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Which website builder to use?

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

Tomas J

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Hi there,

I am going to build a business around web platform that would connect people with different levels of knowledge in a particular area who would like to share/teach/train others in that area with people who would like to get better in it.

On one hand, I would get customers for the providers via the optimized platform so the provider who is good in something, but not in getting customers, still could get plenty of them. On the other hand, I would like to create a pretty big catalog of these providers with reviews and references. That means that the customer could choose the best fitting provider for him/her (not only by expertize in that particular skill but also by other factors which will be evident from reviews, eg. empathy).

It should work similarly to Fiver, Upwork etc. I know there already is a lot of platforms like that, but my idea is really specific and I am sure there is huge potential in it.

I have almost no experience in web development and I would like to start the platform with the least cost possible (once I will validate the idea and the market then I plan to invest money in it).

So I want to create something with functionality like Fiver, now the question is: Which website builder do you suggest me to use if I want to avoid coding?

Thanks for any response on this thread!
Tomas J
 
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Patrick Jones

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Website builders barely work for plain websites. And by "barely work" I mean they never produce very good results.

What you are looking to build is specific, complex and far out of the scope of those tools.

With no experience you will easily spend 100-200 hours on creating something that will barely do the job.

Ask yourself how much money you could earn (and save) in those 100-200 hours and then invest that money into a professional developer.
 
U

User62861

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@Patrick Jones is right. Website builders are usually for simple static pages or blogs. You have something far more complicated. Try to learn how to code by yourself or save invest in a good developer/s.
 

Devilery

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The easiest website builder is definitely divi builder. It has dozens of templates, that look like finished sites. It's also extremely easy to edit, just drag and drop. Sample template.
Your project as others mentioned is way more serious as it requires the ability for hundreds or potentially thousands of people to register and share information. In that case you do need to hire someone and it won't be cheap. I wouldn't suggest to learn coding, waste of time if you have zero experience, just hire someone who knows how to do it.
But. Before you actually start spending money. Are you sure that there is huge potential in it, because.. you're sure? Or there is actual proven need? Not meaning to discourage you, but I don't see how you could do this without spending considerable amount of money, so make sure it pays off.
 
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resrock

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I personally use and promote ClickFunnels because it allows me to build out my websites very quickly without coding knowledge.

It captures my leads, funnels them through my sales message, follows up with my prospects and fulfills all of my products both digital and physical on the backend automatically.

I dread the techie stuff and babysitting systems more than anything but I’ve been using them for about a year and a half now and it’s totally changed the way I launch and manage my businesses.


You can test the software and actually build out and launch an entire funnel before paying anything so it wouldn’t hurt to give them a try.

Good luck and I hope this helps and ultimately you find what you’re looking for.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

Surge5x

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It looks like you're looking to build out a marketplace... There's this company called Sharetribe which do just that. Although their functionality is a little limited, it's a great way for you to be able to test out your MVP and see if your idea works.
 

Tomas J

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But. Before you actually start spending money. Are you sure that there is huge potential in it, because.. you're sure? Or there is actual proven need? Not meaning to discourage you, but I don't see how you could do this without spending considerable amount of money, so make sure it pays off.

That's it.. right now I am working on let's say "market research" - I contact both the potential service providers and the final customers and try to get as much information as possible.

The purpose of this thread was exactly to the one that you've mentioned - even that I have some evidence that it has potential, I would like to test it in practice (I consider it as the only "real" verification), for the least costs possible, before investing a huge amount of money.
 
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Tomas J

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It looks like you're looking to build out a marketplace... There's this company called Sharetribe which do just that. Although their functionality is a little limited, it's a great way for you to be able to test out your MVP and see if your idea works.

Thank you! That looks exactly like something I was looking for!
 

rblitz

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For the sake of validating your idea, I wouldn't build a custom solution. Instead, I would do everything manual, by hand (if that's possible for your idea).
So e.g. just build 2 separate sites with a sign up form but don't offer anything else. If someone wants to find a "contractor", they email you and you pick one by hand for them.

Hope that makes sense.
 

MattR82

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If you had to use wordpress and a page builder, then elementor with generate press theme is my suggestion. Still plenty to learn with those if you have never touched a website before though.
 
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D

Deleted50669

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Hi there,

I am going to build a business around web platform that would connect people with different levels of knowledge in a particular area who would like to share/teach/train others in that area with people who would like to get better in it.

On one hand, I would get customers for the providers via the optimized platform so the provider who is good in something, but not in getting customers, still could get plenty of them. On the other hand, I would like to create a pretty big catalog of these providers with reviews and references. That means that the customer could choose the best fitting provider for him/her (not only by expertize in that particular skill but also by other factors which will be evident from reviews, eg. empathy).

It should work similarly to Fiver, Upwork etc. I know there already is a lot of platforms like that, but my idea is really specific and I am sure there is huge potential in it.

I have almost no experience in web development and I would like to start the platform with the least cost possible (once I will validate the idea and the market then I plan to invest money in it).

So I want to create something with functionality like Fiver, now the question is: Which website builder do you suggest me to use if I want to avoid coding?

Thanks for any response on this thread!
Tomas J
For perspective, the app you described (and yes, you are talking about a full stack application, not just a web page), would require database integration, user authentication, API routing, and relational mapping, to name a few things. If your goal is to avoid coding, well, you've just turned yourself into a fullstack developer (unless you hired out). You CAN do this (I started my app in October knowing zero coding), but I will tell you, it involves pain. Unless you really have a validated idea and feel it's worth the time investment and sacrifice, may be better off going another direction.
 

Apo

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A friend of mine launched his brand few years ago where you can customize every little details of a leather shoes collection.

The website was quite complex so had to be tailored. He paid devs in India to get the skeleton of the website and polished the end result on his own.

Maybe you could check your options and get it done professionally this way too!
 

MattR82

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I just re-read your post and it seems your problem is not a builder or theme but how to validate your idea cheaply, yeah?

Can you do this somehow without the need for a "mini - lite - beta version" of the actual website (that would be created by you, with no prior experience in design or dev and probably not going to be something hugely appealing or professional looking then)?

How else can you validate the idea? Early bird signups to gauge interest? Have a mockup of the site done instead? Etc
 
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PizzaOnTheRoof

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I am going to build a business around web platform
Let me stop you right there. Your business is not a platform, it’s connecting teachers to students.

If your customers are hungry enough and the need is there then a simple landing page, email, excel, etc should suffice.

Angie Hicks (the founder of Angie’s List) literally started with a two phones and a phonebook. She had a customer on one and a provider on the other and would hold the two phones together so they could talk lol.
 
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Danczyk

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Why don't you validate your idea as a FB group first? Or reach possible leads through Instagram leads. Having a web page is not even 10% of what you want to achieve, you want to drive traffic there, even than you will have problem turning those to users. Look from a possible users eyes. What is their benefit?
 

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