What Is Webflow? And Why Is It A Good Option For you?

The general idea is - to build a website you need to write codes. But there are several platforms that defy this idea. They have made it possible to develop a website without even knowing a single line of code. Such website builders became popular for obvious reasons. But even that is an old story. Now it’s time for the product of the future. And Webflow has proven to be a futuristic technology.

When you’re creating a website, your sole concern is to minimize the time between ideation and launch. Another issue with website development is that you need different tools for different purposes, such as one for graphics, one for prototyping, and one for coding. But with Webflow, you don’t need to use so many tools. Everything required to build a website is right there on the platform. So let’s get a better look at what Webflow is

What Is Webflow?

In simple terms, Webflow is a cloud-based website builder where you don’t need to use any code to develop a website. It has simplified the website development process by giving you a visual builder where you can see what you are doing in real time. It is based on three coding languages – JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. The best part of using Webflow is that you don’t need to worry about the backend of the website. You can just focus on the frontend design and the rest are taken care of. This is probably the reason why over 3.5 million businesses and teams are using Webflow today. Not only that, a survey run by W3Techs has revealed that 0.6% of the top 10 million websites are using this platform.

Webflow gives you the power to build a stunning and scalable website without having any technical know-how. The ease of use lets you focus on other important aspects of your business. The websites built on this platform are powered by Amazon Cloudfront and hosted on Fastly. It is an all-in-one SaaS platform that doesn’t require any other CMS and plugin.

A Little History Of Webflow

The company was founded in 2013 by Vlad and Sergie Magdalin and Bryant Chou. Vlad was the creator of Intuit Brainstorm before founding Webflow and Bryant is a former CEO of Vungle Inc. Webflow graduated from the startup accelerator of Y Combinator in its founding year and it raised venture funding from tech industry investors like Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, and Tim Draper. In 2019, Accel funded a Series A round of $72 million. Two years after that, Webflow again raised $140 million as Series B funding.

Main Features Of Webflow

Complete control over design

In Webflow, you can customize every design. Unlike other platforms, where designers have to write a series of codes, you can just sit back and see how your website is looking with the drag and drop items on a visual canvas. You can customize codes to change the layouts. You can even reuse CSS classes, saving your crucial time for writing codes for another design. But that’s not all. You can change each component, image, color, and text according to your need and preference.

Responsive and mobile-ready

If your website works well on desktops but not so much on mobile phone or vice versa, you will be losing big money. Responsiveness is a must these days. And Webflow comes with a fully responsive mobile ready feature. You don’t need to put any extra effort to make it look good on multiple screen sizes. Another aspect is the loading time on mobiles. Most of the mobile users have a shorter attention span. So if your website loads slowly on mobiles, users will leave your site. And this is where Webflow has made wonders. It uses Amazon’s Cloudfront so that your website gets 5X faster loading speed. With instant page loads, you have less bounce rates and higher search engine rankings too.

Powerful CMS with content-specific designs

If you have a content-only site and all of your pages look the same, you are being poor on performance. Because different content demands different designs. You need to use the right graphic items and layouts to make your content more digestible and attractive. And this is where Webflow can boast of. They provide a built-in CMS platform where you can alter the design completely as your content demands and build real empathy among your audience.

Complete eCommerce solution

If you have products or services to sell, Webflow lets you build an eCommerce store within minutes. The store will be interactive with all the animations and designs. You have the power to illustrate images, texts, and features. It offers custom checkouts for a smooth purchase experience. It has multiple payment option integrations to pick from. It is also best for order history, custom delivery options, SEO, and social link building.

Fast and secure hosting

This is where Webflow is second to none. All the Webflow websites experience world-class speed and security. Updating your website is also just a few clicks away. In addition, it comes with XML sitemaps, 301 redirects, and SSL certification. And for streamlining your marketing, you can integrate tools like Google Analytics.

Benefits of using Webflow

Better security

Webflow doesn’t need plugins. So you don’t have to worry about updates constantly. These updates are the main reason for your website’s vulnerability which increases the risk of cyber-attacks. Another thing is that Webflow comes with an SSL certification. So without the vulnerability and being fortified with SSL, your site becomes a fortress that can’t be penetrated. SSL certification is also a positive factor for SEO as Google requires a site to have this certification. You don’t have to worry about losing your data too as Webflow offers an automated backup option.

Ease of use

Webflow comes with a purely intuitive builder. Even when your website is all set and launched, you can adjust images, change texts, and add CSS items on your own. It will have absolutely no impact on the backend. This is really necessary in the sense that you might get a website built by some developer but one day you realize that you have to change an image. If you had to hire that developer again for doing this small task, it would simply be impractical. And if you went on to do it by yourself, you could get your website all tangled. But thanks to Webflow Editor, you can change the design as much as you want without the risk of crashing your site.

Clean code

Clean codes are essential for your website to run faster. Webflow provides clean codes with the codes being as small as possible with logic and understandability. The Webflow editor has a resemblance to Photoshop. The look and feel are the same. You can take a blank canvas and drop HTML components on it to generate markings. Then you can use CSS elements to do the design.

Increased productivity

As you can perform the design and development simultaneously, your website will get up and running within a short period of time. This increases your productivity as a business entity. One other thing is that you are designing the HTML and CSS directly and not the vectors and pixels. So you can skip those steps and make your website ready quickly.

Affordable pricing

Some of you might be wondering how Webflow can be affordable. But don’t jump to a conclusion right away. If you compare the features you are getting to the prices you have to pay for those features, you will see that it’s really affordable. Other platforms may offer a lesser upfront pricing but will charge you step by step to make your website usable. But Webflow has one single payment and you can get a complete website with no hassle. As you don’t need to buy themes and plugins, this reduces the cost even further.

Frequently Asked Questions about Webflow

Though Webflow has been in operation for the last 9 years, it has become so popular very recently. So it’s not uncommon for you to have some questions about Webflow in your mind. Here are some common questions with their answers.

What is Webflow used for?

Webflow is an all-in-one website builder. You can use it to build a website for any of your needs. Be it a business website, blog site, or ecommerce, Webflow can serve all just fine.

Is Webflow easy to use?

Webflow is easier than all the other website building platforms. With its intuitive builder, anyone with zero technical knowledge can use Webflow to make a stunning website.

How hard is web development?

Web development is hard if you don’t know how to write codes. There are a bunch of other things included. In short, if you have not learnt how to code, you can develop a website. But thanks to this easy website builder, anyone can become a web developer if needed.

Is Webflow a good website builder?

Honestly, it is. Webflow offers you features that no one else is offering. You are getting a perfect website that is collecting leads, converting leads into sales, giving you total security, and ease.

How long to learn Webflow?

You might be thinking this will take time but that’s not the case. Webflow website has tons of resources and how-to guides to let you learn everything easily. Moreover, the Webflow University provides courses so that you may learn about Webflow in a detailed way.

What is Webflow – Summary

Webflow is a browser-based website builder that lets you develop stunning websites with proper functionality and scalability. You don’t have to learn any code to build a website on Webflow. Right now it is the world’s most secure website building platform. The no-code movement from Webflow has made them truly the product of the future.