Do you know that having a website for your business can actually amplify your turnover rate by a whopping 50%? As the figure indicates, everyone wants a website that looks professional and loads swiftly. However, most of the small business owners and professionals lack the technical and coding skills required to build a website. Hiring a developer might sound like a good option, but it can be a bit out of your budget at times, especially if you own a startup or small business.

This is where the website builder steps into the picture! If you need to launch an online store or need a new look for your site, free website builders are here to help you out hat the stress and headaches of manual coding. 

Building the website for your business is only a part of the puzzle: you also need to publish it. It means you need hosting and a domain. Acquiring a suitable and unique domain is one of the first things many entrepreneurs do. And it doesn't have to be expensive, either. Today, several hosting providers offer free website builders with free domain names, making it easier and more accessible to build and maintain your online presence. 

However, with so many options to choose from, which one is the best website builder for your business? Let’s look at some of the most affordable web hosting solutions to create and manage your websites with ease.

What is a Website Builder?

A website builder is an online software that allows you to design a website without any coding skills or technical background. You simply choose a template from the site and drag and drop various elements, including images, forms, YouTube videos, or interactive files, to complete the design. Each website builder has its own layer set that you can mix and match to suit your needs. 

What is a Custom Domain?

A domain name is a URL (internet address) that you enter in your browser to access a specific website or website section. Some of the common domains include .com, .org, .net, and many more. A custom domain is your unique identity to your brand’s identity or website on the internet. Once your custom domain is registered, it cannot be used by any other business. It will give you a professional distinction and help people to remember your brand easily. Moreover, as search engines are having their algorithms regularly, having a custom domain name will give you a competitive edge.

5 Best  Free Website Builders with Domain 

Now that you know what to look for in a website builder, it's time to choose one to design your website without hiring a developer with knowledge of coding. These days, there are plenty of beginner-friendly site builders available in the market, which will help you save time and money in the process. Here, we have compiled a list of the top free website builders to try out.

1. Neo

If you think a simple and striking one-page site can do wonders for your business, then get an elegant feel with Neo. Neo is a simple and powerful website builder that helps you design optimized websites in no time. The platform also provides you with a custom email domain that allows your business to gain a streamlined online presence with email marketing. 

How to Create Website with Free Domain Using Neo

1. Visit Neo's Website.
2. Click here - 'Try it yourself for free.'

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3. You can add your business idea

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4. Type business name and click on generate site button

5. Congratulations! your site is ready click 'Edit' or 'Make it Yours'

6. Choose your free domain name based on availability

7. Choose a relevant plan

8. Congratulations! You're now the proud owner of a website with a free domain

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The registration process is complete. Now, you can log in to your Neo account and take advantage of the free website builder. 

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Key Features

• AI-powered Features: If you lack technical knowledge, fortunately, Neo simplifies the website-building process with its design intelligence. You just need to enter the basic information about your brand. The AI will transform the data into a customized, professional-looking website in a few minutes.
• Custom Domain Name: Register your custom domain name with a .co.site domain extension and 
• Drag and Drop Editor: Create an online presence by using Neo’s drag-and-drop interface dashboard, which allows you to monitor the activity of your website visitors. 
• Unlimited Customization: Neo offers customization options for building websites with Neo. You have the pre-designed templates to match your brand’s unique style and requirements and stand out from the crowd.
• Intuitive Interface: Neo has an intuitive interface that allows you to navigate the platform’s easy-to-navigate menu and efficient transitions between sections. This enables your visitors to explore your new website without any hassles.
• Responsive Templates: Neo offers customizable templates with visually stunning layouts for various mobile and desktop devices. This means your website delivers a high-quality experience on any screen size, regardless of the device type.

2. Wix

Wix enables your website to deliver optimal performance by guaranteeing faster loading times and avoiding any delays or lags that confuse you when visitors visit. If you want a reliable website builder that is at the forefront of the industry and constantly evolving, then sign up for Wix. One of the most feature-filled site builders around, Wix website builder gives you 100+ high-quality templates on its free plan. With its creative freedom and extensive site options, Wix will allow you to create a great site from scratch in a couple of hours. 

Key Features

• Decent Storage and Bandwidth capability: With Wix, you will get 500 MB of storage space and bandwidth every month in its free plan, which is adequate for small business
• Extensive Template Collection: With the largest collection of professionally designed free templates, encompassing categories like business, creative, store, community, blog, and more.
• Free Subdomain: When you register a free account on Wix, your website will be created as a subdomain under wixsite.com, either as an online store or blog.
• Good SEO and Blogging: The Wix blog manager offers impressive templates and tools where you can add a post list, RSS feed, recent posts, archives, category menu, and more. The editor dashboard will allow you to add basic elements like images, videos, GIFs, polls, tables, HTML, and Adsense. You can also add tags, URL slug, meta description, social sharing, and more for better SEO optimization.
• Plenty of eCommerce Tools: Wix has plenty of eCommerce Tools with which you can sell digital/ physical products and product images, add inventory, create collections, add gift cards, edit pre-chat form fields, etc.
• AI Design and Automation: You don't have enough time to design your website on your own, even with templates. Get the Smart AI from WIX to do it for you! You just have to answer a few questions about the technology, and it will automatically design the website for you. 

3. GoDaddy

If you are on the hunt for a platform that allows you to develop a site quickly, host your custom email, and register your custom domain with a domain extension of your wish, GoDaddy has you covered. Despite your designing experience, you can create a visually appealing website in less than 20 minutes with GoDaddy. Though the editor is a bit difficult to use, you will get access to adequate tools to carve out a unique identity for your site.

Key Features

• Seamless Interface: GoDaddy's user interface is modern, and elegant, making it easy to use for beginners.
• Excellent Customization Options: Godaddy's site builder offers you a variety of customization options. You can add various audio, such as videos, blogs and newsletters, products, contact pages, files, countdown timers, calendars, FAQs, price lists, and more. Moreover, you can also edit the theme colors, font, button shape, and colors.
• Free Subdomain and SSL: You will receive a free subdomain under godaddysites.com and a free SSL certificate.
• Website Backups: You can also create a backup of your website and restore it entirely with GoDaddy. This feature is secure and allows you to make any changes to your site without losing your original data.
• Good Analytics and Blogging Features: GoDaddy offers an add-on feature for blogs, where you will get limited text formatting options along with a section to add images, videos, images, and categories. For analytics and tracking, you can add cookie banners and connect Google Analytics, Facebook pixel, meta tags, and Google AdSense.
• Diverse Plugins and Widgets: You will get plugins and add-ons for messaging, pop-ups, email, and social media marketing that enhance the functionality of your website. 

4. Squarespace

If you want to create a user-friendly website with every possible functionality, look no further than Squarespace. The grid editor gives you plenty of creative freedom while allowing you to maintain the professional structure to ensure that your site makes the best first impression.

Key Features

• Built-in Templates: Squarespace offers a vast collection of templates for designing your website. You can easily insert these premade page templates and sections anywhere on your site.
• Domain Registrations: Need to change your domain name? Whether you've rebranded or the original name no longer suits your business, Squarespace simplifies the process of purchasing a unique domain directly from the dashboard, with the first year free.
• Seamless Unsplash Integration: To enhance your site's authenticity with images, Squarespace provides seamless integration with Unsplash, making it easy to add image blocks that align with your style and brand.
• Built-in Analytics: Squarespace also offers built-in analytics, allowing you to monitor your site's performance. You can track traffic, discover where your visitors are coming from, and understand how they found you online.

5. Durable

• If your brand emphasizes a blend of aesthetics and business functionality, Durable is the perfect choice. It exudes professionalism and sophistication. Don't let its polished appearance intimidate you; Durable prioritizes user-friendliness, regardless of your technical expertise. Its drag-and-drop interface and adjustable features make it easy to create your site.

Key Features

• Pre-built Templates and Customization Options: Durable is an AI website builder that offers a wide array of pre-built templates, which can be customized to create a unique website tailored to your business.
• Drag-and-Drop Functionality: With its impressive drag-and-drop capabilities, you can effortlessly add and rearrange elements on your website.
• Content Management System (CMS): Durable includes an intuitive content management system that allows you to add and update any type of content on your site without needing technical expertise.
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Its advanced analytics and reporting features enable you to track your site's performance, identify areas for improvement, and make informed, data-driven decisions.
• Advanced AI Capabilities: Durable incorporates AI features such as Natural Language Processing, sentiment analysis, and predictive analytics, further enhancing your website's functionality and user experience.
• Integrations: This AI website builder allows for diverse eCommerce integrations, enabling your business to sell services and products online seamlessly.
• Mobile Responsiveness: With Durable, you can trust that your website is built on a mobile-responsive platform, ensuring accessibility on mobile devices without compromising user experience.

Key Elements to Consider Before Choosing a Free Website Builder

Website builders are a budget-friendly alternative to hiring a professional web developer to build your website. However, when you are seeking the right website builder to help you design your dream website, make sure to look out for the following. 

1. Ease of Use

Building a website should be easy for everyone, even without a degree in computer science or any technical subjects. The best free website builders focus on easy-to-use interfaces that will make the process easy for beginners and experienced technical people. 

2. Customizable Templates

Premade templates will give you a solid starting point, allowing you to envision the website of your potential.  You can choose your color, fonts, and layouts without feeling lost in a maze of menus, which is crucial for beginners with free website builders.

3. Level of Customization

Before using a site builder, remember how much control you want over your site design. If you have a specific design in mind, you need a tool that provides many customization features. Some tools provide flexibility, while others simply rely on predefined templates. 

4. Ability to Add Custom Domain

If you want your name, you can purchase or connect one with your custom domain name. Small businesses will look more professional with a custom domain rather than a subdomain. 

5. Mobile Responsiveness 

If you have just begun your small business, you want your website to look great on all devices, best smartphones or desktops. Your choice of a free website builder should offer built-in tools to adjust the appearance of your site to make it compatible with different screen sizes. 

6. Community and Support

When you are a novice website builder, having a support community can be invaluable for clearing out inevitable questions or troubleshooting sessions. Consider the documentation and tutorials to get clear explanations and step-by-step instructions on how to use the platform.

Tips for Creating Your Website with a Custom Domain

While it is right to start a website with a custom domain, to achieve further development and promotional success, you need to be aware of certain domain rules. Here are a few tips to create your site with a custom domain to get the desired result.

1. Prefer Domain Over Subdomain

While most website builders offer subdomains right from the beginning, it is not advisable to continue using them even after your website is published. Subdomains are suitable for testing the web-building software and exploring its features, but they are not a choice for website development and promotion.

2. Use a Suitable Domain Name Extension

Domain name extensions have particular uses, so ensure to choose the one that describes the essence of your business. While .com is mostly preferred, you can also prefer some other top extensions like .co, .net, or .org, among others. For instance, if the website is for an organization, you can use .org. If this is an informational site, you can get .info.

3. Be Thoughtful of Domain Name

A domain name should reflect your brand's unique style and vision. Ensure that it is desirable, simple, and short. A good domain name should also encompass your business name to define its friendliness so that people don't confuse it with your competitors. 

Wrapping Up!

Building a new website from scratch can be both an exciting and challenging experience. If you want to design a perfect layout or create engaging content, there's plenty of work to do. You also need to ensure a secure and reliable browsing experience with custom domain names, encompassing easy navigation and seamless eCommerce features.  The good news is that you can achieve all these goals with affordable, accessible, free website builders with domains designed for your specific needs.

However, you need to ensure regular maintenance if you want your website to be successful in the long run. Hence, instead of choosing any random website builder to create your site, you need to choose the one that will allow you to change and modify your custom domains in the future. Neo is the best website builder with a domain that fits every requirement of a small business. The platform comes with a drag-and-drop editor and AI-powered features that will allow you to build a professionally-looking and fast-loading website with ease. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Which is the best website builder for small businesses?

Every website builder on the above list is known for their ease-of-use features. However, if you are an entrepreneur with no technical background, Neo could be a good choice. With its great visual editor and user-friendly features, Neo makes it an easy website builder for small businesses to use. They also have plenty of templates created by professional designers to add a touch of creativity to your site.

2. What if you already have a domain when building a new website?

It is absolutely fine! Most established website builders like Neo, Wix, and Squarespace have a collaborative mechanism and features to transform across and subsequently register existing domains. However, you need to pay a registration fee after using the trial period. After using it, how long will it take for you to build my small business website?

3. How do I create my website for free?

Each website builder requests you to sign up for the website builder and choose a template of your preference. However, most of the builders use a drag-and-drop editor, allowing you to simply move different elements to make the desired site of your own. If you are planning to build your website,  it will take anywhere between a day and a couple of months, depending on how complicated your needs are, your experience levels, and how much time you need to spend on the process. If you are a beginner, Neo will help you build your website with an existing domain name that fits your budget accordingly.