Value Websites have been working with the Weebly content management platform since 2006. We're still working with it because, despite all it's improvements and developments, it remains a very intuitive and easy to use website editor and development platform.

Having said, that I regularly work with Kiwis who have problems with their Weebly website. In this news post I isolate three common problems I have encountered.
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Unfamiliarity with the wide range of design and content elements that are available to Weebly users. Back in 2006 the Weebly elements provided were few and basic. With the development of content management systems (like Weebly's) CMS developers had to keep up with the field and keep providing new options. I believe Weebly have done this well, while keeping the system as easy to use and intuitive as possible. However, for amateur users, the degree of sophistication available can feel intimidating and difficult to grasp. Today, to get the most out of Weebly, users are well-advised to seek help from experienced Weebly designers who know the system and who in a short time can edit or improve a website. My advice to many Weebly users has been to have a tutorial of two with us, develop your website content and come back and ask Value Websites to tweak it. While the outcome will be that you spend a little, the result will be an attractive and functional website.
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Not using the search engine optimisation (SEO) feature built into the Weebly system. When incorporating an image into your web pages describe it in the image tag option. E.g. the image below has the image tag, "Value Websites offers you a FREE  no obligation consultation". This was inserted in the advanced features section of the image options. The website as a whole and each page has options to describe the page content via Title, Description and Keyword tags. Help the Search Engine Bots do their work by making it easy for them and by accurately describing what you are trying to communicate. Completing this exercise can help you to stay focussed and say what you want and need to say to get visitors to your web pages.

Have as much control over your website as possible. Maintaining contact with your designer, or insisting that they keep contact with you is an important thing to do. Having ownership and control of your domain name is essential - some designers will look after your domain on their account. In effect they own it not you as you might expect! I have been aware of great difficulties and conflicts arising from this. With the passage of time we humans forget things, including logins and passwords, and paying bills which sometimes will go to no longer active email addresses. Within Weebly some sites have been built on the Designer Platform by web designers. These websites can become problematic if good relationship and contact does not exist between designer and client. Weebly bills the designer for these platforms. And the designer bills the client. What happens when the designer does not pay the bill, possibly continuing to bill the client? The site gets downgraded, if not lost. It can be a messy situation. Some so-called web designers have set up Weebly designer platforms as a money making endeavour and then moved on to other pursuits forgeting that they have clients very dependent on them. Weebly will rightly refer clients on such platforms to the designer with whom Weebly deals. Not surprising that there has been some bad press for Weebly about this. At its best this has been a valuable service; at its worst it is a service to be wary of.

​As the image at the top of this page suggests, Weebly is, "The easiest way to create a website". I firmly believe this to be true. However, with all truth there are challenges that can work towards undermining that truth. Let's keep aware of the challenges and keep on top of the issues. That way our website experience will be pleasant and profitable.

Terry Alve
Owner and Manager
Value Websites

Value Websites are part of the presentation and sponsorship Team at this Porirua School. 

​If you are new to, or unfamiliar with, the Weebly system, I recommend you view the webinar video below. It is well presented and comprehensively covers most things a Weebly newbie needs to know.

Weebly also offer a comprehensive Help Centre which, when you are logged into Weebly, is here: https://hc.weebly.com/hc This is very helpful when you need to rehearse or discover an element in Weebly with is unfamiliar or forgotten.

If you are still unsure and want to pose a question here, I may be able to help, or someone who sees your query before me may choose to respond.

Enjoy your Weebly web,
Terry - Manager at Value Websites

Need more info? View Porirua Mayor Mike Tana and others with their take on what you can achieve in two weeks by attending the Porirua PopUp Business School 2-13 October 2017.

This event is a 10-day course, 9:30am to 2:30pm each day. The PopUp Business School is a Social Enterprise, focused on helping you start your business and get your ideas off the ground instantly! Come along, spend 10 days with us and learn

• How to start a business with no money
• 10 ways to leave the job centre behind forever
• How to build a website for free
• How to make money doing what you love
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How does it work?

Complete the form below to receive our FREE appraisal of your NZ Weebly website. We will view your website and come back to you with at least five (5) suggestions about how your website could benefit from a makeover. You may choose to implement none, some or all of our suggestions. Or, you may ask us to assist in upgrading your website. All we ask of you is that you agree to join our eList and benefit from our occasional emailings.

Christchurch and Canterbury business Precision Kerbing have been operating their Value-Websites-Designed-and-Built Weebly website since December 2015 - just six months. While we have been aware that the addition of the website has been a useful marketing tool for this business, it was pleasing this week to get the following endorsement from owner/manager Paul Diver,

Value Websites continue to work alongside Precision Kerbing ensuring that new jobs/projects that they complete find their way onto the website via way of news report and/or imagery. This way the website is refreshed and Google and the other search engines are kept happy because they love (new) content.

Value Websites Manager Terry Alve writes, 

This week I have been working with Alice of Auckland offering consultancy and website editing on the Vida Essence website. The challenge was to design and implement a Booking System and Buy Now buttons for the range of health and healing services offered by Vida Essence. I had been approached to do this work as a New Zealand Weebly website professional. While the Vida website was well developed on Weebly's 'Business' (ecommerce) platform, it was not quite working as desired.

While the main challenge was to implement Book Now and Buy Now buttons linked to Vida's Timely booking system and their Weebly eCommerce service items, several other editing tasks were undertaken including:

• creating a basic form for a FREE service offered,
• repositioning  the business logo at the top of web pages and remove it from the Home page
• connecting the domain with SSL (eCommerce security issue)
• adding a favicon for the domain
  
• checking and tweaking search engine optimisation, etc.

Value Websites spent about 4 hours doing this work which has significantly lifted the look, feel and functionality of this website.

Perhaps there is something that could be improved on your Weebly website. It needn't cost heaps to get your site just how you want it. Alice's work didn't. We'd welcome your call.
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Terry at Value Websites
​027 600 1926