Bookmark is a relatively new website builder that touts its software as the future of website creation and design. But with so many other options already on the market, this kind of rhetoric is getting stale.
Still, perhaps the company has found a way to even further advance and streamline the process. I signed up for an account on the service to find out.
Is @Bookmark the future of website building? Click To Tweet- Pros and Cons
- Getting Started
- Ease of Use
- Template Selection
- Blogging with Bookmark
- Bookmark Premium
- Conclusion
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Bookmark is easy to use, enabling users to build a website in just a few minutes.
- The artificial intelligence engine designs well-thought out websites.
Cons:
- Bookmark doesn’t offer users the ability to add a blog to their site yet.
- The template library is limited.
Getting Started
You can start using Bookmark immediately by signing into the service using your Google+ or Facebook account information. If you prefer to create a separate account, you can do so by providing your name, email address, and a password.
Upon logging in for the first time, you will have the option of building your own website on your own or by using Bookmark’s Artificial Intelligence Design Assistant (AIDA). If this feature sounds familiar, it’s probably because Wix has a similar one.
If you opt for the manual building mode, you will be forwarded to a page where you can select a theme for your website.
Next, you can select your site’s domain. You can choose between using a subdomain of Bookmark.com, registering a new domain, or connecting a pre-existing domain.
Finally, you can specify your website’s title and begin using the builder tool.
If you opt to use AIDA, you will be prompted to select the kind of website you want to create, the name of your site, and whether you need eCommerce functionality.
Bookmark automatically identifies business names and allows you to identify any business listings you have online to quickly cull information. If you have a Facebook page, AIDA can find all of the relevant data and integrate it into your website. If you don’t yet have an online listing, you will have to manually enter the information.
The building process completes in 30 seconds and from there you can make any edits and changes you desire. If you are truly unhappy with the final result, you can use the Recreate button to get a completely new site design.
Ease of Use
The Bookmark software is very simply laid out. Users can make all edits to their sites using a sidebar with buttons for accessing all of the software’s features.
These buttons include:
- Preview – Get a look at how your website will look across various platforms.
- Focus – Quickly add, move, or delete any sections of your web page.
- Modules – Elements that you can drag and drop anywhere on your site, including video, Facebook comments, and event registration.
- My Drive – A virtual filing system for all of the media content on your site.
- Design – Customize your website theme of the fly by changing how a page looks.
- Settings – A one-stop shop for analytics, SEO, social media, and more.
- Help – A link to an off-site help center where you can find answers to common problems.
Because it’s so refined, the service is pretty much foolproof and serves as a good option for newbies. Users can also expand their website functionality with 50 different apps available in a proprietary marketplace.
Template Selection
Bookmark has just 19 themes that you can choose from. This is a far cry from other website builders like Weebly, which offers users hundreds, but to Bookmark is trying to redefine how people use page builders.
Bookmark’s key focus is a builder that produces Smart Websites. As such, they are moving away from the common method of selecting from pre-made templates and towards a system that intelligently designs a unique site for every user.
In fact, the company plans on moving away from templates altogether in the future. Sometime soon, your only option will be to have the service make your website for you.
Blogging with Bookmark
Bookmark does not offer a proprietary blogging feature. As many of my readers probably already know, this is a big no-no in my book. I’ve espoused the necessity of a blog on a website as both a general marketing and SEO tool countless times. Without one, even the best looking website is hindered.
Still, the company does plan on adding a blogging feature to the platform in the first half of 2018. I am told that it will be unlike anything on the market and look forward to reviewing it later one. In the meantime, you can add an external link to your blog via your site’s bookmark bar.
Bookmark Premium
If you want to sign up for an upgraded plan there are two tiers you can select from.
A Professional plan costs $14.99 per month, or $11.99 per month when billed annually. It includes a free domain, free hosting, removed ads, advanced analytics, and unlimited storage, bandwidth, and pages.
Alternatively, if you want to sell products on your site, you can upgrade to the Business plan for $29.99 per month, or $24.99 per month when billed annually. It includes everything in the professional plan in addition to the ability to sell up to 1000 products without transaction fees.
Conclusion
Bookmark is a sleek website builder with some good features that can help you create a useful and attractive website. Is it the future of web design? From what I can tell, it might very well be. This is because the company is focusing more on artificial intelligence than on what we have come to know and accept as the standard.
This means that more well-known services will have to up their game, lest they fall behind. It’s an exciting time for website builders and Bookmark is clearly leading the way into a very different and exciting future.
