When it comes to building a website for your business, choosing the right website-building platform is crucial. There is a wide range of platforms out there to choose from, which can make the decision seem overwhelming at first.
However, with a little bit of research and some careful consideration, you can find the platform that best fits your business’s needs and goals.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the criteria our agency considered when choosing a website builder to use!
How Did We Land on These Website Builders?
After doing some research, we reviewed a variety of web hosting services, taking into consideration many different factors such as ease of use, pricing, features, scalability and flexibility, and customer support.
Let’s go over these criteria in more detail!
Ease of Use for Beginners
When building a business website, ease of use is critial. A platform should be easy enough for any new web designer to understand and navigate quickly without any technical knowledge or coding experience required.
Fortunately, there are several separate companies available today that cater specifically to beginners. These website builders offer drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-designed templates that allow newcomers to design and launch a website swiftly and easily, without needing extensive coding or design experience.
With the right web host, even those with no prior website-building experience can create a professional-looking business website that represents their company and attracts visitors.
Value for Money
Before choosing a web hosting provider, it’s important to compare the different packages available and weigh up the features against the cost to ensure that you get the best possible return on your investment.
You should look for one that offers an excellent value-for-money service with plenty of features that can help you grow your business, such as search engine optimization.
This not only saves you money but also allows you to create a professional-looking website without the need for coding skills or hiring an experienced web designer.
Design Flexibility
Design flexibility is another important aspect of building a small business website. In today’s fast-paced digital world, it is essiential to have a website that not only looks great but is also flexible enough to accommodate changes and updates.
This means having a website that is easy to customize and update without compromising its overall design and functionality. One way to do this is to look for a website builder that offers a variety of customizable templates for free or at a low cost.
With design flexibility, businesses can easily modify their website’s layout, color schemes, and typography to align with their brand identity or even cater to their target audience. Our agency considered this factor heavily when we were searching for a reliable web hosting platform to build our website.
Features
It’s also essential to look for a platform that includes features that enhance both website functionality and user experience. One of the main key features to consider is a responsive design, which ensures that your website looks great no matter what.
Specifically, optimizing your website for mobile devices is vital as more and more people are using their phones to browse the web. You should also consider incorporating all of your social media accounts on your business website, which can help increase your social media engagement and bring in more visitors to the site.
Moreover, making sure your website is optimized for search engines using tactics such as keyword optimization and proper meta tags can help to increase your online visibility and drive traffic to your site.
Ability to Scale
A website’s scalability refers to its ability to handle growth and increased traffic over time and was another major factor our agency kept in mind when looking for a web host. You don’t want to end up with a website that can’t keep up with your business.
A non-scalable website can hinder your growth potential and negatively impact your bottom line. That’s why it’s imperative to choose a content management system (CMS for short) that’s readily scalable and customizable to accommodate your changing business needs.
This will offer you the flexibility to add new features, update your content, and maintain your website’s performance as your business continues to expand.
Help and Support
Lastly, it’s important to think about the help and support that will be available to you. A good website builder will offer a range of resources to assist you in designing and maintaining your website, including customer support and tutorials.
These resources can be valuable in helping you to troubleshoot any issues and make changes to your site as necessary. Therefore, we advise checking how responsive and helpful a platform’s support team is before choosing a small website builder.
Furthermore, many website builders offer a variety of templates and plugins to help you customize your site to your specific needs. It’s also worth considering the value of community and peer support, which can often be found through forums, social media groups, and other online communities.
Wix
Alright, now that we went over the main criteria for finding a web hosting provider, let’s talk about our first choice, Wix!
What Is Wix?
Wix is a simple website builder designed for beginners that enables individuals and small businesses to create stunning web pages without any prior coding knowledge.
It provides an extensive variety of customizable templates and designs to suit the desired aesthetic of your own website, including drag-and-drop features, which help users create websites faster and easier.
Why We Chose Wix?
One of the main reasons we chose Wix is because it offers affordable plans, including a free option.
But its more advanced Premium plans allow users to connect their domain name and include e-commerce capabilities. So you can find the right fit for your budget.
In addition, Wix also offers the App Market where users can add advanced features such as:
- Online booking
- Marketing tools
- Social media integration
Overall, Wix is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to create a professional-looking website without the need for advanced web development skills.
Wix Pros and Cons
Like most website builders, Wix has its fair share of advantages and drawbacks to using this service provider.
Below are some of the main pros and cons we discovered while using the platform for our agency.
Wix Pros
- Easy to use
- Mobile-friendly
- Affordable pricing
Wix Cons
- Migration difficulties
- Bandwidth limitations
- Advertisements on the free plan
WordPress
Next, let’s discuss WordPress (our agency’s preferred web host)!
What Is WordPress?
Originally designed as a blogging platform, WordPress is a content management system that has grown into a robust website builder and currently powers roughly 40% of all websites online today.
It is an open-source platform, meaning that WordPress users can modify and extend the platform’s code to suit their specific needs.
Moreover, it offers thousands of free and premium themes, plugins, and templates that allow you to customize your website to your heart’s content.
Why We Chose WordPress?
One of the reasons we chose this platform is due to its immense popularity. It’s also incredibly user-friendly and intuitive, making it accessible for inexperienced users and advanced developers alike to design and manage a website.
Plus, every WordPress website is search engine friendly, meaning it’s optimized for better ranking in search engine results pages.
Whether you’re a small business owner, a blogger, or a developer, a WordPress site can help you create a stunning and functional website that will help you grow your online presence and achieve your business goals.
WordPress Pros and Cons
While WordPress is undoubtedly one of the most popular options available, there are some pros and cons to using this platform.
Let’s go over these top benefits and liabilities!
WordPress Pros
- SEO-friendly
- Multilingual support
- Wide range of custom templates
WordPress Cons
- Performance issues
- Security vulnerabilities
- Frequent maintenance required
Squarespace
Now, let’s go over Squarespace!
What Is Squarespace?
Squarespace is another platform that allows you to create beautiful and functional websites, even if you don’t have any coding experience.
Designed with beginners in mind, this web host offers an array of templates and add-ons, giving you the flexibility to create a website with its drag-and-drop interface that is tailored to your exact needs.
Why We Chose Squarespace?
We chose Squarespace for its user-friendly templates and intuitive design.
With this platform, you can easily create a website with minimal effort, allowing you to spend more time on important things like content and marketing your website.
The platform offers a range of features, including:
- Custom domains
- Website analytics
- Mobile optimization
- Professional templates
- eCommerce functionality
Whether you want to showcase your portfolio, sell online products, or create a blog, Squarespace has all the tools you need to create a stunning website that stands out from the crowd.
Squarespace Pros and Cons
There are several pros and cons to choosing Squarespace as your website builder.
Let’s take a look at both!
Squarespace Pros
- User-friendly
- Mobile-responsiveness
- Ready-made templates
Squarespace Cons
- Performance issues
- Limited customization
- Limited third-party integrations
Shopify
Finally, let’s dive into Shopify!
What Is Shopify?
Shopify is a leading eCommerce site that lets small and large businesses create online stores with ease. This all-in-one platform is incredibly flexible and scalable, making it an ideal choice for small entrepreneurs and large companies looking to expand their business online.
It provides various tools that help businesses manage their orders, payments, and shipments, making it simpler and more efficient to run an online store. It also allows you to design your shop, upload products, sell services, and manage inventory all from one place.
Why We Chose Shopify?
Shopify stood out to us because it is equipped with all the necessary eCommerce tools, such as an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor and an extensive selection of store templates to choose from.
It comes with impressive integration capabilities, enabling its users to link their websites to their favorite social media platforms and other third-party services. Additionally, one of the best parts of this platform is that it has built-in SEO features that can boost your website’s ranking on search engines like Google.
So whether you’re just getting started or you’re looking for a way to take your business to the next level, Shopify has everything you need to build a successful online store.
Shopify Pros and Cons
This platform also has several pros and cons.
Shopify Pros
- Simple to use
- eCommerce features
- Wide range of themes and templates
Shopify Cons
- Processing fees
- Migration challenges
- Limited customization options
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