Is Strikingly Website Builder the Right Choice for You?

A Strikingly website builder is a platform that allows you to create a website without writing codes. it is based on WYSIWYG criteria (what you see is what you get) commonly referred to as front editing.

Strikingly website builder was developed in 2012 and was built to create beautiful websites. Being a basic website builder, it offers just a limited range of beautiful templates for customization.

What is Strikingly?

Strikingly is a website builder designed to help users create visually appealing, mobile-optimized websites quickly and easily, even without any coding or design experience.

It emphasizes simplicity, clarity, and accessibility, making it a popular choice for individuals and small businesses looking to establish an online presence.

Strikingly is a great option if you’re looking for an easy-to-use website builder with a focus on mobile optimization and e-commerce capabilities.

It may be less suitable for users who require more advanced customization options or extensive design flexibility.

Features of Strikingly Website Builder

Ease of use

Was built on a base of getting online fast and in a simple manner. The platform offers custom templates to edit and maneuver through. All it offers is editing and this limits your creativity level by allowing few additional features.

Help and support

The best thing about striking website builder is the ability to offer 24/7 customer service. Clients from free users to VIP users all use chats or emails. This creates a greater avenue to know where to improve and to help a customer easily navigate through the platform.

Security

Apart from the free plan, all other paid plans are encrypted with SSLs (security socket layers).

In general, this means your sites generate confidence with users knowing their communication or services are secured. Secondly, this improves the google rankings of the site.

SEO (search engine optimization)

The sole purpose of creating a website is to reach your targeted audience. The platform offers you a checklist list and will navigate you through the process boosting your site ranking as per your choices.

Mobile optimization

Designed to run on desktop, tablets, and mobile phones effectively automatically within the design.

Pricing of Strikingly website builder

The pricing comes in when choosing a good website builder with the value of money is a major consideration.

This depends on the type of website you want to create.

Moreover Strikingly offers a great deal for a personal and small start-up who might be restrained on cost but want a good website.

They have four types of plans

Free plan

This is a lifetime free plan that offers you a 5gb monthly bandwidth. this offers simple features such as blogs, contact pages, and social feeds among others. The best for entry-level with unlimited free sites and customer support.

Limited plan

A limited plan is a slightly upgraded plan with an increased bandwidth of 50gb monthly. It allows you to connect to your custom domain and can hold up to 2 limited accounts. It cost just 12$ a month

Pro plan

At 20$ a month you are provided double the limited account. It hosts 3 pro accounts with unlimited bandwidth. Creating multiple pages and removing the strikingly watermark (branding) with additional action buttons.

VIP plan

This is the most expensive plan consisting of all features of previous plans. At 59$ per month, the plan gives you the ability to run 5 pro websites with a free domain with added features with account management and priority customer service at the core.

Getting Started With Strikingly Website Builder

Getting started with Strikingly is quite easy, and you can have a basic website up and running within a short period. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Sign Up: Go to the Strikingly website (https://www.strikingly.com/) and create a free account. You can use your email address or sign up using your Google or Facebook account.
Choose a Template: Strikingly offers a variety of templates catering to different purposes, like personal websites, blogs, portfolios, or online stores. Browse the templates and choose one that best suits your needs.
Customize Your Site: Once you’ve selected a template, you’ll be taken to the Strikingly editor. Here you can customize the look and feel of your website by:
- Adding sections: Choose from various sections like text, images, galleries, videos, contact forms, and more.
- Editing content: Replace the placeholder text and images with your own content.
- Changing styles: Customize the colors, fonts, and backgrounds of your website to match your brand.
Add Features: Depending on your needs, you can add features like:
- Blog: Share your thoughts and ideas with a blog.
- Simple Store: Set up an online store to sell products.
- Social Media: Connect your social media accounts to your website.
Connect Domain (Optional): If you have your own domain name, you can connect it to your Strikingly site. If not, you can purchase one through Strikingly.
Publish Your Site: Once you’re happy with your website, click the “Publish” button to make it live on the internet.

Additional Tips:

Start with a Free Plan: Strikingly offers a free plan that lets you build a basic website. You can always upgrade to a paid plan later for more features and options.
Take Advantage of the Support Resources: Strikingly has a knowledge base and support team to help you if you get stuck.
Check Out the Blog and Tutorials: Strikingly’s blog and tutorials offer helpful tips and guidance on how to get the most out of the platform.
Optimize for SEO: Strikingly provides basic SEO tools to help your website rank higher in search engines.

Strikingly Builder With WordPress

Strikingly and WordPress are two distinct website-building platforms, each with its own strengths and target audience.

However, there are ways to use them together for specific purposes.

The Difference:

Strikingly: A user-friendly website builder known for its simplicity and ease of use. It’s ideal for beginners and those who want to create basic websites or online stores quickly.
WordPress: A versatile content management system (CMS) offering greater flexibility and customization options. It’s suitable for bloggers, businesses, and individuals who need more advanced features and control over their websites.

How to Use Strikingly with WordPress:

Embedded Blog: You can embed a WordPress blog into your Strikingly website. This allows you to combine the visual appeal of Strikingly with the blogging capabilities of WordPress. Strikingly provides instructions on how to do this.
Custom Domain Connection: If you have a WordPress website hosted elsewhere, you can connect your custom domain to your Strikingly site. This is useful if you want to use Strikingly as a landing page or portfolio for your WordPress site.
Migration from WordPress to Strikingly: If you’re looking for a simpler website builder, you can migrate your content from WordPress to Strikingly. This can be done manually or with the help of third-party tools.

Is it Worth Using Both?

It depends on your specific needs and preferences. Here’s a quick guide:

If you’re a beginner or need a simple website: Strikingly might be sufficient for your needs.
If you want more flexibility and customization: WordPress is the better choice.
If you want to combine the best of both worlds: You can embed a WordPress blog into your Strikingly site or use them for different purposes (e.g., Strikingly for a landing page, WordPress for a blog).

While you can embed a WordPress blog into a Strikingly site, you cannot directly install WordPress on Strikingly’s servers.

Strikingly Builder Pros and Cons

Here are some Strikingly website builder pros and cons:

Pros:

Ease of Use: Strikingly is incredibly user-friendly, making it an excellent choice for beginners and those with limited technical skills. The drag-and-drop interface and intuitive editor allow you to create a website quickly and easily.
Mobile Optimization: All Strikingly templates are mobile-responsive, ensuring your website looks great on any device, from desktops to smartphones.
Affordable Pricing: Strikingly offers a free plan with basic features, and its paid plans are competitively priced compared to other website builders.
E-commerce Integration: Strikingly’s Simple Store feature allows you to easily add an online store to your website and start selling products.
Customer Support: Strikingly provides 24/7 customer support via email and live chat to help you with any questions or issues you may encounter.

Cons:

Limited Design Customization: While Strikingly offers a good selection of templates, the customization options are somewhat limited compared to other builders like Wix or Squarespace.
Limited Features: Strikingly lacks some advanced features that other website builders offer, such as marketing tools, SEO options, and integrations with third-party apps.
Limited Scalability: Strikingly is best suited for simple websites and may not be the best choice for businesses with complex needs or those expecting significant growth.
Limited Blog Functionality: While Strikingly does offer blogging capabilities, the features are basic and may not be sufficient for serious bloggers.
Branding on Free Plan: Strikingly’s free plan includes their branding on your website, which may not be ideal for businesses or professionals.

Overall, Strikingly is an excellent option for beginners and those looking for a simple, easy-to-use website builder.

However, it may not be the best choice for those who require more advanced features or greater design flexibility.

Strikingly Website Builder Alternatives

Feature	Strikingly	Wix	Squarespace	WordPress.com	Webflow
Ease of Use	Easy	Easy to Moderate	Moderate	Moderate to Difficult (depends on plan)	Difficult (requires some coding knowledge)
Design Flexibility	Limited	High	High	High (with custom themes/plugins)	Very High
E-commerce Features	Basic	Robust	Robust	Varies (depends on plan/plugins)	Possible with integrations
Blogging Capabilities	Basic	Good	Good	Excellent	Possible with integrations
SEO Features	Basic	Good	Good	Excellent (with plugins)	Good
Pricing	Free plan, paid plans start at $8/month	Free plan, paid plans start at $16/month	Personal plan starts at $16/month	Free plan, paid plans start at $4/month	Free plan, paid plans start at $12/month
Best for	Beginners, personal websites, small businesses	Beginners to advanced users, small to medium businesses, e-commerce	Creatives, bloggers, businesses that prioritize design	Bloggers, businesses of all sizes, advanced users	Designers, developers, businesses needing custom design and functionality

Conclusion

Choosing a website builder narrows down to what the user needs. For speed to getting online over design, striking is best.

Unfortunately, the limited creativity offered by the platform, building complex websites may be out of the question.

Personal websites/blogs and start-up companies are ideal to use the web builder and with time as essential, this is the easiest builder you can get.

Frequently Asked Questions

1) How do i choose the best/ low cost personal website builder?

by now lots of options are available to choose from. In my humble opinion, I will recommend using striking. It’s free and fast to make with no experience needed.

2) Is strikingly com safe?

Safe in terms of data security. I am assuming there is a backup running the platform. your data is readily available on request.

3) How difficult is it to make a website?

Technology has come to aid a lot of people and the presence of website builders has made it possible to create a website with no technical skills.