Are you having trouble finding the right platform to launch your website? Whether you are trying to launch a new online business or post blogs, you need the proper tools to put it all together. In this guide, you will learn how to choose a good website builder from the best offerings on the internet.
Here, we will discuss website-building solutions such as Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, and Shopify. To assist you in choosing the right website builder, we have broken down each platform into easy-to-understand verbiage.
The Best Website Builders to Choose From
If you are an aspiring small business owner, you have plenty of options to choose from. With that said, Shopify is your best bet if your business is based solely on the sale of products. So, let’s start with Shopify and work our way to the remaining options to give you a better understanding of what each entails.
Shopify
As an e-commerce platform, Shopify comes with its own payment system built right into it. Business owners love this aspect of Shopify, as it eliminates the need for an additional service while providing customers with a simple and straightforward shopping experience.
Since Shopify is centered on e-commerce, this is the platform that you should choose if you plan on selling online. In fact, the entire platform is designed in a way that positions your online business for sales.
As a result, you need not bother with trying to figure out how to get your potential customers to buy from you. In building your website, Shopify automatically sets it up to be primed for e-commerce. Now that is forward-thinking!
What’s more, Shopify lets you choose from thousands of pre-made themes, lessening the work that goes into building a website. You do not need a lot of knowledge pertaining to web crafting, either, as Shopify takes care of the heavy lifting for you.
You will, however, need a web developer who is well-versed in “Liquid” if you need to make any dynamic changes to your website. Liquid is a special web language that Shopify uses, and it is not one that every web developer is familiar with.
You can even use Shopify to manage your inventory, either for a physical brick-and-mortar store or online. If you have both, Shopify intelligently balances your sales to reflect real data. So, if you sell something from your physical store, online shoppers will see the correct inventory on your website.
Shopify costs just $29 a month, with yearly contracts available.
Squarespace
If you are looking for simplicity, Squarespace is likely for you. Armed with a simple drag-and-drop web-building interface, it’s easier than ever to put your website together. You don’t need to have any pre-existing knowledge or special training to use Squarespace, either. As such, it’s incredibly popular among people who just want to establish a website without the need for special code.
The themes that come built into Squarespace for you to choose from are absolutely stunning. You can therefore have an amazing website up and running in no time. The only problem is that you’re awfully limited on what you can actually do. That means no special code, digital ads, and very limited integration with other software.
Squarespace starts at just $12 a month.
Wix
Wix is another drag-and-drop website builder in the same vein as Squarespace. But where Wix stands out is its ability to make the website building experience much more enjoyable. Since the entire setup is built around the drag-and-drop formula, it’s rather impressive how Wix creators were able to implement it into every minute action.
And perhaps best of all, Wix is completely free to use. There are, of course, paid plans. But they aren’t necessary. The free plan chooses your domain name for you, however. If you’re trying to get a serious website started and want to pick out your own domain name, you’ll need to go with one of the paid plans.
Like Squarespace, Wix is pretty limited as far as outside options go. You can’t implement special code, and you don’t actually own your website.
Wix is free to use, with paid plans that start at $14 a month.
WordPress
Fully customizable, free to use, and a breeze to work with. WordPress has been around since 2003 and has built a reputation for being one of the best open-source content systems on the web. It takes some time to get used to the way WordPress presents everything. But once you get acclimated to how it operates, you’ll feel right at home.
Customization really is impressive here, allowing you to tailor your website to your heart’s content. Security, however, is disconcerting. Because of its ability to accept plugins, WordPress is prone to exploits.
As a result, you should add a good security plugin to your installation. Here at BizToolsPro.com (a wordpress site), we use the free WP Cerber Security plugin by Cerber Tech Inc. In addition to all the hardening features, we really like that you can change the location of your login page.
Since all wordpress sites have the same login location out of the box, it is an obvious place for bots to come knocking. Changing the location of your login page is a great way to tell them “no one lives here”.
Wrap Up
Depending on your needs, there’s a website builder for everyone. If you just want the bare-bones experience to play around with web-building, Wix or Squarespace have you covered. But if you’re looking for more robust options, WordPress and Shopify are your best bets.
And if you just want someone to do the work for you, or if your needs are more on the complex side, then you may want to look for a good web design company.
Besides producing a stunning website for you, full service agencies like outsidethebox.design can also handle your SEO, marketing, advertising & more. Taking into consideration your time to learn a website builder and do the work, you may find it more cost effective in the long run to hire a professional.