uSkinned wins over the world with easy website-builder

A Scottish technology company that enables organisations to build websites, without requiring coding skills, has been voted the best website-builder software in the world by its users.

uSkinned Site Builder, created by technical director Marc Love, and creative director Paul Daly, stemmed from their shared desire to help entrepreneurs, businesses, and digital agencies to create their own customised websites, without needing specialist technical skills.

Paul Daly, uSkinned creative director, comments, “Marc and I worked together at various digital agencies over the years. Our skillsets complement each other, so we were confident that, with our shared knowledge and passion, we could create a product that would empower individuals and businesses to build their own websites, with no technical expertise required.”

In 2014, the duo worked on a project to create content-managed themes for the open-source Umbraco content management system (CMS), that freelance web developers and digital agencies could use to customise clients’ websites. The uSkinned package became a firm favourite with web developers building websites and digital services on the Umbraco CMS platform.

“Umbraco is open-source software, which allows people to use it for free, and expand on it,” explains Paul Daly. “Marc and I initially created a plug-in for the Umbraco CMS platform that makes it really easy for web developers and designers to create and customise websites for their clients.”

When the pandemic lockdown happened, people had to rapidly move their businesses online but often lacked the technical know-how to create their own websites. This created a surge in demand for website-building software that is easy to use, and sufficiently reliable to serve customers online. To meet this need, uSkinned’s founders decided to pivot the business to develop a user-friendly website builder that allows anyone to make a custom website, without needing to write any code. Describing the company’s shift in focus, Marc Love comments, “The goal was to make a platform that anyone could use, from individuals, who just need a website that works, to small businesses and larger enterprises. We wanted to take Umbraco’s flexibility and make it accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical skills.”

The uSkinned Site Builder, launched in 2021, offers a range of online business features including eCommerce, membership logins, software integrations, a blog platform, accessibility features, search engine optimisation, 24/7 support, and regional cloud hosting, which digital agencies can use to supplement their own services and boost profitability.

The user-friendly website-building and customisation platform offers a range of design themes named after Scottish islands, and more than 25,000 fonts. It is now used by entrepreneurs, digital agencies, and businesses in more than 90 countries. “We’ve seen digital agencies that have built their entire business around uSkinned Site Builder and customised Umbraco sites, including a digital agency overseas that builds huge public sector websites, and has become the dominant provider in its market,” Marc Love enthuses. “Over the past four years we’ve won numerous Umbraco awards and earned positive reviews on platforms like G2.”

One of the most recent accolades was the CMS Critic People’s Choice Award for Best Website-Builder, which was voted on by hundreds of uSkinned and Umbraco users from all over the world.

“Winning the CMS Critic Award was a huge moment for us because we were up against the biggest website-builder brands in the industry, and the winner is decided by users. It felt like real recognition of the value that we bring to people worldwide.” comments Paul Daly. “We’ve seen businesses of all sizes, from entrepreneurs to global brands, using uSkinned to build websites that help them grow.”