Weebly is a drag and drop website building platform. Necessary elements such as text, image, video, HTML code and much more that are required to build a webpage can be dragged and dropped to the page, wherever required. Dragging and dropping the elements on a page is much easier than the classical methods of website designing.
But the problem is: the features of a free Weebly site are very limited. You have no control over your content,you can't have your own SSL certificate (As per recent change on Weebly interface, you can associate an SSL with your Weebly free blog too), you can't use your own favicon image, a large Weebly ad is displayed in the footer, and much more. So, in order to grasp the full advantage of Weebly, you have to upgrade your site to the Weebly pro. Upgrading to Pro may not be suitable for someone while it may not be possible for others. But, if you are launching a small blog to express your own thought rather than the intention of monetizing or with the intention of some massive purpose, upgrading to Weebly pro is not mandatory. You can achieve enough of the free Weebly site by utilizing proper tips and tricks.
Also read: Everything you need to know about Blogger
I use different techniques to optimize my Weebly blog. Here I have collected some of the 'must use' tips to make your Weebly free site/blog look like Weebly premium. I hope you will find these tips helpful for setting up your Weebly free site.
This can be done with own custom social icons too, but it is a little bit harder as it requires some designing and HTML skills. The best method to add social sharing buttons for Weebly is to rely on trusted third party services. The trusted third party services include AddThis, ShareThis, and AddToAny. But I personally prefer Addthis rather than other services.
To set up the service, sign in to AddThis. Choose your design and customize it according to your desire. Copy the generated code and paste it into your site's HTML (before closing of <body> tag i.e. before </body>). Remember! To make the buttons visible in every post, you have to add "Embed Code" element in each of the posts and copy the AddThis code inside the rectangle.
Pros
1. You don't need to have HTML knowledge. Just customize your icons through AddThis dashboard and change takes place automatically on your site. The only thing you have to do is to place the JavaScript on your site.
2. Mobile responsive social sharing buttons.
3. Plenty of social media included.
4. Thank you message for sharing posts.
5. Weekly analytics right into your email inbox.
6. Free of cost.
Cons
1. AddThis logo is displayed in the footer of the floating window if you choose to show more social share icons (+). This is not too much ruining but if you don't want to, select required social media only and don't select 'more (+)' icon.
2. Weekly analytics are not truth-worthy as analytics are based on clicks made on the share icons. If someone clicks on the share button by a mistake (but not share), analytics shows 1 share for that click too.
The best solution to this problem is to depend on the third-party service provider. There are many sites which provide a related post element for blogs, but personally, I prefer AddThis again. AddThis provides both social sharing icons and related post element. So, you can handle multiple services from one account.
How to add related post widget to Weebly?
The process is similar to adding social share icons. Go to AddThis > Dashboard > Tools > Add a New Tool > Related Posts > Select Design > Design > Get Code. Copy and paste the generated code into your Weebly site or blog where needed.
To activate Google Analytics, Sign up using this link. If you already have a Google account, you can sign in from that account as well. Register your site with Google Analytics and get the Google Analytics Code. Getting your tracking code is very easy. Go to Dashboard > Admin > Property (Make sure your Weebly site is selected on Property option) > Tracking Info > Tracking Code. Neglect the tracking ID, copy the script (Global Site Tag).
Now sign in to your Weebly account. Go to setting option. Under SEO settings, you have an option to add Google Analytics (header tag). Paste the Google Analytics JavaScript code into it and finally save. That's it.
The favicon of all the Weebly free site is already the favicon of Weebly itself. So you are not allowed to upload your own favicon to your website. But if you perform a trick in right way, you can have your own favicon displayed on your site.
For this, Design a favicon for your blog or website from your PC. You can also do it with other third-party service providers. Save/download your favicon to your computer.
The next step is to upload your favicon to some trusted image hosting providers or you can upload it to somewhere between your Weebly posts or pages. Make sure the placement of favicon inside your blog posts doesn't disturb the user experience. Now, copy the URL of your favicon from your hosting provider or from within your site.
Go to Weebly Dashboard > Setting > SEO > Header tag and paste the following code:
But the problem is: the features of a free Weebly site are very limited. You have no control over your content,
Also read: Everything you need to know about Blogger
I use different techniques to optimize my Weebly blog. Here I have collected some of the 'must use' tips to make your Weebly free site/blog look like Weebly premium. I hope you will find these tips helpful for setting up your Weebly free site.
Table of Contents
1. Add Social Sharing buttons
The social sharing button is necessarily a 'must have' element for a blog. It helps visitors to share the posts easily from within the blog rather than pasting a URL to social media. Also, it helps in the increment in website traffic and engagement. Weebly, by default, has only two social sharing buttons, for Twitter and Facebook sharing. But if you want to make your posts shareable through other many dominant social media, there is no option for it. So it's your own duty to add more social sharing options on your website.This can be done with own custom social icons too, but it is a little bit harder as it requires some designing and HTML skills. The best method to add social sharing buttons for Weebly is to rely on trusted third party services. The trusted third party services include AddThis, ShareThis, and AddToAny. But I personally prefer Addthis rather than other services.
To set up the service, sign in to AddThis. Choose your design and customize it according to your desire. Copy the generated code and paste it into your site's HTML (before closing of <body> tag i.e. before </body>). Remember! To make the buttons visible in every post, you have to add "Embed Code" element in each of the posts and copy the AddThis code inside the rectangle.
Pros
1. You don't need to have HTML knowledge. Just customize your icons through AddThis dashboard and change takes place automatically on your site. The only thing you have to do is to place the JavaScript on your site.
2. Mobile responsive social sharing buttons.
3. Plenty of social media included.
4. Thank you message for sharing posts.
5. Weekly analytics right into your email inbox.
6. Free of cost.
Cons
1. AddThis logo is displayed in the footer of the floating window if you choose to show more social share icons (+). This is not too much ruining but if you don't want to, select required social media only and don't select 'more (+)' icon.
2. Weekly analytics are not truth-worthy as analytics are based on clicks made on the share icons. If someone clicks on the share button by a mistake (but not share), analytics shows 1 share for that click too.
2. Add Related post widget
Related post is another important element for Weebly site. I have used most of the themes provided by Weebly, but none of them had related post feature. Also, there is no option to add the related post at Weebly dashboard.The best solution to this problem is to depend on the third-party service provider. There are many sites which provide a related post element for blogs, but personally, I prefer AddThis again. AddThis provides both social sharing icons and related post element. So, you can handle multiple services from one account.
How to add related post widget to Weebly?
The process is similar to adding social share icons. Go to AddThis > Dashboard > Tools > Add a New Tool > Related Posts > Select Design > Design > Get Code. Copy and paste the generated code into your Weebly site or blog where needed.
3. Add Google Analytics code
If you are really serious about blogging, you might be curious about the activity of visitors in your blog. Google Analytics provides several features such as bounce rate, viral posts, live traffic and much more. So, you can estimate friendliness of your blog with the blog visitors.To activate Google Analytics, Sign up using this link. If you already have a Google account, you can sign in from that account as well. Register your site with Google Analytics and get the Google Analytics Code. Getting your tracking code is very easy. Go to Dashboard > Admin > Property (Make sure your Weebly site is selected on Property option) > Tracking Info > Tracking Code. Neglect the tracking ID, copy the script (Global Site Tag).
Now sign in to your Weebly account. Go to setting option. Under SEO settings, you have an option to add Google Analytics (header tag). Paste the Google Analytics JavaScript code into it and finally save. That's it.
4. Upload your own Favicon
Unlike Blogger, Weebly doesn't let its user use a custom favicon unless the free site is upgraded to Weebly premium. For those who are unfamiliar with the favicon, a favicon is a small square image which is displayed at the top of the browser along with a title while browsing a website.The favicon of all the Weebly free site is already the favicon of Weebly itself. So you are not allowed to upload your own favicon to your website. But if you perform a trick in right way, you can have your own favicon displayed on your site.
For this, Design a favicon for your blog or website from your PC. You can also do it with other third-party service providers. Save/download your favicon to your computer.
The next step is to upload your favicon to some trusted image hosting providers or you can upload it to somewhere between your Weebly posts or pages. Make sure the placement of favicon inside your blog posts doesn't disturb the user experience. Now, copy the URL of your favicon from your hosting provider or from within your site.
Go to Weebly Dashboard > Setting > SEO > Header tag and paste the following code:
<a img='YOUR FAVICON URL' link rel= 'shortcut icon'>
Replace YOUR FAVICON URL with your favicon's URL and save. Now you can see your favicon displayed in your browser. If the favicon doesn't show up, try clearing your web browser's cache and restart the browser and visit your site again. That's what you wanted.5. Categorize your Weebly blog posts
Notice: As per Weebly's latest update, category page refers to the category of the products not the category of the blog posts. This guide helps you to set up categorized navigation on Weebly by using the link of a category.
I have already written a post about categorizing the blog posts on Blogger. Categorizing the Weebly blog posts is not a difficult task. You can easily do this by adding a category to each post you create. To do this, click on 'Post Options' button at the lower left of the post editor. Now, you may see the Category option there. Click on the + button and add the category name of your post on which you are working and finally, click 'Publish'. Now you have successfully added a category to your post. The next step is to add a category on the navigation menu. Go to Pages option on the top. Select the + icon. You have multiple options to add on to the navigation bar. To add a category, select 'External Page'. Put the appropriate page name and under external link option, paste this link:
I have already written a post about categorizing the blog posts on Blogger. Categorizing the Weebly blog posts is not a difficult task. You can easily do this by adding a category to each post you create. To do this, click on 'Post Options' button at the lower left of the post editor. Now, you may see the Category option there. Click on the + button and add the category name of your post on which you are working and finally, click 'Publish'. Now you have successfully added a category to your post. The next step is to add a category on the navigation menu. Go to Pages option on the top. Select the + icon. You have multiple options to add on to the navigation bar. To add a category, select 'External Page'. Put the appropriate page name and under external link option, paste this link:
http://yourblogdomain.weebly.com/home/category/your category
Don't forget to replace yourblogdomain with your blog domain and your category with your category name (Not URL) that you have previously added to the posts. Select 'Open link in same tab' and if you want to show up the category in search engine, don't tick on 'Hide from Search Engines' option. Finally, click save. See if it works!
These were simple guides for getting most of the free Weebly blog. If you have similar tips, don't forget to mention them in the comment section below. I will be glad to receive your valuable feedback.
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