WebMaker CMS > Reviews (1)

3rd Time Lucky to Build a Website

I'm writing this because I wish I had been told about WebMaker when I wanted to make my own website. Now my website gets seen, people can read about my products, watch videos about the products, download information and buy them online. All this created by me just like creating a word document - which to be honest is all I ever wanted.

I thought that building a website would be a one-time activity. How wrong I could be! Don't get fooled, in the 4 years I have been in business this is the third time that I have had to create a website. Now, finally, I've found a product that lets me do what I want for my business. Before I started using WebMaker I used :

* 1 free website builder (and I know there is no such thing as a free website builder - they are only free if you don't want to do anything on your website of use! or if you don't mind adverts that can promote your competition – which this did, regularly)

* 2 paid for website creator products - I won't mention their names in case of slander - but needless to say neither ‘made it easy’ as promised. One of them needed me to be a technical wizard with HTML to get it to work (which I am definitely not) and hit me with recurring charges for everything I added on, and the other, well it just didn't create a website that was attractive, or let me change anything important like... colours.

I run my own craft business in Ireland. I knew that to grow I would need to sell my products on the web so I could reach a wider audience. I couldn't afford to employ a web designer to create a website, I looked at lots of articles on the web about 'how to make a website, learn about website builders, buy a website creator, create your own website....’ the list goes on. Most of them assumed that I understood the internet and technology and a lot of them were just too expensive for a small Irish business. After my third try at building my own website I was all for giving up on the internet and realising that I should stick to what I was good at - crafts. Even my mother gave me a good talking to “Just look at yourself. You’re getting all stressed up about just opening a shop. Is it really worth it?” She was right, but I gave it one last chance, and luckily this time it worked out.

I can’t speak highly enough about WebMaker. I started with their entry level product because I was scared and I was desperate so didn’t want to spend a lot. It cost just €110 and for that I got my website, the hosting for a year, email and an amazing choice of hundreds of website designs absolutely free of charge.

To begin with I was apprehensive and was on the phone to their support quite a lot it is a chargeable phone number, but they actually kept pointing me to their online support which answered all my questions. So they were good at making sure that I didn’t waste a lot of money on expensive calls. But they were always there on the end of a phone and patiently explained (in non technical terms) how to get what I wanted.

The nice thing is that they also gave me advice about the best way to enter descriptions that will help me with Google so that people can find me, very helpful. Once I had gained confidence I was up and running and turned to online help when I needed it rather than calling the support line.

That was nearly a year ago and since then I have added lots of neat things to my website. And this was where I really fell in love with WebMaker. If I want to add a new feature, like a newsletter, I just tick the box and hit the button and it is added straightaway. Sounds unimportant, but if you are running a business like I do, then you’ll know that you work odd hours. So at 8 in the evening or 5am in the morning if I need to add something I can do it right there and then, I don’t need to wait for someone to be available in ’office hours’ to get my website upgraded. And I don’t need to be technical to do it!

It’s great because it has lots of things that you can add like video, like a blog, twitter – which I have now used for a few months with great sales success – my facebook page, even a shop to sell online, which I now have. One thing that they don’t shout about but which I love, is the way I can virtually create a new website regularly. It’s a thing they call changing the design, which to me creates a new website. When I started I used a design that they called ‘flower power’ it looked very art and crafty to me so I picked it. After a couple of weeks I decided that I didn’t like it and (on one of my every early morning starts) I thought I was due for a change, so I just went through the long list of designs, picked another one and clicked the button and hey presto I’ve got a new layout, new colours but all the same content and images! To me that’s just magic. I’ve done that several times, comes in very handy for holiday times when visitors are looking to see what’s new as they see the site and it’s changed so they think that it is new and search all over again.

I’m very proud of my website today. “bold” My business has grown by nearly 100%”bold” since I finally got online properly. I can add products, write a blog, update my customers with the newsletter and generally stop my mother saying that I am all stressed!

Is there anything bad about WebMaker? So far I haven’t seen anything which is why I decided to write this. When I find a product that is really good and which I feel happy to recommend I want to tell people.

So if you want to create a website use WebMaker I think you’ll be very happy.