Network Solutions offers a basic drag-and-drop website builder that lets you launch your online store in minutes. It includes over 150 professionally designed templates, a free domain, and an affordable starting price. However, the website builder has very limited features, and the standard pricing can be prohibitive. Overall, we think competing website builders offer better value, even if you just need a basic website for your store.
PROS
- Very easy to use
- Excellent technical support
- Competitive pricing
CONS
- Editor is somewhat limited
- Cannot add custom code
Overview
Founded in 1979, Network Solutions is recognized as the world’s first domain registrar. With over four decades of experience, the company has adapted to the evolving internet landscape and now operates as a comprehensive e-commerce platform. Offering web hosting, domain services, and an easy-to-use website builder, Network Solutions caters to a wide range of online needs.
While Network Solutions’ website builder is suitable for basic websites, its pricing structure may discourage users from seeking out more advanced design and marketing tools. Competitors like GoDaddy, WordPress.com, and iPage offer a wider range of features at a competitive price. However, Network Solutions remains a solid option for those looking for reliable domain registration and web hosting services.
How Network Solutions Works
One of the first issues we encountered with Network Solutions was the lack of transparency in the pricing structure. The website only displays the initial price for the first month. For regular pricing, please refer to Network Solutions’ terms of service.
However, when we used the drag-and-drop editor, we found the interface to be user-friendly. Network Solutions uses a content editing panel that is similar to those offered by other website builders. Adding and moving content is intuitive, and once we’ve designed the site, we can publish it with a single click.
Free Domain
All Network Solutions website builder plans include a free domain for one year. That’s a good deal, although it’s worth noting that most other website builders offer similar services.
Professional Design Service
If you don’t want to spend time creating your own website, you can hire Network Solutions developers to do it for you. The company will create a website according to your requirements, after which you will have access to Network Solutions’ standard website building tool to make changes and maintain your site over time.
How to Create a Website with Network Solutions
The first step in creating a website with Network Solutions is choosing a template. The platform offers over 150 professionally designed templates, with categories for the most common business types. In fact, the templates were one of our favorite aspects of the Network Solutions Builder. The only downside is that if you want to change the templates later, you’ll have to start over from scratch.
After choosing a template, you’ll be taken to the drag-and-drop site editor. It’s pretty intuitive to use, with a panel of content elements that you can drag and drop onto your site. Content elements include basic elements like text fields, images, videos, forms, and buttons, as well as more advanced elements like HTML snippets and image sliders. You can also change the fonts and background colors of your template, although there aren’t many customization options.
It’s worth noting that the Network Solutions builder also offers pre-designed blocks. These are full-width panels that contain multiple content elements. Blocks allow you to design your site without having to arrange individual content elements, making them a great option for novice designers.
Network Solutions doesn’t have a dedicated mobile editing interface, but all of their sites are mobile-friendly. While you’re building your site, you can easily preview how it will look on a computer, tablet, or mobile device.
Overall, we found the process of creating a simple site with Network Solutions to be fairly straightforward. The site builder doesn’t offer a ton of customization options, but it’s easy to use, and the presence of pre-designed blocks is a big plus for beginners. However, if you’re looking to create a more complex site, the editor may not offer the flexibility you need.
Adding Multimedia to Your Network Solutions Website
Network Solutions lets you add photos and videos directly to your website. You can also embed audio files, PDFs, and other file types using the HTML code snippet content element. Adding files is easy, although you can only upload one image at a time when creating galleries. The builder also includes access to over 2 million free images from Unsplash. Overall, the media features it offers are basic but sufficient.
Marketing Functionality with Network Solutions Websites
Network Solutions doesn’t offer many marketing features. For example, it doesn’t include email marketing tools. You can create a blog, but there are no options for scheduling posts or sharing on social media. Network Solutions offers social media icons so you can connect your accounts, but there’s no full integration with Facebook or Instagram.
SEO Functionality & Add-Ons with Network Solutions Websites
The amount of SEO functionality your website will have depends on the hosting plan you choose. The basic website creation plan allows you to add a meta title and description to each of your pages, but doesn’t offer much more. However, if you upgrade to the Website and Online Marketing plan, Network Solutions will automatically list your website in search engines and local directories like Yellow Pages, Yelp, etc.
Network Solutions doesn’t offer built-in traffic analytics, but you can easily integrate Google Analytics.
Ecommerce
Network Solutions offers a comprehensive e-commerce solution that combines store design, secure order processing, inventory management, marketing tools, training, and support. It’s ideal for new or growing businesses that have a small to medium-sized inventory and want to expand online. The service offers fully customizable storefronts, social media integration, SEO marketing tools, and mobile-optimized design templates.
Payment Processing
Network Solutions offers a secure payment processing system that easily integrates with a wide range of credit card processing companies, including merchant accounts and payment gateways, as well as PayPal. The service is fully compliant with the Visa Certified Cardholder Information Security program and all PCI data standards. Customer transaction data is never stored on the site for added protection.
Scalability
Network Solutions offers scalable hosting and storage options that ensure stability regardless of the plan you choose. The problem is that Network Solutions doesn’t offer many advanced tools for inventory or shipping management. Therefore, this platform may be suitable for small businesses with a few products, but it probably won’t be powerful enough to keep up with the growth of your online business.
Network Solutions Customer Support
Network Solutions offers customer support via phone, email, and live chat. Phone support is available 7 days a week from 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM (EST), while live chat is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM (EST).
The company also has an online knowledge base, although we had to dig through a few links to find it. Once you find it, the tutorials are fairly easy to follow and include plenty of screenshots.
Pricing & Special Offers
The price of Network Solutions’ website builder is the main reason we don’t recommend this platform. It’s way too expensive, especially considering the lack of advanced tools. What’s worse is that Network Solutions isn’t transparent about the pricing after the first month. We had to consult the company’s terms of service to find out the regular subscription pricing for the website builder.
Network Solutions offers three plans: Website Builder, Website & Online Marketing, and Website, Marketing & Store. All plans include access to the builder, as well as a free domain for one year. The Online Marketing plan adds the SEO features described above, while the Website, Marketing & Store plan lets you sell up to 500 products.
Network Solutions doesn’t offer a free trial, but you can get a refund if you cancel within the first 30 days.
Network Solutions vs GoDaddy
We think GoDaddy offers a better value than Network Solutions, especially if you’re building a website for a small business. GoDaddy offers email marketing and online meeting booking tools, as well as more advanced traffic analytics.
Network Solutions vs WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a great alternative to Network Solutions for starting a blog. With WordPress.com, you can schedule posts and share them on social media. You can also monetize your blog with ads, which is not possible with Network Solutions.
Network Solutions vs iPage
The iPage website builder is similar to Network Solutions in many ways, but it’s much more affordable. SEO tools are included as standard with iPage, and the builder is free with any iPage hosting plan. We think that for basic websites, iPage offers a better value than Network Solutions.
Bottom Line
Network Solutions offers a good website builder for creating basic websites, with well-designed templates and an easy-to-use web editor. Notably, the pre-designed content blocks can be quickly customized, allowing users to create a unique website in minutes.
However, Network Solutions’ pricing is questionable. Compared to other builders, its price is significantly higher, and it doesn’t offer many additional features. Especially for e-commerce, managing an online store through social networks is prohibitively expensive if you don’t have the tools you need to grow your business.
Overall, we recommend considering alternatives like GoDaddy, WordPress.com, or iPage, which offer more affordable options and a wider range of features.
