it’seeze Websites Review

We’re won over by it’seeze websites, awarding it 4 out of 5 stars overall, thanks to good-looking functional websites. Its score has slipped slightly from 4.5 stars in our last review, owing to price increases which make it a little less competitive.

Sites are easy for your customers to navigate, but also for you to look after – with a simple website editor available for your use after the initial build. A drawback is the company’s local franchise network means there’s not always great centralised support available, and there’s not a direct sales team to answer simple questions over the phone.

Read on to delve into the details of spend, services, support, SEO and more. You can also consider other web design companies by reading our guide.

it’seeze price plans

it’seeze products and services: what you get for your money

Price packages range from around £35 to £55 per monthly plus upfront fees ranging from £350. Despite the monthly payments seeming quite low, the upfront payments make it clear that it’seeze absolutely locks you into a long-term financial commitment. Signing up means agreeing to an ongoing investment for the lifetime of your website, so be prepared to budget for years rather than months.

While it’seeze is a more expensive option than a website builder which you can sign up to for just £7.50 per month (Wix) or £17 per month if you’re looking for ecommerce (Squarespace), you’ll get a lot more service for your money than those other two providers. Keep reading to find out just how much extra you get for your monthly service fee compared with DIY website builders.

The formula of it’seeze is somewhat unique in that they’ll design and build your initial website, then hand over the reigns to you for updates with a user-friendly website editor. This differs from a web design agency which would manage the entire web project on your behalf – meaning edits can take days or weeks to implement, depending on how busy your web dev team is with their other work.

Local web design consultants

Now, it’seeze works a little differently to the majority of web design companies. As well as its in-house team, the company runs a nationwide network of franchised consultants who act as points of contact and guides, with a local consultant assigned to each client.

Throughout the process, consultants move the project along by keeping their businesses abreast of what’s needed from them at each stage. They also offer support and advice, not just during the build but also after each site has gone live. Depending on their skillset, some consultants will also offer additional services, like logo design.

it’seeze created this slick new site for engineering firm Hanson Foster with a focus on imagery and clear navigation.

Marketing and SEO for your site

Alongside building your website, it’seeze also offers a helping hand when it comes to getting it out there and into the public eye.

Of course, the number of marketing and SEO (search engine optimisation) services the company can offer you will depending on the price plan you opt for, and whether it comes with basic or advanced marketing and SEO services.

Here’s what you’ll get:

Setup and maintenance support

As well as the above, the monthly payment you make to it’seeze will also cover initial setup requirements and ongoing maintenance, including:

• Web hosting on it’seeze’s own servers
• SSL certificate
• Free .com or .co.uk domain name for life
• Five business email addresses
• Daily website backups
• Free website transfers – helpful if you’ve already built a website and want to transfer to it’seeze

Look and feel

“Make it easy, and people will use it,” it’seeze asserts on its own website. Looking at it’seeze’s vast catalogue of past designs, it seems the company stands by this statement, with simple and sleek UX (user experience) as a top priority.

Designs are fully responsive – meaning they smoothly adapt to different screen sizes. So, whether your potential customers are browsing on a desktop, smartphone or tablet, your website will always be correctly proportioned and easy to navigate. This is not always the case with custom web builds, as designers can get overly focused on the desktop function and end up neglecting the mobile view.

In terms of aesthetics, it’seeze’s websites tend to be colourful, and use large images as a focus. Plus, text is often split into bitesize chunks. This all adds up to a bright website with a professional feel and clearly displayed information. The web designs are not overly crowded, and navigation links are easy to locate. Therefore your web visitors are much more likely to find what they came for compared with an overly cluttered site you made with a Wix DIY builder.

Honestly, though, exploring some of the sites that it’seeze has made, the first impression is “Oh, this feels like the it’seeze main site” because the design and layout is extremely similar – right down to the cookies banner. Either it’seeze is doing what they do best with replicating the design format or they’re lacking in imagination. It’s hard to say. All that really matters is whether or not you’d be happy with a predictable, albeit solid, website design.

Here’s the ‘Conceptual Design’ tab on the engineering website, beautifully showcasing the company’s portfolio examples in full colour with plenty of whitespace plus a short text explainer.

Ease of use

it’seeze builds websites on its own in-house CMS (content management system), giving business owners access to it so they can make changes to their own website whenever they want. So, whether it’s time to swap a picture over, update some old information or even build a new page, there’s no need to wait for a web developer to get the work done for you. It’s a great time saver. This is a major benefit of using an easy-to-edit website versus a bespoke website.

Don’t fret if you’ve got absolutely zero website building experience – your consultant will train you up in how to use the CMS’ website editor. And with minimal controls and a handy drag-and-drop model, it’s pretty eezy to pick up. In fact, it’seeze prides itself on just how simple the editor is.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

✓ it’seeze has excellent Trustpilot reviews. Impressively, over 90% of hundreds of reviewers have given the company five stars and rated it ‘excellent’ – definitely a good sign!

✓ Having your own dedicated consultant means you’ve got ongoing access to guidance and support when you need it. And because they’re local, chances are you’ll be able to meet with yours face-to-face – an added bonus.

✓ it’seeze provides friendly and responsive customer support, both through your local consultant and via the company HQ’s support lines. The majority of Trustpilot’s four and five-star reviewers cite customer support as a key strength of it’seeze’s.

✓ This company offers a rapid turnaround. After a business has submitted a design brief and site content, it’seeze typically takes just two to three weeks to get the site designed – which is great if you’re itching to get going on the world wide web.

✓ it’seeze makes it easy for you to tweak, edit and expand your website with its uncomplicated drag-and-drop editor, which is included in your monthly cost. Beats paying extra and waiting around for a web designer to do the work for you!

✓ Beyond the initial building of the website, your monthly fee also pays for it’seeze to perform all-important ongoing website maintenance – like system updates and backups – to keep your site spick and span.

✓ it’seeze’s price plans are transparent, with the company promising you’ll face no hidden fees.

Disadvantages

✘ Not ideal for ecommerce – While it’seeze websites can include ecommerce functions, they’re not really set up to support sites with the main purpose of selling products and services online. Their online store features are not as sophisticated as the purpose-built shopping platforms from the likes of Shopify, BigCommerce and the like. Because ecommerce platforms are such a specialist niche in website creation, you’ll be better off researching the best website builders for ecommerce to sell online successfully.

✘ Long-term investment – Because it’seeze websites are built on the company’s own in-house CMS, you’re roped in to paying your monthly fee for as long as you want your site to be running – not just for your minimum contract term – and those costs can really add up. If you decide to stop paying and leave it’seeze, you’ll lose your website. That said, you can request a copy of your site’s design and recreate it elsewhere if you’re set on leaving.

Expert verdict

A remarkably user-friendly website editor makes it’seeze a great choice for busy businesspeople.

Add to this it’seeze’s transparent, comprehensive packages that not only include the website design, but also ongoing support, site maintenance and services like hosting and domain name renewal, and it’s clear that it’seeze is certainly nothing to it’sneeze at. Paying for all these services in one go, and knowing they’re all being taken care of by one entity, makes for a pretty stress-free solution.

Yet it’s worth being aware of the drawbacks; don’t choose it’seeze if you’re after an ecommerce site. And getting out of that long-term contract with a website can be pretty tough, so if you want to own your site in the long-term you may opt instead for a web designer that uses an open source CMS (like WordPress).

Fancy a tailored quote from it’seeze, or any other Expert Market-approved website design companies?

Simply fill in our short form with a few details about your business, and you’ll receive custom quotes – tailored to your business’ needs – from the companies that are the best fit to build your dream website. This process is quick, easy and free – so why not give it a go today?