With WordPress being one of the most popular site-building and blogging tools available and Weebly having been around the website building space for a while, you might be wondering which platform is the better option when building a new site.
Depending on your needs, both platforms offer a wide range of features that allow you to create and manage your website easily.
The key is to understand what each platform brings to the table and how it can benefit your specific needs.
In this guide, I’ll take a closer look at Weebly vs. WordPress, so you can determine which option is the right fit. Let's get right into it.
The Main Differences
When it comes to the main differences between the two platforms, a Weebly site is great for beginners that want to set up their personal or professional websites in the easiest way possible. The easy drag and drop editor and website builder allow you to set things up just as you want them - all in just a few clicks.
Weebly homepage
On the other hand, there is a bit of a learning curve involved in WordPress, especially if you want to customize the way your site looks and works. As such, it is recommended that you have some technical knowledge before setting up your WordPress journey.
WordPress homepage
This would come in useful from the moment you install WordPress since you need to choose a hosting provider, and select a theme and plugin, to get started.
But all these technical details might be worth it since WordPress offers more flexibility and control over the way your website looks and functions.
The Design Of Your Website
When it comes to having a Weebly site, as many as 55 templates come ready out of the box. These allow you to set up the site you want and include templates related to portfolios, online stores, and website blogs.
The good news is that all these templates are free and will usually allow you to get your site to look just right without too many modifications.
weebly website templates
When it comes to WordPress, there are a ton of choices since it is an open-source platform. With many developers and graphic designers creating various themes and plugins, you are spoilt for choice when it comes to your site’s design.
E-Commerce
When it comes to Weebly, even though it is not an out-of-the-box e-commerce solution, you will still be able to set up your online store and be up and running when processing orders in your business.
The good news is that Square, an e-commerce company, has recently taken over Weebly, and as a result, the e-commerce aspect of this platform is expected to get better over time, increasing its basic ecommerce features to more advanced ones.
Squarespace homepage
When it comes to WordPress and eCommerce, you are again spoilt for choice in this area. The WordPress platform is host to many ecommerce plugins, the most common of which is WooCommerce. This ecommerce plugin is tough to beat in this regard, especially since it was built solely with e-commerce in mind. There is a free version and the paid version of this plugin to help you scale as your business grows and your e-commerce sales increase.
Creating an eCommerce website involves having the right functionality so knowing what features are offered by the platform you choose will save you time and money down the road.Search Engine Optimization
On a WordPress website, search engine optimization is again done through various plugins that you can install on your site. Two of the most common plugins used for WordPress are Yoast SEO and Rank Math. These plugins give you complete control over your search engine rankings settings and the factors that influence this.
In addition to this, WordPress also offers native SEO features that include having custom URLs when publishing pages, blogrolling and pinging.
When it comes to Weebly, you can still control many aspects of search engine optimization, including changing the page title, updating your meta description, having customized 301 redirects, and much more. The only issue is that you are dependent on the platform and its functionality, which is not necessarily a bad thing for those just starting out.
Blogging
Weebly is quite flexible when setting up the basic blogging startup blocks. You can have posts filled with images, text, videos, and any other item that you would expect to find in a regular blogging solution. You can also set up various categories depending on what kind of content you have on your blog.
With that said, a Weebly website is usually considered the better solution for those who do not blog professionally on their site. There is also specific information when it comes to creating your own blog on this platform.
Weebly how to create a blog post
On the flipside, WordPress has blogging as its primary core function and this was initially the main reason it was developed. When using WordPress to host your blog, you will have complete control over the blog posts and pages you publish, allowing you to create the look and feel you want.
That said, you will need to use different themes and plugins to get the job done right. Alternatively, you can also hire someone to set up your blog as per your specifications.
Customer Support
When it comes to Weebly, they have dedicated live chat email support and phone support available during a large portion of the day.
Weebly Support
When it comes to WordPress, you are on your own in this regard. While there is a tonne of help on the internet that could allow you to find the right solution, being an open-source platform means there is no dedicated support to help you out if you run into any difficulty.
This means that if you want specific help available as needed, WordPress might not be the best solution. Despite this, if you are a technical person, you will probably be able to figure your way around WordPress and set up your blog the way you want to - with just a bit of searching around.
Third-Party Applications
Weebly has its App Center, where you can find both free and premium applications that enhance any site built on this platform.
Unfortunately, there haven't been any significant additions to this center recently, so if you can't find something you want when initially searching for it, it probably won't be added anytime soon.
On the other hand, you can find thousands of plugins and enhancements that you can add to WordPress sites. You can also find premium plugins that will completely change the functionality of your site.
The only issue you have to consider when using WordPress plugins is authenticity. Since everyone can develop a plugin (or multiple ones) and put it on the WordPress repository, you will have to do some research to ensure that you are installing the right plugin for your site. Some plugins have security vulnerabilities, which might mean that hackers may attempt to target websites that have these plugins running on them when launching a WordPress platform attack.
Pricing
You can see how much you're going to spend on your own website when using Weebly. The plans are laid out on their site and are as follows:
These are paid on an annual basis.
Weebly Pricing
If you choose a plan that renews every month, you will have to pay a bit more than you would if you purchase an annual one.
The initial outlay is free for WordPress, as you can set up this content management system on your site without paying anything. However, this is not an accurate picture over the long term. First of all, you will need a website hosting service to ensure that your site goes (and stays) live. Obviously, the more you pay for hosting providers, the more functionality and speed your hosting will come with.
In addition, there are also various WordPress themes and plugins you will have to consider. While some of these are free, investing in the right, premium ones to get the site to perform just like you want it to is usually a good idea.
Some of these plugins will have a recurring subscription, which means you will need to pay every so often to use the features on offer. Depending on your business model, this might or might not make sense.
Maintenance
When it comes to Weebly, the system itself will take care of any maintenance that needs to get done. This means that any vulnerabilities that need to be updated will be done automatically without you worrying about having to fix these items yourself.
On the other hand, maintenance is something you have to consider and remember to update yourself when using WordPress.
If you don't, your site will be more prone to attacks and various vulnerabilities that might make it risky for people to visit your site. If you deal with e-commerce, this might have severe consequences as people will be submitting their credit card information on your site.
That said, as long as you take care to do these regular updates whenever WordPress brings up specific notifications, things should be okay. However, if you don't want to do this extra work, WordPress might not be the right platform of choice.
Conclusion
There is no secret formula to making money with your blog. While it is not a very complicated process, it does take time to set up and get the ball rolling. However, if you are ready to put some work into it, I'm sure you can find a way for your blog to become profitable.
One final tip to give you would be to keep things simple and start small at first. Try out a few examples from this post yourself and see what works best for you. Finding the right mix of ads, affiliate marketing, and products that makes your blog profitable is something that you’ll have to test until you start seeing the results that you want.
