Network Solutions Review

Pricing

Network Solutions offers two packages for do-it-yourself web designers, which are found in the Websites tab on the Website Packages page. Aptly named as the Small and Large plans, these packages offer the same features but are differentiated by the amount of storage space, file sharing and data transfers that they allow. You should note that unlike other web design services that offer monthly and yearly rates at a glance, Network Solutions automatically gives you the 3 year plan, unless you adjust your preferences.

Do-it-Yourself Packages

If you are looking for experts to help create your website, Network Solutions offers several options. The Standard package comes with a guarantee that it will be complete within 10-15 business days, while the Custom package can take up to 45 business days. Hosting fees are not included in either of these packages.

Professional Web Design Service Packages

Network Solutions also offers e-commerce website design services which integrate helpful business tools with the company's convenient website builder. The pricing for e-commerce packages is as follows:

Finally, Network Solutions offers supplemental packages such as hosting packages, SSL certificates and internet marketing services to help you create a complete website from start to finish.

Features

Both do-it-yourself Network Solutions web design packages offer an impressive range of features that can improve the user-experience on any website.

These features include:

• Free domain name (for 1 year)
• Over 100 professionally designed website templates
• Online storage and file sharing from SpaceManager
• Search engine submission tool to register your site with search engines
• Pre-configured web pages to customize site based on business objective
• Dozens of add-ons including
  • Event calendar
  • Maps/directions capabilities
  • PayPal integration
  • Form Generator - to gather information from your website visitors
  • Document Library - makes it easy to upload documents to share with website visitors - Word, Excel, PowerPoint
  • Blogging platforms
  • Customer Polls - to learn about customer information
  • Time Tracker - keep track of staff hours
  • Direct YouTube integration
  • Contact Management - communicate with users via online forms
  • Property Manager - include photos, links to virtual tours, mortgage calculator
  • Counter - count the number of people visiting your site
  • RSS Newsfeeds
  • Widgets
  • E-referrals
  • Coupon Creator
  • Online Business Card
  • Guest Book

Ease of Use

The Network Solutions site navigation is extremely intuitive which makes the setup process quick and painless. The website creation process begins with registration followed by domain selection, plan selection and payment.

Registration page

The website editor is similarly straightforward and has a 1-click entry for easy access.

Network Solutions web design editor

The first stage of web design is to select a template, which can be searched by category or flipped through casually until you find the right one.

Template selection categories

My template

Once the template is chosen, you can begin customization immediately. When I made the first change to the top left corner of my page, the website builder asked if I wanted to implement that change on all pages of my site, which was particularly helpful. I then added text and pictures to my site. It took me a minute to realize that if you want text in a specific spot, you must first drag the text box to the spot and add the text afterwards - you can't just past the text straight in. Still, once I figured this out, the website editor was extremely easy to use.

My final website with image, text and video

Customer Service

Unlike many other web design services such as Wix and AllOwned that offer quality customer support for an additional fee, Network Solutions offers praiseworthy support to all of its customers for free. If you're looking to find answers independently, Network Solutions has a comprehensive FAQ and tutorial section. The upside of Network Solutions' help center is that it is incredibly comprehensive. The downside is that because Network Solutions offers a dizzying array of services, finding help for their web design package may take a few moments. Once you get acquainted with the help center however, you can browse through useful video tutorials and customer forums to help find the information that you're looking for. The help center also has a search bar, though I tried 5 distinct searches, and only received a relevant answer in one of them. This problem, unfortunately, seems to be common among other web design as well.

Fortunately, personal customer service can be received via phone or email support. Network Solutions is one of the few web design services that offers 24/7 phone support, which is a significant advantage if you plan on building your site during off-peak hours. I called on a Thursday morning and waited only 4 minutes to speak with a representative who was very helpful and courteous.

I also emailed Network Solutions on a Thursday morning, asking how to add links to my web pages. I received an email response about 10 hours later. The response was somewhat impersonal but directed me to a link that provided me with direct instructions about how to complete the task.

Network Solutions email response

Summary

Network Solutions offers a professional website builder for those experienced with web design and novice designers who are looking for a straightforward tool.

Positive Features

• Straightforward site builder
• 24/7 phone support
• Support menus are very organized
• 30 day money back guarantee
• Excellent add-ons and extra features

Negative Features

• No free trial