Network Solutions offers a basic drag-and-drop website builder that lets you get your store online in minutes. It comes with over 150 professionally designed templates, a free domain, and a cheap introductory price. However, the site editor is very limited in scope and regular pricing can be prohibitively expensive. Overall, we think competing website builders offer a lot more bang for your buck, even if you only need a basic website for your store.
PROS
- Very easy to use
- Excellent support
- Competitively priced
CONS
- The editor is a bit limited
- Unable to 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 changing Internet landscape and now serves as a comprehensive e-commerce platform. Offering web hosting, domain services, and an easy-to-use website builder, Network Solutions meets a variety of online needs.
While the Network Solutions website builder is suitable for basic websites, its pricing structure may deter users looking for more advanced design and marketing tools. Competitors like GoDaddy, WordPress.com, and iPage offer a broader range of features at a competitive price. However, Network Solutions remains a reliable option for people looking for reliable domain registration and web hosting services.
How Network Solutions Works
One of the first problems we found with Network Solutions is that the pricing structure is opaque. The website only shows the introductory price for the first month. To find the usual price, you should consult the Network Solutions terms of service.
However, once we got into the drag and drop editor, we found the interface to be easy to use. Network Solutions uses a content editing panel similar to those offered by other site builders. Adding and moving content is intuitive, and after designing a site, we can publish it with just one click.
Free Domain
All Network Solutions website building plans include a free domain for one year. It’s a good deal, although it’s worth noting that most other builders offer it too.
Professional Design Service
If you don’t want to spend time creating your own website, you can pay Network Solutions developers to do it for you. The company will create a website to your specifications and then you will have access to Network Solutions’ standard site builder to make changes and maintain your site over time.
How to Create a Website with Network Solutions
The first step to creating a website with Network Solutions is to choose a template. The platform offers more than 150 professionally designed templates, with categories for the most common business types. In fact, the templates were one of our favorite things about the Network Solution Builder. The only downside is that if you want to change templates later, you’ll have to restart your design from scratch.
Once you select a template, you’ll be taken to the drag-and-drop site editor. It’s quite intuitive to use, with a panel of content elements that you can drag onto your site. Content elements include basics like text boxes, images, videos, forms, and buttons, as well as more advanced elements like HTML snippets and image sliders. You can also modify the fonts and background colors of your template, although there aren’t many customization options available.
Notably, the Network Solutions builder also offers pre-designed blocks. These are full-width panels that contain multiple content elements. Blocks offer an easy way to design your site without needing to organize individual content elements, making them a great option for novice designers.
Network Solutions does not have a mobile editing interface, but all sites are mobile responsive. As you build your site, you can easily preview how it will look on a desktop, tablet, or mobile device.
Overall, we thought the process of creating a simple site with Network Solutions was pretty straightforward. The site builder doesn’t offer many customization options, but it’s easy to use and the availability of pre-made blocks is a big plus for beginners. However, if you want to create a more complex site, the editor may not give you the flexibility you need.
Adding Multimedia to Your Network Solutions Website
Network Solutions allows you to add photos and videos directly to your website. You can also embed audio files, PDF files, and other types of files using the HTML code snippet content element. Adding files is easy, although you can only upload one image at a time when creating galleries. Helpfully, the builder also includes access to over 2 million free stock images from Unsplash. Overall, the multimedia functions offered are average but sufficient.
Marketing Functionality with Network Solutions Websites
Network Solutions doesn’t offer a ton of marketing features. For example, there are no email marketing tools. You can create a blog, but there are no options to schedule posts or cross-post to social media. Network Solutions offers social media icons so you can link to your social media accounts, but there’s no deep integration with Facebook or Instagram.
SEO Functionality & Add-Ons with Network Solutions Websites
The amount of SEO functionality for your website depends on which hosting plan you choose. The basic website builder plan lets you add a meta title and description to each of your pages, but doesn’t offer much else. However, if you upgrade to a website and online marketing plan, Network Solutions will automatically display your site in search engines and local directories such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, and more.
Network Solutions does not offer its own built-in traffic analytics, but you can easily integrate Google Analytics.
Ecommerce
Network Solutions offers an all-in-one e-commerce solution that combines store design, secure order processing, inventory management, marketing tools, and training and support. It is ideal for new or emerging businesses with small to medium-sized inventory looking to expand online. The service offers fully customizable storefronts, social media integration, SEO marketing tools, and mobile-friendly design templates.
Payment Processing
Network Solutions offers a secure payment processing system that easily integrates with a wide variety 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 complies with all PCI data standards. Customer transaction data is never stored on the website for added protection.
Scalability
Network Solutions provides scalable hosting and storage options that offer stability regardless of the plan you choose. The catch is that Network Solutions doesn’t provide many advanced tools for inventory management or shipping. So this platform may work well for small businesses with only a few products, but it probably won’t be robust enough to keep up with your online business growth.
Network Solutions Customer Support
Network Solutions offers customer support by phone, email and live chat. Phone support is available 7 days a week from 7am to 12pm ET, while live chat is available Monday through Friday from 8am to 11pm.
The company also has an online knowledge base, although we had to go through a few links to find it. Once you find it, however, the tutorials are pretty easy to follow and include plenty of screenshots.
Pricing & Special Offers
The price of Network Solutions website builder is the main reason we do not recommend this platform. It is extremely expensive, especially considering the lack of advanced tools. Worse, Network Solutions is not transparent at all about how much it costs after the first month. We had to look into the company’s terms of service to find the website builder’s regular subscription rates.
Network Solutions offers 3 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 we’ve described above, while the Website, Marketing and Store plan lets you sell up to 500 products.
Network Solutions does not 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 lot more bang for your buck than Network Solutions, especially if you’re building a website for a small business. GoDaddy offers email marketing and online appointment booking tools, as well as more advanced traffic analytics.
Network Solutions vs WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a great alternative to Network Solutions for creating a blog. With WordPress.com, you can schedule posts and share them on social media channels. 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 in many ways to the Network Solutions builder, but it is much cheaper. SEO tools are standard on iPage and the builder is free with any iPage hosting plan. For basic websites, we think iPage offers better value than Network Solutions.
Bottom Line
Network Solutions offers a decent web builder for creating basic websites with well-designed templates and an easy-to-use website editor. Notably, the pre-designed content blocks include quick customization, enabling users to create a unique website in minutes.
However, Network Solutions’ pricing raises concerns. Compared to other builders, it comes at a significantly higher price without offering many additional features. Especially for e-commerce purposes, running an online store with networking becomes extremely expensive without having the necessary tools for business growth.
In general, we recommend looking at alternatives such as GoDaddy, WordPress.com, or iPage, which provide more cost-effective options and a wider range of features.