Being a freelancer is great—you can choose your working hours, decide how much to charge and work on exciting projects. That said, you still need to market your services and attract new clients.
And given that 44% of people start their buyer’s journey on search engines, building a professional website to appear in the top search engine result pages (SERPs) is an excellent way to do that.
Although designing a website from scratch can be time-consuming, using a website builder can help you skip a few steps and get your website up and running quickly. This guide will introduce you to the best website builders for freelancers, along with tips on how to build a website for your freelance business.
But first, let’s start with the basics.
What is a freelance website?
A freelance website helps freelancers (e.g., photographers or yoga teachers) showcase their portfolios and services online. It also allows freelancers to sign up clients, create subscriptions and sell products or services.
A blog is often a part of a freelance website, and it helps the freelancer rank high on SERPs. Beyond that, a professionally designed website conveys the freelancer’s style, process and vision.
6 best website builders for freelancers
01. Wix
Wix is an industry leader in website builders, with 250+ million users worldwide. Wix offers over 800 stunning website templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop website editor powered by artificial intelligence.
Wix also integrates a powerful ecommerce platform that allows business owners to set up an online store with just a few clicks. Moreover, Wix offers free web hosting that ensures web security and performance.
Best for: Freelancers who want to create a highly personalized website and online store with zero coding.
Best features:
AI website builder: Wix comes with a powerful AI tool that allows you to create a custom website from a simple text prompt. Wix also helps you create images and web copy using AI.
Streamlined website building: Wix asks you a series of questions to understand your requirements and suggests a template that is best suited for your business. It also populates your dashboard with apps relevant to your website.
Wix App Market: The app market helps you make a website with features like appointment booking, subscriptions/memberships, contact forms and event ticketing.
Pricing:
Free plan
Light: $17/month
Core: $29/month
Business: $36/month
Business Elite: $159/month
Enterprise Plan: Pricing based on project scope
02. Weebly
Weebly is a freelance sie builder with a beginner-friendly website editor. Weebly has limited templates but it’s cost-effective and easy to use.
Best for: Freelancers who want to create a simple website with ecommerce capabilities.
Best features:
Integrated ecommerce platform: Weebly's e-commerce platforms help you set up a store to sell physical goods. Selling digital goods, like ebooks, requires a premium plan.
SEO blogging: Weebly has a drag-and-drop blog creator with SEO tools like custom URL, title tag, description and customized header and footer.
Weebly App Center: Weebly integrates third-party apps to enhance your website. Apps are categorized into e-commerce, marketing tools, communication, website tools and others.
Pricing:
Free plan with limited features
Personal: $10/month when billed annually
Professional: $12/month when billed annually
Performance: $26/month when billed annually
03. Webnode
Webnode is an AI-powered site builder with an integrated e-commerce platform. It supports websites in different languages and online stores with multiple currencies.
Best for: Creating a multilingual freelancer website suitable for translators or freelancers working with international clients.
Best features:
Multilingual websites: Webnode allows you to create websites in 24 languages and provide customer support in different languages.
Form creator: Webnode has a versatile form creator. You can use forms for appointment booking, event registration, email list sign-up or contact forms.
Visual effects: Webnode allows you to create graphics-rich websites with a video background and parallax scrolling (i.e., the website’s background moves slower than the foreground).
Pricing:
Free website builder plan with limited features
Profi: $26.50/month
Standard: $16.90/month
Mini: $10.00/month
Limited: $5.50/month
04. Carrd
Carrd is a freelance website builder for simple websites with a single page. It offers many one-page website templates, especially with paid plans. That said, Carrd isn't the right choice if you want a website with a blog and an online store.
Best for: Freelancers who want to create a site with a single webpage, like a portfolio website or a contact form.
Best features:
Highly responsive templates: Carrd’s one-page templates are optimized for mobile devices, tablets and desktops. The templates are clutter-free, helping freelancers focus on a specific function, like an event landing page or countdowns.
Versatile forms: Carrd gives you great customization options for creating versatile forms. You can create secure contact forms, sign-up forms and payment-enabled forms.
Cost-effective: Carrd offers a free plan, and other pricing plans are also very affordable.
Pricing:
Free plan with all core features
Pro Lite: $9/year
Pro Standard: $19/year
Pro Plus: $49/year
05. Showit
Showit advertises itself as a drag-and-drop website builder with in-depth customization options. It also integrates with WordPress, a popular content management system. However, Showit doesn’t have a free plan and is costly compared to other website builders for freelancers.
Best for: Creative professionals (e.g., artists, graphic designers and photographers) who want a highly personalized website with full creative control.
Best features:
Special templates for creative professionals: Showit has specially curated templates to highlight the work of creative professionals.
WordPress integration: It’s easy to connect your WordPress blog with Showit to customize the look and feel of your WordPress blog. You can also benefit from the powerful WordPress plugins.
Pricing:
Showit: $19/month when billed annually
Showit with Basic Starter Blog: $24/month when billed annually
Showit and advanced blog: $34/month when billed annually
06. Hostinger
Hostinger is a versatile freelance website builder for all types of websites. It has a user-friendly, AI-powered drag-and-drop website editor. Hostinger also supports eCommerce stores with zero transaction fees.
Best for: Small business owners who want to create a website integrated with an online store.
Best features:
AI tools: Hostinger provides an array of AI tools for web designing. Plans come with an AI image and text generator, a blog generator and an SEO tool.
Ecommerce capability: With Hostinger, you can quickly create an eCommerce website with a few clicks. Hostinger supports around fifteen payment options.
Pricing:
Premium: $11.99/month
Business: $13.99/month
Cloud Startup: $24.99/month
Why do you need a freelance website?
Here’s how a professional website can add value to your business:
Build trust in your clients: Your website will have an about page, portfolio and customer testimonials, which will help you build trust in your prospective clients.
Create a personalized online presence: Unlike freelance marketplaces and professional websites, your website helps showcase your personal style.
Search ranking: An SEO-optimized website and blog help you rank high in SERPs, making it easy for customers to find you online.
Blogging: Posting regular blogs on your website allows you to establish yourself as an authority in your field and helps with SERP rankings.
Build an email list: Email marketing can be a powerful tool for attracting new customers. Your website can have a sign-up form to collect prospects’ email addresses.
How to make a freelance website in 6 steps
Making your own website can be a fun and creative experience. So, let’s look at how to create a freelance website with a website builder in just a few clicks.
Select a template/ input text prompt: First, choose a website template that matches your business requirements and personal style. You may also describe your website and let AI create a website for you.
Personalize the template. Using the drag-and-drop editor, customize your website. You may change fonts and colors, edit web copy and add images.
Choose widgets and applications: Add features to your website using the widgets or apps the builder provides.
Choose a domain name/connect your domain: Some service providers will give you a free domain, especially with paid plans. You must choose a domain name that reflects your business’s essence. If you already have a custom domain, you may connect it to your website.
SEO optimization: Optimize your website design for search engines using title tags, descriptions, alt text and header and footer information.
Publish your website: Preview your website layout on desktop, mobile and tablet using the preview tool and publish it.
Do freelancers use Wix?
Now that you know how to create a professional website, let’s see how Wix will be a great fit for your freelance website creation.
Wix is one of the most feature-rich, robust website builders for freelancers. Freelancers choose Wix for many reasons:
Streamlined template selection: Wix asks a series of questions to understand your business. Based on the answers, it will suggest templates and apps for your website.
End-to-end website infrastructure: Wix gives you everything you need to start a website, ensuring site reliability and performance.
AI-powered website editor: Wix integrates a powerful AI engine that lets you design a website, create stunning images and write web copy, all using text prompts.
Integrates your store: Wix allows you to expand your freelance business to an online store in just a few clicks.
Learn More:
All prices were correct as of June 26, 2024