When making the decision to build a business online, it’s imperative that you go with a company that has your best interests at heart.
It would also be in your best interest to go with a website builder that gives you the most bang for your buck and don’t charge you extra for features that should come included with your purchase.
If you have been online for any amount of time then you’ve probably seen Sitey advertised as the best way to build a website in 2017.
In the following review, I’ll be giving you an inside look at this web builder and showing you everything that’s available to you if you would decide to become a member.
Is Sitey your all in one solution for building a website or are there better options out there?
I’ll be answering these questions and so much more so let’s get started OK?
What Is Sitey?
This is a website building platform that offers a wide variety of services that pertain to building websites, SEO, and many other aspects of building a business online.
If you’re on the outside looking in, this may seem like the perfect place for bloggers, online business owners, and newbies to get started building their first website.
But Is It Really?
As I started doing my research on this company, I was able to uncover many things that I think you should be aware of before you even think about using any of their products or services.
Their web building platform is pretty user friendly and comes with a variety of templates to choose from along with many added features (Offered as an upsell of course) to enhance your website building experience and take things to the next level.
Take a look below at the member’s area to get a better idea of what I’m talking about!!
What Are Some Of The Advantages & Disadvantages Of Building A Site With Sitey?
As I continued researching this company, I was able to find a few advantages to building a site with this company but unfortunately the bad seemed to outweigh the good.
Take a look at what I discovered below!
Advantages
- Hundreds of customizable templates to choose from
- Simple point & click website editor
- User friendly interface
Disadvantages
- Free version comes with ads which you’ll need to pay extra to remove
- Page builder can be quite confusing if you’re a newbie who’s just getting started
- You’ll need to pay extra for features that should be included
- Customer service is super slow and horrendous, to say the least
- Uses the subdomain sitey.me which isn’t very search engine friendly
- No actual training on how to build a website (Unless you wanna fork over more cash)
There were also many other red flags that were raised as I continued researching this company that I feel obligated to share with you guys.
They Go By Multiple Names- I found this to be pretty sketchy and deceptive, to say the least. This is a common practice that many scam sites use as a way to lure you in a nickel and dime you for everything they possibly can.
Take a look at a few other names that they also go by below:
- Sitebuilder.com
- Websitebuilder.com
- Siteblog.com
Also, I found that the same dude that runs sitey is also in charge of site blog.
Coincidence?
I think not!!
Hidden charges- What you see isn’t always exactly what you get as I had many additional boxes ticked that if I wasn’t paying attention, I could have ended up paying a whole lot more than I originally planned on.
When checking out you need to be extremely careful that they don’t try and sneak add-ons that you don’t really need in an attempt to squeeze more money out of you.
Take a look below at a customer who experienced this many times and is quite upset with their experience with this company!!
Plans & Pricing
There are currently 4 membership options available to you when building a site with this company and I’ll be listing these for you guys below.
They offer a free membership but you’ll be limited to 5 web pages, 50 MB of storage, and 1 GB bandwidth.
They also offer a monthly, yearly, and bi-yearly payment plan as well as many, many upgrades and extra features to enhance your website.
You can snag their starter membership for only $11.98/month but as you can see above, you still don’t have access to a whole lot of features.
Their PRO plan which happens to be their most popular plan will set you back $13.83/month.
This unlocks their mobile friendly feature and you’ll also gain access to SEO help as well.
Their e-commerce plan which happens to be their most expensive plan comes with all the available features you see above for a monthly fee of $24.60.
I think it’s also important to point out the fact that unless you’re an e-commerce member then you might as well forget about any kind of help and support.
Chances are that if you’re first getting started online you’re going to have many questions and you’re likely going to need some kind of direction.
Right?
I know I had several questions when I first started out online and I needed lots of direction.
This is just plain wrong and anyone who does this is simply using the customer as a financial tool.
They could really care less if you see any kind of success and it’s quite obvious they’re only out to take your money.
They claim that you can save up to 70% if you decide to go with their yearly or bi-yearly plans but this seems to be nothing more than another marketing tactic used to make you think you’re saving money.
As you can see above, if you aren’t good at math then you may end up wondering just exactly how much you’ll end up paying for a yearly or bi-yearly subscription.
Allow me to break this down for you and clear up any confusion you may have about this below.
Their 1-year membership will end up costing you $71.93 and their bi-yearly package comes out to $132. 84.
Broken down this comes out to $66.42 per year at this rate.
Are There Any Upsells?
Another thing that I found really annoying with the insane amount of add-ons that you’ll need to pay extra for. Many of these features are either not necessary or can be obtained for free elsewhere.
$49/ year- Search Engine Submission- This is a free service offered by both Google (Search console, formally known as GWT) and Yahoo that takes only a few minutes to setup.
Why the heck should you have to pay extra for this?
You shouldn’t and this is plain WRONG if you ask me!!
$49/ year- Social Media Marketing- This is yet another standard service that you shouldn’t need to pay extra for. This involve nothing more than creating a social
This involves nothing more than creating a facebook or twitter business page and posting to it on a regular basis.
Who doesn’t know how to do this already?
$23.40/ year- Website Speed- Yet again there are many other web builders out there where this is a standard feature that comes included in your membership when you join.
$19.99/year- Restore & Backup Service- Anyone who is familiar with WordPress would know that this is yet another standard feature that comes included.
Within the WP dashboard, you can access this by navigating to tools<export.
$349- Website Design Service- If you aren’t that tech savvy and you would rather have someone else build design, and setup a site for you then you could possibly benefit from this service.
However, what are you going to gain by having someone else do all the work for you?
To be honest with you guys, I would much rather learn how to build a website myself and learn how to manage it without having to rely on someone else.
That’s just me tho!!
$9.95/ year- Domain Privacy- This is a common feature that most big name domain registrars (Godaddy& Namecheap) charge extra for but it should be included with your domain purchase.
If you don’t want your personal information on display for the whole world to see then it’s absolutely vital that you have this feature turned on.
$29.95/ year- Website Protection- With all the hackers and spammers out there in the online world, you’re going to need all the protection that you can get.
Sitey prides themselves on charging extra for features that they know you can’t live without.
If you want your website safe from hackers, spammers, and thieves you’re going to need this!!
$47.40/ year -Top Website Listing- This has got to be one of the most obvious scams here. I remember falling for this line of bull several times when I first got started online.
There is NO NEED to pay for this type of service as your website will naturally get listed in the top directories as you gain authority and your website get’s more established.
$10/month- Email Marketing Campaign- Building an email list is crucial if you wanna have any kind of long term success online.
However, it’s not something you should be concerned with when you’re first starting out.
To get a visual of everything I just covered, take a look at the screenshot I’ve captured for you guys below!!
If you were to opt-in and add all of these things to your site you would be looking at close to $250 with most of these fees being either a monthly or yearly recurring fee.
This isn’t including the website design service or your membership fee that you’ll need to pay each month just to maintain your sites.
Let’s See How Sitey Stacks Up To My #1 Web Builder Below!!
My Final Thoughts
When making the decision to build a website it’s imperative that you steer clear of web builders like Sitey that nickel and dime you every time you turn around.
Due to many of the other reviews I’ve read about this company and my own personal experience, I think it’s safe to say that the main objective of this web builder is to squeeze as much money out of you as they possibly can and leave you hi and dry.
This is about as borderline scam as it gets and it would be in your best interest to avoid everything this web builder has to offer you and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction
Building a website should be a fun and rewarding experience and you shouldn’t have to break open your piggy bank or reach into your life saving to get started.
The place that has shown me how to build this very website that you’re on at this very second and many others is Wealthy Affiliate.
Not only do they provide you with all the necessary features needed to build a website, they also provide you with the training and tools to do so.
This is something that other website builders just don’t have and this is what sets WA apart from all these other companies.
If you have ever shown any kind of interest in building websites and learning how to earn money from them then you should definitely check them out and see what they can do for you.
They make it super affordable to get started by offering their free starter membership where you can test drive everything they have to offer you without handing over your credit card.
Other than that, I really hope this review has opened your eyes and given you the information you were looking for about this company.
Is there anything I left out?
Do you have any additional questions that I failed to answer above?
Please feel free to leave them for me in the comments below and I would be more than happy to answer them for you.
Also, do you have a personal experience that you would like to share with other people?
I would love to hear all about it below!!
Until Next Time
~Scott~
Paul
Dear Scott,
That’s a very thorough review on Sitey and you have really covered all bases. I strongly believe your article will help people in their decision making.
About a year ago I had run into this system and at the time it sounded like a great opportunity so I invested in it.
Needless to say, this turned out to be a poor decision on my part and I regretted it shortly afterward. Luckily I was able to recover some of my investment but I had to end up eating the rest of my investment and I have used this as a learning experience.
I wish I would have found your review before I invested my hard earned money into this and I hope that other people are able to find your review before they fall victim to this scheme.
Thanks for the useful information I will come back to your website to learn more information. Keep up the great work. Wishing you great success!
Your Friend,
Paul
Scott Newkirk
Hey Paul,
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your personal experience that you’ve had with this system with everyone here today. I’m sorry to hear that you was 1 of the many victims that lost money to this program but I’m glad you were able to recover at least some of your money back.
It’s a shame that there are systems out there like sitey that nickel and dime you for just about everything so they can drain as much money out of you as they can just to make a living online.
Luckily there are places out there like Wealthy Affiliate that includes everything you need to get started building a website with no additional fees or ridiculous upsells like you find at Sitey.
I wish that you had found my review as well before you became another victim of this scheme and I can only hope that other people find my review and learn the truth about this system before they waste any of their hard earned money on this system.
Once again I really want to thank you for dropping by today Paul and sharing your personal experience with this system and I wish you the best of luck in anything and everything you do.
Cheers
~Your Friend, Scott~
Ed
Scott,
Very thorough review of Sitey with its pros and many cons.
It is surprising, or perhaps not, that there are so many of these scams out there.
Your site is a great time-saving way of researching the many so called website builders with their add-on, bait-and-switch, and total take your money and run scams.
It takes a lot of time and effort to ensure that you get what you pay for.
WA, on the other hand, is completely honest and upfront in advertising what they offer.
In my honest opinion, I feel that the amount of training, tools, and help and support offered with their free membership blows anything that you get with Sitey out of the water.
I really like how you have taken the time and effort to compare these 2 web builders and I think it’s quite obvious who the winner is here.
Thanks for the great insights.
Ed
Scott Newkirk
Hi Ed,
I’m glad that this review has helped you out and pointed out the many flaws that come with this website builder.
Comparing these 2 web builders was actully a no brainer and I do have to agree with you that the starter membership available at WA blows anything out of the water that Sitey has to offer.
Thanks for dropping by and chiming in with your 2 cents Ed.
I really appreciate it.
~Scott~
Jack Taylor
Hi Scott,
Before I found WA, I came across Sitey and unfortunately I allowed myself to get sucked in and I invested in many of the add ons that you’ve listed above.
It’s funny that you should mention it, but I wasn’t paying attention when checking out and I ended up getting charged for many other upgrades that I didn’t agree to.
I had a hell of a time getting my money refunded but after 2 weeks of going back and forth with their lousy support team, they refunded most of my money.
After that I decided to cut my losses with them and be done with them for good.
Thankfully I was able to find WA shortly after this and they were a life saver. Instead of being nickled and dimed everytime I turned around, I was able to find everything I needed to build a website in 1 place and only pay 1 fee to access everything.
What a breath of fresh air this was for me!!
I wish I would have come across your review earlier and avoided the whole mess with this lousy company.
Thanks for taking the time to share this information with everyone else and hopefully other people will find your review beforehand and they can avoid falling victim to this website builder. (If you wanna call them that)
Jack
Scott Newkirk
I’m sorry to hear that you let yourself get sucked into Sitey and that you invested in many of these add ons Jack.
I’m glad that I was paying attention when I was checking out or I would have had to go through the same nightmare that you had to go through.
I’m glad that you were eventually able to get your money refunded and I think It was in your best interest to cut your losses here and move on to bigger and better things.
It’s great to hear that you were able to find Wealthy Affiliate shortly after all of this and I have got to agree that they truly are a life saver.
I wish that you would have found my review beforehand so that you could have avoided this entire experience.
You are very welcome Jack and hopefully I can save other people from falling victim to this and lead them in the right direction.
I also want to thank you for stopping by and sharing your personal experience that you’ve had with Sitey with everyone here today.
It’s very much appreciated!!
~Scott~