Zoho Sites is a great option if you are looking to build a non-commerce website for a small to medium-sized business using Zoho. In the video tutorial above, we provide a brief overview of Zoho Sites. Below are the various keypoints and highlights discussed in the video tutorial, broken down by section.
Application Overview
- Pages: This feature allows you to organize and manage various landing pages effectively. You can add new pages and structure them into directories, making it easier to maintain a well-organized website.
- Files: Zoho Sites makes it simple to upload and manage all the necessary files and media assets, ensuring they are easily accessible when building or updating your website.
- Blog: Creating and managing blog posts is streamlined with Zoho Sites. You can use provided templates, categorize your posts, and utilize built-in SEO features to optimize your content for search engines.
- Forms: The built-in form builder is intuitive, allowing you to create contact forms. If you have Zoho Forms, we recommend using them over the built-in forms.
- SubSites: This feature is particularly useful for businesses operating in multiple regions or languages. You can create sub-sites tailored to different audiences, ensuring a localized and relevant user experience.
- Manage
- Code Snippets: Manage and reuse code snippets across your site, which is helpful for embedding custom functionalities without needing to repeatedly input code manually.
- Photo Albums: Organize and manage photo albums efficiently, making it easy to include visual content on your landing pages.
- Dynamic Content: If you use Zoho Creator or other dynamic content sources, you can embed this content directly into your website.
- Comments: Control and manage comments on your website, with options to enable or disable them as needed.
- Fonts: Access a variety of fonts and add custom fonts if you subscribe to higher plans, allowing you to maintain brand consistency.
- Trash: View and permanently delete items that have been trashed, providing a safety net for accidentally deleted content.
- Customization
- Templates: Create and use templates for quick landing page creation, ensuring consistency and saving time.
- Visual Editor: Customize your website using a powerful visual page builder, which simplifies the design process without requiring coding knowledge.
- Code: Add custom CSS, as well as header and footer codes, to customize the look and functionality of your entire site or specific pages.
- Configuration: This section includes numerous “settings” for your website including Site Options, Blog Preferences, Message Bar, Menus, Region, Domain & SSL, SEO, and Social
- Roles and Permissions: Manage user access and permissions, particularly useful for sites with a member portal.
- Contributors: Add and manage contributors, setting roles and permissions to control who can edit and view certain pages.
- Access Control: Set access levels for your entire site or specific pages, including options for password protection.
- Reports: Access built-in reports to track page visits, traffic sources, and other key metrics.
- SEO Reports: Use the built-in SEO tool to get detailed insights and recommendations for optimizing your landing pages.
2. Page Settings Overview
Zoho Sites offers a flexible way to structure your pages using directories and categories, making it easy to organize content into logical groups. For example, you can create a directory for ‘Contact Us’ pages that includes team member profiles and contact forms. Within the page settings, you can edit critical information such as page names, URLs, and SEO settings. This includes specifying the page title and description for search engine results, adding keywords, and setting crawling and sitemap preferences to control how search engines index your pages.
You also have control over how frequently search engines crawl your pages, which is crucial for regularly updated content, ensuring your latest updates are always indexed. Additionally, you can manage various elements like hero banners, sidebars, and social media thumbnails, and add specific header or footer code to individual pages if needed. The version control feature allows you to view and revert to previous versions of your pages, making it useful for restoring older versions in case of errors or reviewing changes over time.
3. Visual Page Builder
The visual editor in Zoho Sites is a robust tool that simplifies website customization, accessible from any page for direct content editing. The builder allows you to add and manage sections, which are the main building blocks of your pages. Within these sections, you can add columns and elements like headers, text, images, buttons, and more. This drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy to design pages without needing to write code.
For site-wide adjustments, the visual editor provides access to global settings where you can define color schemes, header styles, and footer options, ensuring a consistent look and feel across your entire website. Additionally, the visual editor offers numerous customization options, such as adding animations, custom CSS, and setting visibility rules for different devices (desktop vs. mobile). These features allow you to create a responsive and visually appealing website tailored to your audience’s needs.
Recognizing the importance of mobile-friendly websites, Zoho Sites allows you to optimize your content for mobile devices. You can hide or modify sections specifically for mobile views to ensure a seamless user experience across all devices.
4. Integrations
Zoho Sites integrates seamlessly with several other Zoho applications and external tools:
- Google Cloud Translate: This integration enables translation services on your website, making it accessible to a global audience.
- Zoho SalesIQ Chatbot: Add a live chat feature to your site, enhancing customer support and engagement.
- PageSense: Utilize heatmaps and analytics to gain insights into user behavior, helping you make data-driven decisions to improve your site.
- Marketing Automation: Connect with Zoho’s marketing tools to streamline your marketing efforts and track interactions.
- CRM: Integrate your member portal with Zoho CRM to manage member information effectively and personalize user experiences.
- Creator: Embed dynamic content from Zoho Creator or other sources, making your site more interactive and engaging.
5. Pricing and Plans
Competitive Pricing: Zoho Sites offers competitive pricing with various plans to suit different needs:
- Starter Plan: For $5 per month, you can create a basic website with up to five pages. This plan includes essential features and is ideal for small businesses or personal projects.
- Pro Plan: This plan offers more advanced features and higher limits, making it suitable for larger businesses or those with more complex needs. Despite the additional features, the pricing remains competitive compared to other hosting solutions like WordPress.
Whether you are just starting out or looking to enhance your existing online presence, Zoho Sites offers scalable options to meet your needs.
