Question

What's the easiest/cheapest way for a non-technical user to both build and host a single landing page?

I recently purchased a domain (from Google) for $12. Now, I'm looking to create a single landing page using this new domain. Tools like Wix are great for quickly building nice-looking pages but charge you a monthly fee to use your own domain to host it (rather than the generic "yourcompany.wix.com" domain, included on the free version).

Any suggestions for free tools that can be used?

Appreciate the input!

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maguay's avatar
3 years ago

Two options that come to mind:

  • Google Sites for something free, as it now supports custom URLs (here's how to add it). That'd get you a free-but-basic site without coding, with no subscription or fees beyond your domain. And the new Google Sites is reasonably nice to use.
  • Carrd is one of the simpler landing page apps I've seen recently, often gets mentioned in low/no-code tutorials as a quick way to spin up a landing page, and it costs $19 per year for custom domains. Not free, but pretty reasonable.
4 points
imaginedesigner's avatar
@imaginedesigner (replying to @maguay )
3 years ago

Yes. Google Sites is a good option

2 points
NBNite's avatar
@NBNite (replying to @imaginedesigner )
3 years ago

Thanks @maguay!
I had glanced over Google Sites thinking that it would be too rudimentary but will give it a more in-depth look.
First time I'm hearing about Carrd and will definitely explore further.

2 points
Livenadav's avatar
3 years ago

My fav place for 1pg site builder is Carrd which is FREE and do much better than Wix. Wix is awful product as you need to design... Twice! One for Web version and the 2nd time to Mobile. Carrd is doing that automatically like Squarespace but cheaper. Pro is $19 a year (if you want to use your own domain). Yup, not 19 a month. 19 a year. But you can enjoy the free plan for your landing page.

Hope this helps.
- Nadav.

3 points
alexjvale's avatar
@alexjvale (replying to @Livenadav )
3 years ago

+1 for Carrd. Very very easy to get a simple landing page up and their pricing is so generous I almost feel bad about it

3 points
NBNite's avatar
@NBNite (replying to @alexjvale )
3 years ago

Appreciate the quick responses @Livenadav & @alexjvale.
A lot of positive feedback about Carrd and I'm excited to give it a run. As you mentioned, $19 seems like a joke if the tool does everything it's supposed to super well!

Will keep you posted.

2 points
chadhutchins's avatar
3 years ago

Launchrock is another https://www.launchrock.com/

Their focus is on early customer acquisition. All their tools help you get those early customers in the door to help validate what you're trying to do.

2 points
NBNite's avatar
@NBNite (replying to @chadhutchins )
3 years ago

Thanks @chadhutchins - will definitely give this a look as well!

1 point
Nate's avatar
3 years ago

GoDaddy recently launched a free version of their website builder -Websites + Marketing - which has been growing quite quickly/gaining share in the DIY space!

2 points
AnujAdhiya's avatar
3 years ago

+1 for Carrd as well. Its templates are super easy to get going with and its ridiculously cheap to boot.

2 points
BobbyThakkar's avatar
3 years ago

I think either Carrd.com or Leadpages will be your best bet. Carrd is common as it's simple and specific to this need but if your willing to upgrade Leadpages gives you a lot of resources to test your market and get validation before working on the rest of your product which can save you money long term.

For a free solution, a basic site on Webflow free plan or HTML5 up (if your okay with a little syntax) can be exported to be hosted on Github pages.

2 points
NBNite's avatar
@NBNite (replying to @BobbyThakkar )
3 years ago

Thanks @BobbyThakkar.
Our specific use-case isn't too heavy and from reading everyone's posts, it seems to lend itself to something Carrd can do well. Appreciate your chiming in.

1 point
RobertHEherceg's avatar
3 years ago

With the current state of the world economy this is becoming a very important question as small and medium sized businesses are needing help in transforming their businesses to a digital world. Small and medium businesses especially in Australia make up about 50% of our functioning economy so helping answer this question is key helping these businesses survive and thrive. What needs to be asked is where businesses are in their digital journey and what are they wanting it to do immediately. My suggestions are as follows:

  1. If you want to create a simple and beautiful website for free then my top picks are Wordpress, homestead and WIX.

  2. If you want a more premium experience then it’s about $25-30/mth where you get all the templates and business ecommerce tools needed to sell your products and services . My picks are squarespace, sitel23 and Wordpress.

  3. For the ultimate website you are up for about $50-60/mth and here you get the lot. Beautiful site, easy to do AddsMoveschanges, e-commerce, loyalty programs and business insight reporting. Personally WIX and square space are the most used but my pick here is Wordpress.

In simple its about where you are on your digital journey but overall a necessity in today’s world.

2 points
NBNite's avatar
@NBNite (replying to @RobertHEherceg )
3 years ago

This is a great breakdown - thanks @RobertHEherceg!

1 point
kliszczakjakub's avatar
3 years ago

Great question. The best approach to building a single landing page is to do it as easily and as cheaply as possible.

Why?

It's never the landing page itself that sells. It's always the offer. That being said, it doesn't matter what software or tool you use, as long as it lets you convey the value that your offer provides.

Thus, if you want to do it fast and cheap, I'd suggest you try out Carrd (https://carrd.co/).

It's a very cheap solution that is perfect for single landing pages. Hence, it was created primarily for that purpose. Wix is a much more robust tool that, at this point, may overwhelm you with its options and builder.

Go for Carrd, ship fast, and do it on a budget!

2 points
NBNite's avatar
@NBNite (replying to @kliszczakjakub )
3 years ago

Well said @Kliszczakjakub... seems to be in line with the majority of the other folks that chimed in on this thread and will definitely be my first stop! Appreciate the advice.

1 point
kliszczakjakub's avatar
@kliszczakjakub (replying to @NBNite )
3 years ago

Oh yea, I didn't want to appear as a copycat but I personally use Carrd and its simplicity makes it hands-down the best solution for single landing pages. Especially when all you want to do is gather contact info, show a portfolio or collect someone's email.

1 point
pjf's avatar
3 years ago

Another alternative to Carrd would be Weblium or Mailchimp landing pages.

If you’ll find that templates solutions are too rigid or your use case requires future scalability that doesn’t justify a custom build, you can also look into WordPress with Elementor’s page builder ($50/yr for one site and it’s probably the best page builder on top of a CMS right now). You also won’t have to deal with the messy native WordPress functionalities beyond a minimum. Of course, you’ll need a WP host, too. I suggest Siteground for that (another $50/yr for basic plan and top customer service). None of the above require deep technical skills.

2 points
edwardshepard's avatar
3 years ago

You might consider https://www.notion.so/ to host your site. Easy to use, especially if you already organize your life with Notion. You can use your own domain and publish your page in a click. There's even a new service with prebuilt page templates: https://nocodepages.com

2 points
AndyDentPerth's avatar
3 years ago

Nice to see lots of fans of Carrd - nobody has pointed out that they often have sales around Black Friday and other times when you can buy Pro upgrades at a significant discount.

I used it for https://touchme.me/ and https://brainbleach.online/

(BrainBleach is a site used in some early ad tests for Touchgram for an advertising surface yet to be deployed. It is not a real product.).

2 points
NBNite's avatar
@NBNite (replying to @AndyDentPerth )
3 years ago

Thanks @AndyDentPerth - both of your sites look great!
I explored several of the options on this thread and ultimately went ahead with Carrd as well. $19 for a year combined with awesome templates to piggy-back on drew me in and allowed me to quickly create https://virtournyc.com/

1 point
ichobi's avatar
3 years ago

Now that Notion is free for personal use, you can quickly draft up a landing page that is VERY easy to edit/ embed. You can then use a bought domain name to point to this public Notion page.

The second option that works very similarly is Coda. Since Coda now let you publish pages to the public, you can essentially follow the same thing. Providing you make a very simple landing page that doesn't require much data structure, these two options are the very userfriendly and workable from the get go. Zero html / coding knowledge required!

I have used public notion page as a hub for my online course that sells quite succsesfuly.

1 point
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