Duda started as DudaMobile. That was because their focus, through that brand of their company, was specifically on creating websites for mobile devices. Now that mobile optimization has become standard across the board, they have renamed themselves to simply ‘Duda’. The company offers a software package that helps users to create websites that function on multiple screens. Their primary focus is on SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises). Founded in 2009, the company is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. They also have an office in Tel Aviv, Israel, where research and development are conducted. The company has also entered into partnerships with OpenTable, Intuit, Yahoo!, AT&T, and Google.
History of Duda
Duda was established in 2009 by Itai Sadan and Amir Glatt. Two years later, they create a self-service option, which people could access through their website. At that time, they still continued to work together with a range of other companies. That same year, however, DudaMobile was launched, which was the mobile optimized version of the company’s website builder.
A year thereafter, in April 2012, Google launched the ‘GoMo’ initiative, which meant that they would host sites that were mobile optimized for free for a whole year. The partner in this offer was DudaMobile, enabling people to create fully mobile optimized websites that fitted in with the GoMo service. At that time, Google also wanted to offer free analytics.
Since it was launched in 2009, Duda has released a number of different products, new features, and a range of updates. They also added a reseller option in 2011. Three years later, they added a website personalization tool, and a responsive website builder.
In January 2010, more than $2 million in angel funds was invested in Duda. This was under the guidance of Oren Zeev, who worked together with a range of investors, including Jeff Fluhr and Don Taz. By March 2012, funds amounting to $6 million were added to this by Pitango, which created a Series B fund for it. Series C was added in April 2013, which came to a total of $10.3 million. Series B was intended to increase the engineering and marketing departments of Duda. Additionally, they wanted to focus more strongly on offering their services to entrepreneurs and SMEs.
Duda’s Services
Duda offers a wealth of different services, including a reseller program and mobile site builder. The latter, which is fully responsive, is their flagship product. It is a drag and drop platform with website personalization options, as well as tools such as those for ecommerce and blogging. Furthermore, they have developed inSite, a WordPress plugin, which is a tool that allows you to further customize websites that are self-hosted through WordPress, the world’s best known blogging platform.
They also offer the DudaPro Website Reseller Program. This was designed for agencies that produce a range of different websites. Those who sign up create a range of discounts for any websites that they build.
Duda, to this day, offers both a responsive website builder and a mobile site builder. The responsive website builder is designed to allow people to create a website that works on both desktop and mobile versions, without having to use two different platforms. It is also possible for someone with an existing desktop site to simply enter the URL of this site and have Duda create a fully responsible mobile version. Alternatively, they can create something completely new that is designed specifically for mobile devices.
The mobile site, in turn, can be changed using CSS or HTML, for those who know how to do that. It can also be created using the drag and drop method, however, which is more suitable to novices or those who don’t want to alter the template as much. All sites that are created through Duda or through one of their partner services are fully smartphone compatible. Furthermore, all analytics that are available for a mobile website automatically sync to the desktop version of the site as well.
Features of Duda
Duda offers a number of really cool features:
- Full design control through the new inSite platform. This allows users to create a 100% unique website with content that changes depending on how close a user is to the physical location of the store itself, and also on things such as what time on the day it is, how often they have been to the site in the past, and more. This is a truly unique service in the world of website builders.
- The drag and drop editor, which is fully intuitive and allows even the biggest novice to create a fantastic website. It can also be used by more advanced builders, allowing them to decrease the amount of time they spend on developing their site.
- A range of very modern templates, to which new versions are added regularly. These templates, which can be personalized and customized, form the foundation of any new Duda website.
- Various complementary color pallets that are taken out of an existing site. They are easy to change during editing, so that people can create something unique and suitable for their needs.
- CSS3 and HTML5 functionality, which available through DudaOne. This means people who know how to code can access it in full, giving them increased control and flexibility.
- More than 50 different font styles, which can be used all over the website.
- The ability to edit sites depending on the device on which it will be viewed. This gives people even more control.
- Pre-arranged sections and rows, in which various widgets can be placed to reduce development time and boost the speed of design.
- Very flexible navigation styles, available for both mobile and tablet
- A flat user interface design, which is something through which Duda has set the standard for many other website builders
- Favicons that can be shown on a visitor’s browser tab
- Copy and paste functionality of any element within the website to increase the speed of building the site
- The ability to fully change the background on different rows or the website as a whole.
- Page duplication functionality, if an exact copy of a single page is required