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

Aotearoa New Zealand's first PopUp Business School (PUBSA) is about to begin at the Te Rauparaha Arena. 45 people who live and/or work in Porirua have signed up to attend this 2 week (10 day) event as they prepare to learn skills and gain motivation to begin or advance their business. This business school is about you developing practical skills to run a business for little or no cost. PUBSA events help people like you to cut through the many obstacles that can hinder those with good ideas and readiness to start a business.

​There are still a few FREE places available for you to join this event. Value Websites and others with business development skills and experience are waiting to welcome you to the PUBSA Porirua event. 

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.

Value Websites is a sponsor of the first New Zealand PopUp Business School which will be held in Porirua 2-13 October 2017. This event has been brought to Porirua from England by Tony Henderson-Newport after its success in helping people establish businesses there. Terry at Value Websites will offer attendees insights about how a web presence can enhance startup business prospects. Value Websites has been assisting Tony to develop the PopUp Business School website and its links to Eventbrite and Mail Chimp apps.

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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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,

Launched as a New Zealand website design and development company in 2008, Value Websites are now in their sixth year of operation. In six years the web has developed exponentially. Early in our development we began our partnership with the Weebly Content Management System (CMS) that had been launched a year before we were formed. Today, more than 90% of our web work relates to one of the Weebly websites that we manage. We humbly claim to be New Zealand Weebly experts and are often called upon by businesses and individuals to either build a Weebly web for them or to troubleshoot one that they have begun.

During 2014, Weebly have expanded very significantly, offering a new range of options and services as they seek to tune their system for the modern web. You can read about some of these  developments in this BLOG POST.

The Weebly System now ranks with the big players on the web. Whether it is a small business basic brochure website you need, an online registration and payment site linking with Formstack and PayPal (or other add-ons) or a full-blown eCommerce website, Weebly with Value Websites is a great choice for you if you need a professional, value-for-money and easy-to-work-with website developer.

All of our websites come with Blogging options and a built-in interface to easily connect to major social media.

If it is prompt, value-for-money, personalised service you want from your NZ Weebly website professional then call Terry on 027 600 1926 or use our Webform.