Strikingly Review
Pros & Cons
- Register a domain name or use an existing one.
- Full ecommerce functionality.
- Social feed can be easily added to the website.
- Super easy blogging features.
- Excellent analytic features.
- Comes with fewer template options compared to some of the competitors.
Plans & Pricing
Strikingly offer three main subscription plans: Limited, Pro, and VIP
Limited: The Limited package includes features such as 50 GB monthly bandwidth, free domain, 5 products in your eCommerce store, and up to two websites. It costs $12 for a monthly subscription and $8 on an annual one.
Pro: The Pro package includes unlimited bandwidth, 20 store products, advanced features such as HTML and mobile actions, and it’s for three websites. You can purchase a monthly subscription for $20 or an annual one for $16.
VIP: The VIP package costs $49 when billed yearly. In addition to everything you get in the Pro plan, you can offer up to 500 products in your store and publish up to 5 websites. Additionally, you are prioritized when you need customer service.
Either way, you can test out any plan with a 14-day trial if you’re not sure what suits you best.
Overview
Building a website with Strikingly is extremely easy, and they made sure to make the entire process with as few steps as possible. While there aren’t many templates to choose from, each template looks highly professional and they are all different in structure and layout. All of the templates are responsive, which means your website will look great on any device and on any screen size. Design customization is very easy, but it is limited. You can change colors, images, texts, and even layout, but you do not have complete control over the full design so it is important to choose a template that is as close as possible to what you want.
Features & Functionality
Mobile Optimization
All of the templates on Strikingly are responsive, so there is no need to work on a mobile and desktop site separately. It is still a good idea to check after every design change how your website looks on different devices. This can be done by clicking the preview button and choosing tablet, phone, or desktop in the preview modes. There are also a number of premium mobile features that allow you to add actions like calling, texting, emailing, or getting directions on your website.
SEO Tools & Marketing
The Settings section of the website builder allows you to edit the basic SEO parameters of your website. This includes the title and meta-description. Additional features include verifying your website in Google, adding image alt texts, and monitoring your website’s stats via the analytics section.
Social Media Tools
In the settings, you can add an image for Facebook shares, which is a great way to control how your website is viewed when shared on social networks. You can also enable a “Twitter Card” so that an image appears when your site gets tweeted. Additional social features are available when adding new sections to your website. You can add social feeds from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to display your most recent posts.
eCommerce
The free Strikingly package already includes a shop, but you can only add one product. If you’d like more, you’ll have to choose one of the premium packages based on the number of products you plan on adding and the features you need. Managing your shop is very simple. The main shop management screen includes adding new products and managing existing products, viewing and managing orders, and editing the shop’s settings. In the settings, you can edit your payment details, shipping information, and even customize email notifications.
Apps and Plugins
Strikingly doesn’t really have apps and plugins like other website builders, but “Sections” that are very similar in how they work. When adding a new section, you can choose between the different types of sections available to you. This includes basic sections, like buttons, texts, columns, etc., and advanced sections like a blog, shop, social features, and even HTML. Clicking a section will automatically add it to your website. Once you have the item on your page, you can click it to edit and customize it.
Design & Templates
Strikingly has a striking and vast (over 100) collection of designs and templates for users to choose from. The designs are very appealing to the eye and are easily customizable as well. Switching from an existing design or a template to a new one is possible at any time.
Ease of Use
Support is pretty straightforward. You can visit the “Knowledgebase” to search for questions and answers, and if you still need help with something more specific, you can send them an email directly from the website and they get back to you pretty quickly. We tried it and got an answer within an hour.
Another way to get help is to access their chat service, which can be found on other pages of the website as a question mark at the bottom of the page. You’ll also find that question mark icon at the bottom of the website builder, so if something comes up while you’re working on your website, you can simply click that icon to open a chat window with Strikingly’s support team.
One additional thing that they’ve added, that’s actually pretty neat, is the Idea Forum, where you can post your own ideas and suggestions for the site builder and it may just be added as a new feature.
Customer Support
Once you’ve chosen a template, you’ll be sent to the website builder itself. You can’t drag and drop items around the screen, it’s more like “click and edit”. You can also click the layout button to rearrange the items in each section until you find a layout you prefer. Each section on the website can be clicked and edited, including changing colors, backgrounds, texts, and images. It is very fast and straightforward. The main menu on the left is clear and easy to understand, and building a standard website can take less than an hour if you have all of your content ready.
Because of its ease-of-use, Strikingly website builder is excellent for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time or money on their website or don’t have a technical or design background. Because of the lack of flexibility and customization, it’s not really suitable for anyone who wants a totally unique website, or for designers that may have something specific in mind. On the other hand, if you have zero design experience, you really can’t “mess up” the look of a template.
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Live Online Chat
Yes, the company offers support via live chat. -
Email
Yes, the company’s support team can be reached via email. -
Video Tutorials
Yes, there are plenty of video tutorials available online. -
FAQ
Yes, a fairly informative FAQ section is available on the company website. -
Community Forum
Yes, an “idea forum” is present on the company website.
Final Word
Overall, this is a great website builder for people who either don’t have any technical or design background or anyone who just doesn’t want to spend a lot of time and money on building a site. The templates are fully responsive and mobile friendly, and editing the site is pretty simple and fast. Even if you get the most expensive package, it’s still a lot less pricey than hiring someone to build a site for you, and the end result is a pretty good-looking website. You can try out the free version or sign up for a premium package for more advanced features. All of the plans offer a 14-day free trial so that you can easily find the package that is best for your website needs.