Yola Review

Pricing

Yola offers two comprehensive packages - a free package and the Yola Pro package. The free package offers 1GB of storage space (which is equivalent to 250 songs or 250 pictures with resolution of 7.2 megapixels) and can support 15 MB of file upload at a time. The free package requires that you take a yola.com domain. Free Yola websites also have a link to Yola's website, which may be troublesome for those looking to create an entirely professional website.

There are several distinct advantages to the premium package. At $48.95/year, Yola's Pro package is one of the most affordable web design services available. Yola Pro customers can benefit from the removal of the Yola link from their website, can integrate their site with a personal domain, and can have access to Yola's premium website templates. The Pro package also includes 25 sites with 5GB of storage per site, and can upload files up to 100MB. Finally, the Pro plan comes with advertising credits on Yahoo! and Facebook and stock photography vouchers totaling $59, which make this web design software an excellent value.

Features	Free	Yola Silver	Yola Premier
Free Templates	180	180	180
Ad-free website creation
Number of available sites	5	25	25
Storage per site	1GB	5GB	5GB
Maximum file upload	15MB	100MB	100MB
Link removal
Premium templates included		1	1
Custom domain name (includes private domain registration)
HP Logoworks Logomaker credit (1 time)
Web hosting
Advertising credits		Yahoo search marketing - $25 value Facebook advertising - $25 value Stock photographs - $9 value	Yahoo search marketing - $25 value Facebook advertising - $25 value Stock photographs - $9 value
Price	Free	$49.95/year	$349 for the first year, then $49.95/year for Yola Silver package

If you prefer to have your own domain, you can purchase one from Yola for $9.95 per year. Additionally, if you opt for the free service but wish to have the Yola link removed, you can do so for $9.95 per year.

Features

Yola's web design software offers an impressive range of features and add-ons that rivals comparable web design services. Among the most useful widgets are:

Features Include:

• Meebo chat room
• Skype add-on
• RSS reader capabilities
• Genbook appointment scheduler
• Appointment-Plus appointment scheduler (available for an additional fee)
• Google AdSense integration
• Google Gadget integration
• YouTube integration
• Metacafe integration
• Flickr image widget
• PayPal shopping cart
• Password protection available for your site's private pages

Ease of Use

Yola's website builder combines the convenience of a drag and drop website editor with a logical step-by-step registration and web design process. Setting up the site requires that you choose a category for your site, which Yola provides for you in a comprehensive drop-down menu. Depending on the site that you choose, Yola will then recommend the pages that should be included on your site, so that you have an idea of exactly what will be necessary to create a professional web presence (in case you didn't have your plans entirely mapped out yet).

I chose to create a spa website, and was then prompted to choose a site design. Although there were certainly sufficient options to choose from, the options presented looked like blog-inspired templates as compared with the more creative designs offered by Wix for the same type of spa website. Adding text and an image were extremely straightforward tasks. I was rather surprised that I could not drag my images or text from one box on the homepage to another, but this additional flexibility did not detract significantly from the generally pleasant nature of the website builder.

Blank template for spa website

Completed spa website

An attribute that I found specifically helpful in Yola's website builder was the ability to navigate to different pages on your site directly from the template's site navigation, without having to access secondary pages through the site builder control panel. This makes it easy to flip between pages on your site and to keep in mind exactly which pages still need to be built or edited.

Customer Service

Unlike some do-it-yourself web design companies that offer technical support by phone, Yola offers personal support by email only.

I submitted a question to Yola on a Tuesday morning, and was stunned (and delighted) to receive a personal and helpful response within 15 minutes.

My question to Yola

Response from Yola

Yola also offers you the ability to ask questions to their automated response system, which is powered by the same ISQ system that Wix uses. While using Yola's version of ISQ, I encountered none of the problems that I had when using Wix's version. Every question that I asked was met with a direct and helpful response.

I was equally impressed with the depth of Yola's community support service, which hosts nearly 14,000 users and about 60 employees who respond regularly to user inquiries. Yola's community forum covers about 11,000 topics and provides a place for you to ask questions and receive responses from both Yola employees and other Yola users.

Yola's user forum

Overall, Yola's customer service was top-notch, and made finding answers entirely painless.

Sites built with Yola

www.realworldoncanvas.com/

www.balancedbites.com

www.scooter-u.com

Yola in the Media

Yola Website - ABC news discovers how you can create a great website without spending a fortune.

Summary

While Yola's strength lies in the simplicity of its website builder and its extremely attractive pricing, it lacks the sophistication that some business owners may prefer. Yola's website templates are markedly simpler than templates offered by other web design services, and if you're looking to build a robust e-commerce store, you may be disappointed by Yola's sparse e-commerce offerings. Still, Yola's top-notch customer support and impressive list of add-ons and feature integrations make it a great choice if you're looking for a straightforward website builder that can yield attractive results.

Positive Features

• Reliable customer support
• Excellent community forum
• Affordable pricing
• Extremely easy to use website builder
• Impressive range of add-ons and widget integrations

Negative Features

• Lack of unique template options
• No phone support
• Few e-commerce features