A primary website builder with very little flexibility.

The Network Solutions website builder is a primary drag-and-drop builder that lets you get online in minutes. It comes with more than 150 professionally designed templates, a free domain, and cheap introductory pricing. However, the site editor is limited in scope, and the regular pricing can be prohibitively expensive. We think competing website builders offer much more for your money, even if you only need a primary site.

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Pros

+ More than 150 well-designed templates

+ Very easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor

+ Marketing tools available

Cons

- Very expensive after introductory pricing

- Limited design flexibility

What Are Network Solutions?

Network Solutions was founded in 1979 as the world’s first domain registrar. The company has survived considerable changes in the internet landscape over the past 40 years and today offers web hosting, domain services, and a simple website builder.

The Network Solutions website builder is pretty no-frills but does a decent job for basic websites. However, we wouldn’t recommend this builder for most users because of the expensive pricing structure. For the money, alternative site builders like GoDaddy, WordPress.com, and iPage offer more in-depth design and marketing tools.

Using Network Solutions

One of the first issues we encountered with Network Solutions was the opaque pricing structure. The website only displays the introductory pricing for the first month. To find the regular pricing, you must dig through Network Solutions’ terms of service.

Once we got into the drag-and-drop editor, we found the interface easy to use. Network Solutions uses a content editing panel similar to those other site builders offer. Adding and moving content is intuitive, and, after designing a site, we could publish in just a click.

Network Solutions Features and Tools

Free Domain

All Network Solutions website builder plans include a free domain for one year. That’s an excellent deal, although it’s worth noting that most other builders also offer this.

Professional Design Service

If you don’t want to spend time building your own website, you can pay developers from Network Solutions to do it for you. The company will create a website to your specifications, and then you’ll have access to the standard Network Solutions site builder to make changes and maintain your site over time.

How to Create a Website with Network Solutions

The first step in creating a website with Network Solutions is to choose a template. The platform offers more than 150 professionally designed templates with categories for the most common types of businesses. In fact, the templates were one of our favorite things about the Network Solutions builder. The only downside is that you’ll need to restart your design from scratch if you want to change templates later.

Once you select a template, you’ll be taken to the drag-and-drop site editor. This is intuitive to use, with a panel of content elements you can drag onto your site. Content elements include basics like text boxes, images, videos, forms, and buttons, as well as more advanced aspects like HTML snippets and image sliders. You can also modify your template’s fonts and background colors, although there aren’t many customization options available.

Notably, Network Solutions’ builder also offers pre-designed blocks. These are full-width panels that contain multiple content elements. Unions provide a simple way to design your site without arranging individual content elements, so they’re an excellent option for first-time designers.

Network Solutions doesn’t have a mobile editing interface, but all sites are mobile responsive. As you build your site, you can easily preview how it will look on a desktop, tablet, or mobile device.

Overall, building a simple site with Network Solutions was pretty smooth. The site builder doesn’t offer many customization options, but it’s easy to use, and the availability of premade blocks is a huge plus for beginners. However, if you want to build a more complex site, the editor may not provide the necessary flexibility.

Adding Multimedia to Your Network Solutions Website

Network Solutions lets you add photos and videos directly to your website. You can also embed audio files, PDFs, and other types of files using the HTML code snippet content element. Adding files is easy, although you can only upload one image at a time when creating galleries. Helpfully, the builder also has access to over 2 million free stock images from Unsplash. Overall, the multimedia functions on offer are average but sufficient.

Marketing Functionality with Network Solutions Websites

Network Solutions doesn’t offer a ton of marketing features. There are no email marketing tools, for example. You can create a blog, but there are no options to schedule posts or cross-post to social media. Network Solutions does offer social media icons so you can link to your social media accounts, but there’s no in-depth integration with Facebook or Instagram.

SEO Functionality & Add-Ons with Network Solutions Websites

Your site’s SEO functionality depends on which Network Solutions plan you choose. The basic Website Builder plan lets you add a meta title and description to each page but doesn’t offer much else. However, if you upgrade to the Website and Online Marketing plan, Network Solutions will automatically list your site across search engines and local directories like Yellow Pages, Yelp, and more.

Network Solutions doesn’t offer its own built-in traffic analytics, but you can easily integrate Google Analytics.

Ecommerce

Network Solutions lets you sell up to 500 products with its top-tier Website, Marketing, and Store plan. The e-commerce package supports digital downloads, cross-selling on Facebook, and integration with PayPal for processing payments.

The catch is that Network Solutions doesn’t provide many advanced tools for inventory management or shipping. So, this platform might work alright for small businesses with only a few products, but it probably won’t be robust enough to keep up as your online business grows.

How Much Does Network Solutions Cost?

The price of the Network Solutions website builder is the main reason we don’t recommend this platform. It’s prohibitively expensive, especially considering the lack of advanced tools. Worse, Network Solutions isn’t transparent about how much it costs after the first month. We had to dig through the company’s terms of service to find the regular subscription rates for the website builder.

Network Solutions offers 3 plans: Website Builder, Website and Online Marketing, and Website, Marketing and Store. All plans include access to the builder and a free domain for one year. The Online Marketing plan adds the SEO features described above, while the Website, Marketing, and Store plan lets you sell up to 500 products.

Network Solutions doesn’t offer a free trial, but you can get a refund if you cancel within the first 30 days.

Network Solutions Help and Support

Network Solutions offers customer support by phone, email, and live chat. Phone support is available from 7AM-12AM (ET) 7 days a week, while live chat is available from 8AM-11PM Monday-Friday.

The company also has an online knowledge base, although we had to navigate several links to find it. Once you find it, however, the tutorials are pretty easy to follow and include plenty of screenshots.

Network Solutions vs. GoDaddy

We think GoDaddy offers much more bang than Network Solutions, especially if you’re building a small business website. GoDaddy offers email marketing and tools for booking appointments online, as well as more advanced traffic analytics. 

Network Solutions vs. WordPress.com

WordPress.com is an excellent alternative to Network Solutions for building a blog. With WordPress.com, you can schedule and share posts across social media channels. You can also monetize your blog with ads, which isn’t possible using Network Solutions.

Network Solutions vs. iPage

The iPage website builder is similar to the Network Solutions builder but is much cheaper. SEO tools come standard at iPage, and the builder is free with any iPage hosting plan. We think iPage offers a better value for basic websites than Network Solutions.

Final Thought

Network Solutions is a decent website builder for creating primary sites. While it doesn’t offer as much flexibility as other builders, the templates are well-designed, and the site editor is straightforward. We especially like pre-designed content blocks, which allow you to create a custom site in minutes.

However, we don’t think Network Solutions justifies its price. This website builder is much more expensive than competing builders and doesn’t offer many extra features. In fact, running an online store with Network Solutions is prohibitively costly and lacks essential tools for growing your business. Overall, we’d recommend avoiding the Network Solutions website builder in favor of alternatives like GoDaddy, WordPress.com, or iPage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Network Solutions Website Builder good?

The Network Solutions website builder offers an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface with plenty of content elements. However, it’s not very flexible, and the platform is much more expensive than competing site builders.

What is a Network Solutions website builder?

The Network Solutions website builder is drag-and-drop site building software. You can create an essential website in minutes using more than 150 templates.

How do I use Network Solutions website builder?

The Network Solutions website builder comes with more than 150 templates to choose from. Once you pick a template, you can customize it using the drag-and-drop site editor. You can rearrange text and images, add social media buttons and a contact form, and more.