How to Use the Weebly Website Builder to Create Your Site
Elizabeth Kraus has more than a decade of first-hand experience building and growing a boutique digital marketing agency and double that in small and mid-size business marketing management. She provides expert answers to marketing questions related to branding, content marketing, web development, email, social media, and SEO.
This article is part of a larger series on Small Business Websites.
The Weebly website builder offers industry-low pricing for ecommerce businesses and restaurants in an all-in-one site builder. It’s easy to use, and you can create your small business website for free in a few steps. First, create a Weebly account, get a theme, customize your template, and build out your site. When your Weebly website is ready to launch, upgrade to an ad-free paid plan and publish it on a custom business domain.
1. Create an Account to Use the Weebly Website Builder
You can use the Weebly website builder for free to test the site editor, explore its native features and apps, and build a site. If budget is a top concern and you don’t plan to sell online, you can even publish your website for free. Set up your account to follow along with our Weebly tutorial below.
After inputting your contact information, you will be asked a few onboarding questions to help determine the best template for you. First, you’ll need to decide whether to build a personal site or to opt for the Square-powered site builder.
You’ll need the latter if you plan to sell online, take online orders, offer appointment booking or reservations, or want a branded, ad-free website. For most small businesses, Square Online is the best option. Picking the personal website option takes you to the classic Weebly Editor, while choosing Square Online takes you to the Square Online Editor.
Note that the Square Online Editor doesn’t support third-party apps at this time, although its plans are robust all by themselves and offer all the features most small businesses will need. Consider which editor is best for you carefully. Once you choose which route to take, you will be stuck with the corresponding editor unless you start over with a new account. For more details, read our full Weebly review.
How to set up an account to use the Weebly website builder
Pro tip: Weebly has a robust third-party app marketplace where you can integrate both free and premium apps to help with things like search engine optimization (SEO). Unfortunately, the Square Editor doesn’t support third-party apps at this time. To see which apps are available with the Classic Editor, visit Weebly’s App Store or click on the App tab at the top of the page.
2. Create or Choose a Theme
Once you’ve answered all the onboarding questions after choosing the Square Online option, you’ll be directed to a checklist. It makes it easy for beginners to use the Weebly website builder by listing the steps to complete your site. The first item on the checklist is to design your website. Click “Design Now” and head to the Editor, where you’ll see a theme Weebly has picked out for you.
Before giving you access to the site editor, Weebly will suggest website features based on the answers you provided during the onboarding. Select which features to add to your website on the left of the screen or wait and add the features later. Once you’ve selected the features you want, click “Next” at the top right corner of the page.
Based on your input, Weebly’s Square Online site builder will create a template for your site. You can change and customize this template in the next steps, so don’t worry if it’s not exactly what you envisioned at this point.
How to set up a template for your Weebly website design
Weebly will automatically add a variety of ecommerce features to your site based on your selections during setup
If you chose to build a personal website using Weebly’s Classic Editor, you don’t get any onboarding questions. Instead, you’ll start by choosing a template from Weebly’s theme selection. While Weebly’s templates are fairly modern, you don’t get a vast amount of options like with other site builders. Choose from 40 different options among a handful of basic categories like Business or Portfolio.
Easily build a small business website using Weebly templates
3. Customize Your Template
The Classic Editor’s drag-and-drop interface
Weebly has two different yet intuitive editors. On the Classic Editor (for personal websites) is a drag-and-drop page builder you can use to customize and build your Weebly website. Although the Square Online Editor isn’t drag and drop, it still provides many customization options without giving you too much freedom to mess up your site’s design.
For more information about how to use the Weebly website builder to customize your site’s design, expand the sections below:
Upload Your Logo
During the Square Editor’s onboarding, Weebly will ask you to upload a logo from your computer. If you currently don’t have a logo, you can skip the step and upload one later. Don’t neglect this, though—having a logo is important for the branding of a small business. Take time and create yours for free through sites like Canva or get a professionally designed logo for as little as $5 on Fiverr.
To upload your logo, click on your business name, which should be on your header at the very top of your page. On the Classic Editor, upload your logo by clicking on “Logo.” On the Square Editor, you’ll have to click on “Logo” located on the left-hand menu and select “Image” under Type.
Edit the Color Scheme
To change your website’s color scheme on the Square Editor, go to the Site Design tab, located at the bottom of the left-side menu. With the Classic Editor, colors come preselected with the theme itself. Change your theme completely by clicking on the Theme menu at the top of your screen and selecting “Change Theme.” This will direct you back to the theme selection page.
Edit the Header & Footer
4. Add, Delete & Edit Pages
Add, delete, and edit pages and navigation
Next, customize the pages your site consists of. Not only will you need to update the pages your Weebly theme came with to transform your website, but you may also want to add or delete pages. If you’re not sure what to include on your website, check out our website basics checklist.
How to Add Pages to Your Weebly Website
Add a page with the Square Editor
To add a new page using the Square Editor, head over to the top left and click on the drop-down menu to access the pages you currently have on your website. Add a page by clicking on “+ Add” at the very top of the screen, and choose from Weebly’s templates. You can always edit these pages by editing sections.
Notice that Weebly separates your site’s pages into categories; standard pages, like your homepage or your contact page, are at the top of the list. If you’re running an online store, Weebly has your store’s landing page under Category pages, where you can create different groups for your products.
Add a page with the Classic Editor
On the Classic Editor, the Pages menu at the very top of your screen is where you can add any pages you might need. Simply click on the button, then press the “+” sign on top. Like in the Square Editor, you’ll be presented with Weebly’s premade page templates. You can always go with one of these or add a Standard Page to build one from scratch.
How to Delete Pages
To delete any pages you don’t want, scroll over the page in question and hit the trash button from the left-hand vertical menu. What’s also nice about the Weebly website builder in this respect is that when you delete a page, it’s automatically removed from your site’s navigation menus.
How to Update Your Site’s Navigation Menus
Edit your website’s navigation menu by clicking on “Edit” at the very bottom of the Page menu, and drag and drop the pages in order. You can even create subpages by dragging a page below and slightly to the right. You can also delete pages from your navigation without deleting them from the website by clicking on the trash icon beside the navigation links.
How to use Weebly’s Classic Editor to update navigational menus
Adjusting your website’s structure on the Classic Editor works in much the same way. Click on your Pages menu once again to order your pages, rename them, and delete any if necessary.
How to Edit Pages With the Weebly Website Builder
Edit content using the Weebly website builder
First, go to the page you want to edit. From there, simply click on the blocks on the Editor itself, and type in what you want. You can also change the background image, color, and alignment of content blocks by clicking on “Customize” at the bottom of the section’s menu.
When you’ve finished editing a section, click on “Done” at the top left of your screen. Then edit the next section until you’ve edited all of the section blocks on the page.
You’ll edit your blocks in the same way on the Classic Editor. However, you can also drag and drop content blocks around the page to organize them. You can also delete elements by pressing on the “X” at the top right corner of each block.
How to Optimize Your Weebly Website for Search
Weebly incorporates basic search engine optimization (SEO) tools on each page. In the Square Editor, access the menu by clicking on a page and then clicking on the gear icon to the right of the page’s name.
On the General tab of a page’s Settings, you can change the page name and slug of the URL (the latter is not available on the free plan). The second tab, or the SEO tab, lets you add an SEO title and description to each page, and it also enables you to toggle page visibility on and off.
In the Classic Editor, you’ll access Weebly’s SEO features by clicking on the page name and scrolling down to SEO Settings, located toward the middle of the menu. Unlike on the Square Editor, over here, you also have the option to add meta keywords, footer code, and header code, such as code to embed Google Analytics tracking for website metrics.
Did you know? Weebly’s parent company is Square, a leading payment processing company for small businesses. Square services power Weebly websites with robust ecommerce tools for online stores, restaurants, and other local and professional businesses.
5. Preview, Publish & Upgrade Your Plan
The screen announcing that your new Weebly website is live online
When you have finished editing and building your site, click on the preview button at the top of your screen. On both the Classic Editor and the Square Editor, it’s a desktop computer (PC) icon. There’s also a drop-down menu to see how your website will look on mobile devices.
Take time to review your site using the navigation menus and proof your content to eliminate any errors before making it live online. When you’re happy with everything, hit “Publish” on the top right corner of the screen to get your website live. Weebly will then ask you to customize your domain.
You can either find and purchase an unregistered domain through Weebly or connect a current business domain name you own from a different host. Keep in mind that both options require you to upgrade to a paid plan. Otherwise, click on the third option to use a Weebly subdomain and continue with a free plan.
Take note that on the free plan, your website will be on a Weebly subdomain, appearing something like www.yourbrandname.weebly.com. To use or get a custom domain for your business, (e.g., www.yourbrandname.com) and remove all Weebly ads from your website, you’ll need to upgrade to at least the Professional plan.
Weebly Pricing & Plans
Free | Personal | Professional | Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Cost* | $0 | $6 | $12 | $26 |
Ad-free | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ |
Connect a Domain | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Free Domain (With Annual Billing) | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ |
Free SSL Certificate | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
SEO Features | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Storage | 500MB | 500MB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Unlimited Bandwidth | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Inventory Management | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Shipping Calculator | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Sell Digital Goods | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Pop-up Notifications | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Cart Abandonment Emails | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ |
*With annual billing; monthly billing is also available at a higher cost
Best Weebly Alternatives
Weebly offers the most robust free plan for online stores and is the best website builder for restaurants, but that doesn’t make it ideal for every small business. For example, the limited design capabilities and SEO features and lack of an app store (on the Square Editor) could be a deal-breaker for some.
For more options, check out some of the best Weebly alternatives instead:
Top Weebly Alternatives |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Advantages Over Weebly |
|
|
|
|
Free Plan | ✔ | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ |
Starting Price per Month | $16* | $14* | $29 | $6.99** |
Ecommerce Plans From | $27* | $23* | $29 | $14.99** |
Learn More |
*Monthly cost with annual billing; month-to-month billing is available at higher cost
**First year pricing with annual billing renews at a higher rate; month-to-month billing is available at higher cost
Still not sure? See a full list of our recommendations for the best website builders for small businesses.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do I need website hosting with Weebly?
No, Weebly is an all-in-one website builder, meaning it acts as a content management system (CMS) and hosting provider in one. All-in-one website builders are almost always the best option for small business websites or web design beginners. They come with everything needed to create a small business website and get it online, including hosting and SSL certificates, and paid plans often come with free business domains.
Are Weebly websites really free?
You can build a free website on Weebly. However, the free plan isn’t adequate for building a professional brand presence online. So upgrading your Weebly website to a paid plan is a must for any business. Get a free domain name, remove Weebly ads, and enjoy dedicated customer support when you upgrade to the Professional plan.
Is Weebly a good website maker?
Weebly is one of the best website builders because its ecommerce features are robust and offered at a low cost (or even free). This makes Weebly a good website maker for online stores, restaurants, and other types of local service businesses. It’s especially useful for casual sellers, brick-and-mortar retailers looking to expand online, and restaurant websites needing free online ordering and reservation tools.
Bottom Line
Weebly is one of the better all-in-one website builders in the market. Its free plan comes with great online selling tools (rare in a free plan). Plus, it’s easy to use, even if it lacks website design capabilities compared to other site builders. Build a free website using Weebly and get your business online today.
You Might Also Like…
- Comparing top site builders? See which is better in our comparison of Squarespace vs Weebly.
- Need more design freedom? See how easy it is to use Wix to build a website.
- Learn how to start an online store quickly and easily to start selling online.
