily. |
| Site Navigation | Site navigation is fairly easy, with lots of buttons and menus for novice website builders to find their way around and get to the stuff they need efficiently. |
| Content Management | Adding content is a simple process with the drag and drop functionality and the included apps that you can use to add more functions to each page of your website. For instance, “blog” is one of the apps that most people will want to add to their site to keep it fresh. |
| Photos and Galleries | It is super easy to add images to the handy drag and drop functionality. You can drop any size image on a page and expand or contract. Additionally, the premium plans allow photo galleries and slideshows. |
| Mobile Site Building | While you can sign up to a WebStarts site from your smartphone, you will have to use a PC to continue to set it up from there. Editing requires a computer interface, so keep that in mind. |
| Social Sharing Integration | Social sharing buttons can be added to WebStarts premium websites; they are not available on the free plan. |
| Design Services | We could not find a mention of design services on the site, so we are not sure if that is something that could be offered by the team at WebStarts. |
Features & Tools WebStarts provides drag and drop functionality that makes it a snap to build a website, along with lots of templates, images, and different fonts to play with until you get the look the way you’d like it. The templates are totally customizable, with hundreds of fonts to choose from, and the ease of drag and drop for images and other objects you want to add to your site.
One of WebStarts best features is the use of the online store to add eCommerce to your site quickly and easily. There is also an easy access forum set up for you to add interactivity to your site, as well as member functionality for private or pay sites.
Some great additional features of the WebStarts platform – the SEO Wizard software, free advertising credits, and one of our favorite features, the easy to use and powerful WYSIWYG editing tool– make WebStarts a bargain at its price points.
| Feature | Overview |
| Setup | Before you even sign up on the WebStarts site, it prompts you to choose a template; these templates make setup a breeze. One weak area we would note is that the “My Pages” section where you can edit your site is at the bottom, below lots of buttons and an advertisement to upgrade to one of the premium plans. It can be overlooked at first. Setting up your pages is easy once you find this section, and you cannot make a mistake and zap your stuff, because if you click “clear” or “delete,” it makes you confirm it before execution. |
| Web Design | WebStarts has more than 100 templates to choose from, and the designs are aesthetically pleasing and easily tweaked. |
| Custom Domain Name | When you opt for any of the three premium plans with WebStarts, your custom domain is included, and you can transfer one that you already own as well. |
| The depth of Navigation: | WebStarts allows submenus, which means that you can add pages and make them subpages of others. For instance, if you are selling widgets, you can make the main page for blue widgets, and subpages for Navy widgets and sky blue widgets. You add a dropdown menu so that people who are visiting your site can quickly find what they are looking for. |
| Widgets and Apps | With WebStarts, there are some apps you can add to increase the functionality of your website. Choose from Facebook, Google maps, Hit Counter, Instagram, Photo Gallery, SEO Wizard, Slideshow, Twitter, Guestbook, YouTube and other apps to make your website more user-friendly and welcoming. |
| Monetization | No monetization options exist on the free plan; in fact, WebStarts will use your site to show its advertising. On the premium plans, you can use ads to build some income for the website, as well as affiliate links. |
| Visitor Statistics | he Hit Counter app will give you the statistics you are looking for; for a further and more in-depth look at your visitors, add Google Analytics. |
| Photo,Video,and Audio | The adding pictures, audio, and videos are as simple as uploading them or clicking them onto the site from YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. |
| Blogging | Blogging on the WebStarts platform leaves quite a bit to be desired. There is a simple app to add to your website so that you can blog on the site. However, it is a text only blog…no ability to add images or videos. |
| Google Maps | WebStarts offers some of the best maps we have seen on any of the website builder sites. They are small to start, but like other elements in WebStarts, easily resized and moved to put them where they will do the best. |
| HTML Editor | Custom HTML access is available on the Pro Plus Plan and the Business Plan. |
| Social Media Integration | Integrating Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest is an easy process, and is available on all but the free plans with WebStarts. |
| Forms and surveys | Contact forms are available with all of the plans except the free plan. Additionally, WebStarts offers storage for your contacts, starting with 100 on the Pro Plan and scaling to unlimited for the Business Plan. |
| Storage Space | Storage space is allotted according to which plan you choose; the free plan affords only 1GB, Pro 5GB, Pro Plus 10GB and the Business Plan gives you 40GB of cloud storage. Bandwidth is allotted similarly– the free plan starts with 1GB, Pro offers 25GB, Pro Plus 100GB, and the Business is unlimited. |
| Newsletter Tool | You can utilize WebStarts’ Shopping Cart system to send broadcast emails to lists of customers, which is ideal for newsletters, special discounts, and promos. The Webstarts’s Shopping Cart system does cost extra to use, so weigh the convenience of its use with the cost of email marketing plans that are available. |
| Forum Support | We have never seen a website builder that has such an easy way to add a forum section. A few simple clicks to adjust the forum settings to your liking, and you are ready to start the discussion. |
| E-Commerce / Online Store | This is one of WebStarts best features. Click the cute store button at the top of the WebStarts menu and get selling! It is as easy as putting something up for bid on Ebay, with three or four clicks, your product or service is online and ready to take orders. |
| Gateway Integration | Using WebStarts Shopping Cart app is the easiest way to setup payment gateways for websites built on the site. |
| SEO Friendly | WebStarts was built with SEO at the forefront, so just adding the right keywords will add to its ingrained SEO and help your site to be quickly found by all the search engines and customers. |
| Site Limited Access (Password Protection) | Pro Plus and Business Plans allow password protection for forums and membership sites. |
| Google® Analytics | Using Google® Analytics gives you a lot of details about where your site visitors come from and how long they stick around on your site. |
| Website Security | WebStarts itself seems reasonably secure; it uses 256-bit SSL encryption, Norton Secured and Authorize.net for payments. Payments on the site are made on secure networks with adequate password protection and standard firewalls. The site does warn users that “perfect security” does not exist on the Internet. |
Plans & Pricing WebStarts has a tiered pricing structure that starts at zero and goes up to $19.99 for a Business Plan that gets you some convenient perks.
Free
WebStarts’ free plans sites are built on webstarts.com domain, as subdomains; what this means is that your website “address” will be in the form yourwebsite.webstarts.com, instead of the more professional yourwebsite.com. The Free plan is easy to join with a few clicks. The free plan is limited to five pages, and 1GB of bandwidth and same cloud storage. Also, you have no control over the ads which will show on your website and no social media integration.
Pro
WebStarts Pro Plan will run you $4.89 per month, billed annually. The Pro Plan will get you a domain name, up to 15 pages, 25GB a month in bandwidth, social media integration, and no ads. It also gives you more cloud storage space at 5GB and allows slideshows and galleries, which you cannot do on the Free Plan.
Pro Plus
Pro Plus runs $7.16 a month, also billed annually. (In fact, all of the paid plans can only be charged on an annual basis.) With Pro Plus, you will pick up a business phone number, phone support in addition to email, search engine submission and advertising credits for Google. Additionally, pages are unlimited on the Pro Plus Plan, and you get 100GB of bandwidth and 10GB of cloud storage.
Business
The Business Plan is $19.99 per month and nets you a business phone number, leads management and custom HTML access, in addition to unlimited bandwidth and 40GB of online storage space. The Business Plan offers eCommerce in the form of an online store, email marketing solutions, and five free email addresses.
In comparison, premium plans on other website builder’s sites start at $3- $4 monthly with a contract, Squarespace’s premium plan will set you back $8 monthly and LightCMS is $19 a month.
Customer Support There appears to be ample support for users, both on the website and off. Most questions and issues can be resolved by visiting the support page. You can also send an email to support@webstarts.com; the company says they strive to answer within one hour during business hours. With premium plans, phone support is available for users as well.
Ease of Use As mentioned earlier, the site uses the WYSIWYG editor that shows you precisely how your site will look to visitors before you publish. The fact that WebStarts makes you choose a template to begin forces you into a decision as to how you want your site to appear, and from there it is just a matter of tweaking things until they are just how you want them.
Conclusion While it seems that WebStarts might have had some glitches in the past, the product they are currently offering seems straightforward, easy to use for novices, and all that most business owners should need to build a solid online presence for their company. Adam Barger says on the website that he wanted to build a platform where people could “create unique pages without knowing any code and without the harsh limitations of other website builders.” We say he has succeeded in that, and that you should give WebStarts a try. We think you will like all that it has to offer.
Alternatives
Expert Reviews
User Reviews
