Web.com website builder is drag-and-drop. It isn’t difficult to orient yourself, as its interface is pretty straightforward and the navigation is easy.

However, there are a few issues with it. Most of the elements are slow to respond to your commands; any dragged item can take a few seconds before materializing at the desired spot.

Sometimes more severe glitches occur. A few times I was forced to switch between browsers. Firefox seemed to work better, for the most part, but I use Chrome and this workaround is far from ideal.

For a website builder with no free version, this is a pretty basic thing to fail at.

When you read that there are over 2,500 themes available, you might feel that this generous offering is unmatched in its awesomeness.

You wouldn’t be wrong.

Entirely.

In spite of the inflated number – some designs are simply variations – there are templates for virtually any kind of website. You can even use the blank template or the empty layouts, where you design everything from scratch.

Web.com provides a big gallery of stock images to help you add the necessary visual appeal to your page.

So far so good, only that the ready designs aren’t the greatest you can find out there. What is more, they aren’t optimized for mobile devices either.

That’s right, if you allow yourself to get overwhelmed by the flashy numbers and the impressively sounding marketing terms abundant in the Web.com advertising reviews, you might miss the forest for the trees.

Something as basic as a responsive design is not automatically included in your Web.com plan. Naturally, you can add it, but that would cost you a few extra bucks.

This is a classic example of hidden costs, which I find extremely strange, given the expensive plans Web.com has.

Did I mention the impressive Web.com marketing team?

If you go through their website, you’d be surprised by a few things.

First, the amount of things that are omitted or convoluted. For instance, they promise a Facebook boost. But then you cannot find anything specific about the actual Web.com Facebook cost. You have to call them instead.

Second, the careful wording. It helps a lot with the first point I brought up; it also makes lavish promises to allude masterfully to great riches and success. I had to read a hefty amount of Web.com lead generation reviews in order to understand what that service actually is and how limited success it has.

Third, the Web.com SEO team. It sounds awesome, having a specialist to advise you along the way. SEO is a complex matter. However, you’ll find not a single word on the specific tools you can use in their builder to boost your page.

In order to comply with Web.com marketing strategy, I will do the same and say nothing about embedded SEO features. But hear this: you can buy SEO services from the company.

For only $300!

What a deal, eh?

If you think that the SEO package is costly, I bet I can change your mind. In the light of their hosting plans, those $300 sound actually reasonable.

All website builder plans seem extremely affordable, at first. $1.95, $2.95, $3.95 per month are fees lower than the industry average. These are the only prices you see when selecting a package, unless you hover your mouse over a small question mark icon, which reveals the ugly truth.

Or the beautiful marketing trick, if you are routing for Web.com.

After the first month, the seductively cheap mask is removed and the true values appear. Suddenly, the fees become $22.95, 32.95 and $39.95, respectively.

I won’t go into detail about the included features because they are scarcely more than barebones site builder and hosting. Even the most expensive plan, which is aimed for ecommerce, is ill-suited for serious online shops, as it restricts the total number of products you can list.

The only thing that sort of makes the second and the third plans mildly interesting is the fact that the Web.com SEO specialists would enlist your site in search engines.

Strangely enough, this is not a one-time fee, possibly included in the SEO package, but a justification for a hefty recurring payment.

I am yet to deal with Web.com support, as the cheapest hosting plan does not warrant any special treatment.

Judging by the numerous Web.com reviews I checked prior to opening an account with them, it’s probably for the best.