It used to be that if you wanted to launch your own website, you’d either have to code or spend plenty of time configuring settings and tweaking page layouts to put a decent one together.
Fortunately, there are now several site builders that let a novice, such as myself, get a website up and running in under an hour. These modern services remove all the fuss, fiddling, and fumbling in creating a site, and quickly deliver professional-looking results. Let’s check them out.
Content
- Supersonic speed: Wix
- More AI smarts: Dorik
- Slick personal branding: Bio Sites
- Stress-free site-building: Carrd
- Bleep bloop, the future is AI
Supersonic speed: Wix
If you don’t care to get your hands dirty, Wix is the website builder for you.
It starts with a conversation with Wix’s AI bot. It asked me what I wanted my website to be called, what my website niche is, and some additional probing questions. After that, I added some portfolio images and links – this only took a few minutes. Finally, I was given a wide range of templates to select from, personalized from my chatbot conversation.
Conversation with the Wix chatbot.
The AI worked pretty flawlessly. My conversation perfectly personalized the setup process so I didn’t need to spend time looking for a template. It also filled out my website with AI-generated copy that was mostly hallucination-free.
The only things I had to change were the testimonials (I’ve never written for John Doe, Editor-in-Chief at Publication), and the images and links to my work. I was set up with a working website within 15 minutes.
Color me impressed!
That said, I did some additional tweaking to optimize my page (things like choosing my color scheme, rewording some copy, and re-ordering my pages).
I appreciated the range of features available to try for free, from a library of images to use and edit within the app, to SEO and analytics tools. Of course, you’ll need a subscription to access these.
Wix has arguably the widest range of templates that you can create sites with on this list. You can create a portfolio, an online storefront, or a blog. There’s also an expansive app store, so no matter your needs, it’ll likely have an add-on for you. This makes it the best all-round option on this list.
Unfortunately, you’ll start off with an ugly default URL when you’re on the free plan. You’ll want to purchase a custom URL, or even look towards a different provider.
While Wix offers basic hosting for free, paid plans unlock additional features and remove Wix’s ads on your pages. Going ad-free will cost you $8.50 a month on an annual plan, while analytics will bring the fee up to $12.50 a month.
Wix’s final product, less than 30 minutes after signing up.
Tip: want to add even more functionality? Consider building one of these chatbots into your site.
More AI smarts: Dorik
Dorik scraps the AI chatbot, in favor of some crafty prompt engineering – everyone is a prompt engineer in 2024.
Your prompt is your lifeblood with Dorik. It would seem like you can create any kind of website with a precise prompt – but after generating over five sites, templates do begin to repeat themselves.
Still, I was able to create a blogging page, a jewelry storefront, and my journalism portfolio with some finely tweaked prompts without much effort.
It’s worth noting though, that Dorik doesn’t have a wide range of apps available to use right off the bat. To sell products on your site, for example, you’ll need to use the custom code feature to implement a third-party e-commerce service – and this is only available with paid plans.
You’re asked to enter your website title and a “description” before your entire site – template and text – is generated right before your eyes. In some ways, this was quicker than Wix to get a website up and running, but there was so much wrong with this first iteration of my site.
I wasn’t fully aware that the site description was based on my prompt so I didn’t give it enough information. The AI model hallucinated more than a VICE journalist doing ayahuasca for the first time. For some reason, it assumed I was an international affairs reporter and described me as such throughout the site copy!
Fortunately, you can regenerate your website with just a click. This time I was more conscious about my prompt and got a much better result. There were still some hallucinations, so I had to go through the content with a fine comb to remove any mentions of international affairs reporting before I was happy with it.
Dorik has a photo editor and image library, but it also lets you AI-generate your own images. This feature could be hugely beneficial for someone who doesn’t have many images to use on their site. Again, though, you will need to have some level of proficiency with prompt engineering to get good results here.
Dorik’s final product with AI-generated images included.
While this is all great, I was never allowed to choose a template and I couldn’t easily figure out how to change the one I got – without writing a whole new prompt. This might speed up the process but it takes away some autonomy when choosing how your website is presented.
Slick personal branding: Bio Sites
Are you just looking for a simple site to list in your TikTok bio? Then Bio Sites might be the right choice for you.
Made by the people behind Squarespace, Bio Sites are sort of business cards made for your social media profiles. They work less as online storefronts but more as a homepage to link out to other websites. Think of it more of a stylish Linktr.ee replacement, than a WordPress replacement.
The setup process was quick, layout editing was straightforward, and the URL is nice (you can pick up bio.site/yourchoice for free). Biosites even lets you put content behind a paywall and see your analytics at no charge.
Just one of many mobile-friendly business card-style layouts from Bio Sites.
The main downside of this builder is it does not have an image library or photo editor, and the templates are clearly built for mobile viewing. But if you have your own images and are into the distinctive design language of the templates on offer, then this is a great option.
Stress-free site-building: Carrd
Carrd is a fun option as you’re able to fool around with their templates without even having to sign up first. If you’re happy with the product, you can then key in your details to publish your site!
There’s a wide range of Carrd templates, it’s a hard choice!
Similar to Biosites, Carrd works best as a sort of online business card – hence the name. You wouldn’t want to use this option to build an e-commerce site or to start blogging. Instead, it’s a nice home to link out to other places. This time, though, it’s much more suited to the desktop rather than the mobile-centric Biosites.
There is a wide range of templates to choose from and it’s almost overwhelming. The templates aren’t personalized or even categorized in an efficient way, so this was the hardest part for me. Choice anxiety is a real thing!
The final Carrd site is simple yet effective.
Once you’ve selected your template, the site editor is very intuitive and easy to use. Unfortunately, though, there is no image library on hand, so make sure you have your own images to upload.
Read more: Easily test your website on different browsers with Comparium
Bleep bloop, the future is AI
It’s clear that AI-powered site builders are the way forward, especially if you want to get started quickly. They offer a start-up process that is personalized and does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to copywriting.
It’s surprisingly easy to get a stylish site set up in much less than an hour. Whether you want to build a site for personal presence, your small business needs a storefront, or you’re creating a portfolio you shouldn’t shy away from these site builders. All you need is a plan, some content, and half an hour to spare.
Now you’ve read this, what’s stopping you from setting up your personal site?
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Ryan Gladwin
Ryan S. Gladwin is a freelance journalist based in the UK. He has previously been published in VICE, Fortune, and Business Insider.
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