Weebly Explained

Weebly
Founded: (Beta)
Parent:Block, Inc.
Type:Web hosting service

Weebly, a subsidiary of Block, Inc., is an American web hosting and web development company based in San Francisco, California. Founded in 2006 by David Rusenko, Chris Fanini, and Dan Veltri, the company offers WYSIWYG website creation services and hosting. David Rusenko served as the Chief Executive Officer, Chris Fanini as the Chief Technology Officer, and Dan Veltri as the Chief Product Officer.

History

The company was established to simplify the process of building personal websites. In early 2006, Rusenko began development of Weebly in his college dorm at the Pennsylvania State University where he met Chris Fanini. By June 2006, an invitational beta version was introduced, followed by the official launch of a private beta in September 2006. Before its acquisition by Block in 2018, Weebly had raised approximately $35 million in funding from a range of investors, including angel investors and venture capital firms.[1] [2] In 2018, co-founder Dan Veltri departed from the company.

In March 2007, Weebly re-launched with its WYSIWYG editing interface,[3] "Pro" accounts and Google AdSense monetization features, as well as compatibility with Google Chrome and Safari.[4] In 2010, the company added French, Italian, Spanish, and Chinese languages[5] followed by integrated JotForm software into its services.[6] On October 1, 2015, Weebly Carbon was released to allow plugin integration among other features. In 2016, Weebly began focusing on its e-commerce offerings with the release of Weebly 4 and Weebly Promote, an integrated marketing tool.[7]

As more sellers began using the company, the company created features for doing taxes, integrations with Shippo, a Facebook Ad creator, email marketing and lead capture, abandoned cart features, the release of Mobile 5.0 to help sellers run their store from anywhere, and deep integrations with Square payment processing.

Weebly initially faced criticism for its lack of CSS/HTML editing support, but this functionality was added in 2009.

The company expanded its offices in 2015, including a 36000square feet warehouse in San Francisco.[8] Additionally, Weebly opened a Berlin office in 2015/2016 to offer European-based support and marketing.

In 2018, Weebly was acquired by Square, Inc. (now known as Block, Inc.[9]) for approximately $365 million in cash and stock.[10] At the time of the acquisition on June 4, 2018,[11] Weebly had millions of customers and over 625,000 paid subscribers. As of March 2025, Weebly is used by 0.5% of all websites.[12]

Product

Weebly's website creator operates in a web browser, using a widget-based site builder with drag-and-drop[13] [14] functionality. Storage is unlimited, but the service restricts individual file sizes.[15] It automatically generates a mobile version of each website and supports blogging and e-commerce. Sites can be in various top-level domains, including weebly.com, com, net, org, co, info, or us.

Weebly also provides Android and iPhone apps for monitoring website traffic, updating blog posts, managing e-Commerce stores, and more.[16] [17] Users can incorporate advertisements on their websites and track visitor statistics through Weebly's tracking tool or Google Analytics. The platform also offers integrated newsletter marketing features and supports multiple languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Polish, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Turkish (as of 2020).[18]

Awards and recognition

Weebly has received recognition for its contributions to web development, including being listed among TIME'S 50 Best Websites of 2007 and receiving mentions in Forbes and Business Insider.[19] [20] However, it has faced censorship in some countries and has implemented geo-blocking in several regions.

Censorship

In December 2014, the Indian government blocked Weebly in India, due to fears that ISIS propaganda was being spread through the site.[21] On December 31, the site was again made available throughout India.[22]

Weebly also applies censorship to its availability with a wide selection of geo-blocked countries where Weebly is unavailable to internet users. Site owners are unable to log in from these geo-blocked locations to administer the site just as internet users cannot reach the site. According to Weebly's official support forum, the exact list of blocked countries is secret, but the employees confirmed the blocking of Côte d'Ivoire, Iran, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, as well as much of the Middle East, West and Central Africa.[23]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Newton . Casey . August 14, 2011 . Startup Weebly takes profitable leap forward . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20250116011131/https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Startup-Weebly-takes-profitable-leap-forward-2335262.php . January 16, 2025 . San Francisco Chronicle.
  2. News: Green . Alisha . April 26, 2018 . Why Square CEO Jack Dorsey is spending $365 million to buy out these startup founders . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20250116012704/https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2018/04/26/square-acquires-weebly.html . January 16, 2025 . San Francisco Business Times.
  3. News: Weebly Launches blog Platform, Closes $650K Investment. Blake. Robinson. May 9, 2007. TechCrunch. September 24, 2012. September 30, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120930075625/http://techcrunch.com/2007/05/09/weebly-launches-blog-platform-bags-650k-investment/. live.
  4. Web site: Weebly, a Simple web page creator, launches Adsense feature and pro accounts. David. Adewumi. June 10, 2008. Venture Beat. September 24, 2012. June 23, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120623133028/http://venturebeat.com/2008/06/10/weebly-a-simple-web-page-creator-adds-a-simple-way-for-users-to-make-money/. live.
  5. Web site: Ha. Anthony. February 24, 2010. Simple website builder Weebly goes international. January 19, 2020. VentureBeat. October 24, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211024230757/https://venturebeat.com/2010/02/24/simple-website-builder-weebly-goes-international/. live.
  6. Web site: Roy, Rohit. 1 April 2016. Weebly Users Gain Access to Easy-to-use Form-Creator JotForm. Martech Advisor. 11 January 2017. 10 November 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161110115447/http://www.martechadvisor.com/news/interactive-content/weebly-users-gain-access-to-easytouse-formcreator-jotform/. live.
  7. Web site: How Weebly 4 Is Leading An E-commerce Revolution. 2018-04-25. www.forbes.com. en. 2018-01-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20180126235301/https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephanrabimov/2016/09/21/how-weebly-4-is-leading-an-e-commerce-revolution/. live.
  8. Weebly Opens New Worldwide Headquarters in San Francisco's Historic SoMa District . May 14, 2015 . . January 15, 2025 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150517071943/http://www.businesswire.com:80/news/home/20150514005246/en/Weebly-Opens-Worldwide-Headquarters-San-Francisco%E2%80%99s-Historic . May 17, 2015.
  9. News: Rooney . Kate . December 1, 2021 . Jack Dorsey's Square changes corporate name to Block . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20250105124723/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/01/square-changes-corporate-name-to-block-.html . January 5, 2025 . CNBC.
  10. News: Ha . Anthony . April 26, 2018 . Square is acquiring website builder Weebly for $365M . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20241220010639/https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/26/square-acquires-weebly/ . December 20, 2024 . January 15, 2025 . TechCrunch.
  11. Web site: Square Updates Second Quarter and Full Year 2018 Guidance. 2021-05-20. Square. en-US. 2021-05-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20210521001042/https://squareup.com/us/en/press/square-updates-second-quarter-and-full-year-2018-guidance. live.
  12. Web site: 24 Mar 2025 . Usage statistics and market share of Weebly . 24 Mar 2025 . w3techs.com . W3Techs.
  13. cite news |author=Mattis König |date=2014-07-07 |title=Weebly Testbericht |work=Weebly Testbericht |url=https://homepage-baukasten-vergleich.de/weebly-testbericht
  14. name="BBC">News: Russell . Kate . February 15, 2008 . Webscape . BBC News . live . September 24, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201109040815/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7243271.stm . November 9, 2020.
  15. Web site: Weebly, Inc . September 19, 2012 . Weebly . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120707203548/http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weebly/id511158309?mt=8 . July 7, 2012 . September 24, 2012 . iTunes Store.
  16. Web site: 12 Best Free Website Builders. 12 January 2018. 10 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180810145529/http://www.beautifullife.info/web-design/15-best-free-website-builders. live.
  17. Web site: iPhone and Android Apps. Weebly. 27 April 2014. 26 April 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140426231309/http://www.weebly.com/features/#!/mobile-apps. live.
  18. Web site: Company Info. Weebly. January 19, 2020. March 27, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190327002309/http://press-preview.weebly.com/company-info.html. live.
  19. News: Mary Murray Buner . July 8, 2007 . 50 Best Websites 2007 . TIME Specials . dead . September 12, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070712093911/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1633488_1633608_1633636,00.html . July 12, 2007.
  20. Web site: 30 Under 30:Social/Mobile. Forbes. 2011. January 18, 2020. February 2, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190202234530/https://www.forbes.com/pictures/mmj45ifhm/david-rusenko-ceo-weebly-26/. live.
  21. Web site: Vimeo, DailyMotion, Pastebin Among Sites Blocked In India For 'Anti-India' Content From ISIS. Jeff. Stone. International Business Times. 31 December 2014 . 2015-01-03. 2015-01-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20150102220702/http://www.ibtimes.com/vimeo-dailymotion-pastebin-among-sites-blocked-india-anti-india-content-isis-1770814. live.
  22. News: Indian government unblocks Vimeo, Dailymotion, 2 other websites. Ravi. Sharma. The Times of India. January 2, 2015. January 3, 2015. February 8, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150208102100/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Indian-government-unblocks-Vimeo-Dailymotion-2-other-websites/articleshow/45731251.cms. live.
  23. Web site: Weebly doesn't work in Russia. 15 April 2019 .

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