There is a myth that only schoolchildren need site designers, and any self-respecting company will immediately look for a "normal programmer." But think logically: if so, why do these services still exist (and pour huge budgets into advertising and developing new functionality)?
You would be surprised to know how many Internet entrepreneurs actually successfully use sites made in 1-2 days. And today we have prepared for you a furious analysis of one of the most popular designers in Runet - Nethouse. Reviews about this service are increasingly appearing in social networks and on thematic forums - both positive and negative.
So who is right? How realistic is it to make an effective platform for business with the help of a designer? To answer these questions, first we’ll try to figure out what we are dealing with.
How Nethouse reached 800,000 sites in 6 years
Even the launch date - 11/11/11 - is noteworthy in itself. While the whole world made wishes, the developers of Nethouse did not sit idly by, but embodied their ideas into reality.
The inspiration for the team was ... social networks. If you can put a new avatar on VKontakte in 2 clicks, then why force the user to go into the admin area each time to change the picture on their own site?
This philosophy became the basis for the creation of Nethouse.ru. The feedback from the first users finally dispelled doubts - although at the time of launch, such "dinosaurs" as uCoz and Webasyst had already firmly established themselves in the niche, the young service quickly broke into TOPs.
What is the main advantage of the Nethouse project? Website builder is very simple and, in fact, is designed to quickly create a minimum platform for business development on the Web. Does it look corny? Perhaps. But then you immediately proceed to the next stage - find real customers instead of having fun with the fonts for six months.
For this, several really cool services work on the basis of the platform. We will see?
Domains
Changing a clumsy three-level address to something more sonorous is better right away. In 2015, Nethouse had its own registrar - domains.nethouse.ru. The reviews are mostly positive, although there are also negative ones - mainly from those who rely on advertising for .ru and .rf registration for 49 rubles, but did not even bother to study the conditions and requirements briefly.
What is the service interesting for? The developers have tried to simplify the selection of a suitable name. You can drive your favorite options through 150 different zones, which for convenience are divided into categories.
In the next tab, a full-fledged domain store awaits you. Too lazy to come up with a name? Then be sure to check out this section. The selection is impressive - more than 1,500 options, including used (with history and TCI) and premium domains. Well thought out sorting by category, subject and price.
Promotion
Having your own SEO-office is one of the main advantages of Nethouse. Customer reviews and current statistics leave no doubt that the guys know their job and successfully promote websites in any niches. And, unlike freelancers, "their" seoshniki know all the nuances of working at the "Nethouse".
What else? Firstly, work is carried out immediately on two fronts - in parallel with SEO, you can order contextual advertising that brings results right away.
Secondly, depending on the goals and budget, you can choose a convenient option - to order individual services (audit, tuning, writing texts, etc.) or complex promotion with a monthly payment.
By the way, the service provides a 100% guarantee - if after 4-6 months there are no results, you will be returned the entire amount spent.
Agents
Every serious CMS has a forum, and Nethouse is no exception. But the developers decided to take user communication to a new level and created a kind of hybrid freelance and social network where you can get advice or find an artist for any work. Here you do not spend time on flooding, but immediately turn to a person who is ready to help in your matter.
By the way, absolutely any Nethouse user can become an Agent and earn money - the designer allows you to create a convenient platform for the presentation of your services. There are only two limitations - not to offer SEO (for this the company has a separate service) and work only within the platform.
Academy
And this is a real find for those who are serious about doing online business. The creators tried to combine all the main topics related to the creation, promotion and advertising of the site in one course.
You may not be a PRO seoshnik or a programmer, but you should definitely go through it - and not just those who are going to create sites on Nethouse. Reviews about the project are mostly positive. He helped many to “put everything on the shelves” and to understand what and how to do to make the site profitable.
The course consists of 15 webinars. All entries are freely available directly on the site. But if you want to get deeper knowledge, you should sign up for the next "live" training.
And yes - it's completely free. What's the catch? Nothing at all. For the company, this is a source of new customers. And even those who go further in the study of Internet marketing are unlikely to want to do everything on their own. And who should be entrusted to business, if not to their teachers?
What Nethouse users like
So we got to the most "delicious" - work with the designer. To see the big picture, we not only studied the reviews on Nethouse on the Web, but even tried to make a small site ourselves. First about strengths. What is convenient service?
Registration in 1 minute
All you need to get started is to come up with a site name and enter your data. After that, you can immediately enter the admin panel, select a design and start filling, you do not need to connect and configure anything.
You automatically receive a free domain in the format of the site (for example, optmytoys.nethouse.ru). Reviews from the Internet can be confusing, but then everything falls into place. Is it necessary to change it?
Until 2015, “beautiful” addresses were needed only to make the site look more solid. But after launching its own registrar, Nethouse began to put pressure on owners of free domains. They cannot confirm their rights to the site or, for example, connect Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica. And such unpleasant moments a lot. To protect yourself from this initially, it is better to buy a second-level domain as soon as possible.
Clear admin panel
There are no "hidden" functions, so even a fifth grader can find the necessary settings. Managing orders, connecting additional services, creating email newsletters and other tools are available in one click. You can instantly open a site - in edit mode or as a regular visitor.
There is everything for managing an online store
The free version has a limit of up to 1000 products. You can add new cards manually or import a catalog in CSV format. The application is easy to customize - create promotional codes, set the minimum order size, define form fields and text of letters.
Information about all orders and their status is stored in a single database, which simplifies the control of the store. And after paying the premium account, online payments will be available through Yandex.Cash.
You can connect popular applications
The choice is small, but it is 100% reliable, proven, and most importantly - the necessary services. In addition to what is on the screenshot, you can connect Google Tag Manager, UniSender (an advanced mailing service), CallbackHunter (helps “squeeze” a visitor, redirecting him to the sales department at the right time) and others.
Large selection of additional services
In this section, you can not only connect a business tariff, but also order additional services related to the creation and promotion of a resource (audit of a site / advertisement, writing texts, receiving SMS notifications, etc.).
Great affiliate program
Firstly, you don’t have to rack your brains on how to persuade someone to register - all invited users will receive 300 rubles. to the account. The benefits are obvious, but you lose nothing. And secondly - you will constantly receive 30% of the cost of all services that your referrals will pay.
Adequate business rate
According to the standard, 1 month costs 299 rubles. But you can apply for a paid account immediately for 3 months, one or two years and get a discount of up to 25%. You can connect the tariff for a maximum period of only 5400 rubles.
Easily migrate your old site to Nethouse
If you already have a working resource, but for some reason you decide to change the site, this can be done in just a few minutes. A significant advantage, right?
Stylish patterns
Nethouse has solutions for almost any website - business cards, online stores, landing page, presentations. In terms of design, there are no frills, but all options look very neat and modern.
Quickly add and remove pages
Everything happens right in the visual editor. At the bottom there is a list of ready-made blocks that can be connected.
It is also possible to create any static pages - you think about their content and design yourself. The menu editor presents several ready-made templates for standard sections, such as "Delivery", "Payment," Reviews "," Contacts "and others.
Unnecessary sections are easy to delete or hide, and using the up / down arrows to change the sequence of blocks on the page.
No need to know programming and even HTML
Editing and filling the site are made on the same principle. Almost all the reviews describing the Nethouse constructor confirm - this is convenient. Let's say you want to post an article on a blog. All you need to do is find the block you need and click the "Add" button. Immediately after that, the editor will open.
The "Edit" tab contains all the settings for a particular section - description, meta tags for SEO, list of pages (for example, articles or services), etc.
What users do not like
We continue to analyze reviews devoted to Nethouse. Service flaws pop up in the early days. But how critical are they? Try to answer this question.
You cannot connect your applications
Especially inconvenient for those who decide to switch from other sites to Nethouse. The reviews also indicate that the services that the system itself offers are often not enough.
Overpriced for some services
For example, you’ll have to pay almost 1000 rubles to simply remove the inscription “Nethouse - site builder” at the bottom of the page. And the same costs the creation of a drug with selling text, graphics and all the settings.
No alerts
You can find out about new orders, comments, etc. only by e-mail or SMS. In the admin panel itself, there are no notifications at all. Many users do not like this.
Very few templates and only 2 responsive designs
In fact, you have only 5 options, even in the paid version, and everything else comes down to choosing a color scheme. But this is not so bad. But the lack of mobile versions is really a problem. How is this even possible in 2017?
No HTML access
At all. In principle, this is the philosophy of the service: "Nethouse" is a site builder for those who do not want to understand the codes. But the annoying fact is that HTML is not even in a text editor, where it is really needed. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that the pictures in the letters will skip, and to make a subtitle, for example, you will have to change the font size each time and make the paragraph bold (SEO? What SEO?).
Almost impossible to change the appearance of the blocks
Only triggers and a stock counter have design options, and customizing the design for yourself is a real hard-mode. The maximum that the designer himself gives is to increase or decrease the preview of the pictures and slightly change the appearance of the text. Neither you can choose your own color for the button (except for ready-made ones), change the font, or even change the display format of the goods.
Primitive Mailing Service
It is impossible to see how the letter will be displayed before sending, and some functions work crookedly. For example, our first attempt to make a newsletter looked something like this.
It turns out that centering does not work with pictures, but if you still need to, you will have to suffer with indentation. The second attempt was a bit more successful, although the image still shifted, and there was no spacing between paragraphs.
But overall, the picture has not changed. There are no scripts for personalization (greetings by name) and the creation of automatic mailings. As well as opportunities to customize your recipient lists or to make corny letter templates. For full email marketing this is clearly not enough.
Sample Nethouse Sites
Finding really high-quality resources was not easy. Most sites are created by people who are far from Internet businesses. And no matter how simple the “Nethouse” may be, the designer cannot instead of the user come up with a navigation system or fill the pages with quality content.
And here are a few examples that prove: the result is 95% dependent on how you use the available tools.
The recreation center "Aquamarine" (kotka-tur.nethouse.ru) - reviews and analysis
The simplest business card website in 5 minutes. Frankly, the project is weak in every way, and it’s almost impossible to find important information. But what is the plus? At a minimum, there is an adequate menu, a "Contacts" section with a map, and the text does not "skip" and generally looks neat.
Most likely, this is a very young or test site, which is not yet accepted even by search engines.
Trading company "Vertex" (verteks-fin.nethouse.ru) - reviews and analysis
Another project made on the same principle. If anything, it offers employment services in Finland (for some reason, most of the place is occupied by a banner with oranges and a basket of vegetables instead of a logo, so it's hard to guess).
But the statistics turned out to be mildly unexpected. Despite the fact that the resource is practically not indexed by search engines and is not mentioned on the official Nethouse website, attendance is simply sky-high. And these are not random transitions - on average, a person spends about 15 minutes on a site, which is very good. But where does the traffic come from? So far, the only thing you can cling to is links from sites on which Vertex publishes vacancies.
Design Studio IntergaDesign
Now take a look at this screen. Feel the difference? Unified style, successful color scheme, effective design of blocks ... Agree, it looks great. This is what happens when professional designers use the Nethouse website builder. Reviews from the studio owners can be found on the main platform.
IntergaDesign uses the functionality of the system to the maximum. On the main page there is a slider with the best works and links to cases, information about services, the advantages of the studio in the format of triggers, thanks from customers and even a portfolio (photo gallery). The only negative is that the block with the appeal of the head is a little stretched.
Since the site is young, it is just beginning to advance in search engines, although the positive dynamics are already noticeable. There is a small but stable attendance, and an impressive bundle of reviews.
Shop of sweets from the USA and Europe - SweetBit
Before us is a stylish and convenient online store for confectionery products. An excellent move is to show the most interesting “snacks” in the slider and make buttons to go to the catalog. The design of static pages did not disappoint - everywhere there is high-quality graphics and well-formatted text.
But the coolest thing is the manufacturers catalog, because there is no ready-made template for such a unit, and the developers had to turn on the fantasy. If interested, this is implemented through the text field editor. Add .PNG pictures, indent, and then select them one at a time and put down links to sections of the directory.
The performance is far from ideal, but the service is developing. The only annoying thing is that visitors leave too quickly, but due to the fact that the site is in the Nethouse gallery. So, a significant part of the traffic is made up of those who come in to simply evaluate the design.
Web Studio IdenStudio
And one more interesting project based on the Nethouse resource. The designer in the hands of a professional team of designers and developers allows you to create really cool sites. True, we would advise replacing the image on the banner on the main one with something less contrasting. Therefore, we propose to immediately go down a little to the block "About us".
Agree, the style of design of icons and content is catchy. Portfolio pages also look great, although they are created using regular triggers. All that I want to advise is not to enter links, but to link the names of the projects.
And finally, take a look at analytics. There is basically nothing to discuss here - most likely, the guys are looking for customers in other sources, and this platform is used as a presentation.
The review turned out to be very voluminous, but we tried to analyze everything - the capabilities of Nethouse, real cases, positive and negative reviews. By the way, if you already have a site created using http://nethouse.ru, reviews and impressions will be very useful to other users.