question is fundamental, almost
philosophical: In the coming years, will
the humble website still be the
dominant way we interact with the
Internet?
For David Rusenko, the 27-year-old
founder and chief executive of global
website builder Weebly, the answer is:
Of course!
On Thursday, Weebly unveiled a
refresh of its publishing suite, which
allows people to simply drag and drop
page elements like images and
headlines onto a canvas to build a site.
Using the new form, mobile versions
of websites a critical concern in a
modern economy awash with
smartphones - can be published
simultaneously with desktop versions.
The San Francisco startup's update
comes at a time of flux for the
Internet industry, which has been
grappling with the ramifications of
users who are spending less time on
the Web and more time within closed
ecosystems like Facebook Inc's social
network or the cornucopia of
smartphone apps an economy valued
at $25 billion in 2013, according to
research firm ABI.
Yet Rusenko is not willing to accept
any talk of the open Web's demise. He
argues that Web pages, more than
ever, carry more weight and meaning
in an age of fleeting tweets and
malleable Facebook identities.
"The picture is becoming clearer,"
Rusenko said. "Facebook has focused
on the conversation, but not really on
absorbing the Web into its walled
garden."
For a lot of people, "their digital
identity is their site," he added. "It's
where they showcase their ideas and
really put themselves out there."
Along with his Thursday relaunch,
Rusenko unfurled a slate of new
growth statistics and research data
showing that his company, which has
enjoyed healthy growth and now
boasts a network of 15 million sites
that have been visited by 100 million
people.
Weebly's own extensive research
showed that a majority of people
would not trust a business that had no
website, yet 58 percent of businesses
do not have a Web presence, Rusenko
said.
In 2006, Rusenko, a fresh-faced
graduate of Penn State University,
burst onto the Silicon Valley scene and
garnered plaudits in national
magazines with Weebly, which quickly
rose in stature as the natural heir to
GeoCities, the service that fueled a
webpage-creating craze in the 1990s.
After the initial acclaim, Weebly has
kept a lower profile while rivals like
Wordpress, the professional-grade
blogging platform, and Tumblr, the
minimalist social blogging network,
have captured more media attention,
but not the consumer Web publishing
market.
With its refresh, Weebly is now more
oriented toward what Rusenko called
everyday entrepreneurs looking to
"start something": amateur food
bloggers, teachers, or crafts
enthusiasts who want to share their
passion before potentially launching a
small business.
Weebly has been in talks with a
payment startup to provide an e-
commerce platform for people
wanting to sell goods, said Rusenko.
The company is also introducing
planning tools that offer ideas and
inspiration to help newcomers
"identify their goals" and lay out their
pages, Rusenko said.
The company, which has 70
employees, has been profitable since
2009, but accepted an undisclosed
amount in funding from Sequoia
Capital in 2011 to continue growth.
"At the end of the day these are
doers, these are makers, and we want
to help bring that dream to life,"
Rusenko said.
© Thomson Reuters 2013
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