A website is one of the most powerful tools a business can use to grow its customer-base. It’s the foundation of a brand’s online presence, a place where customers can find anything from directions to online deals. But simply owning online real estate isn’t enough. Your business’ website must be thoughtfully designed, responsive, easy to navigate, and simple to maintain. With so many website platforms available, it can be hard to know where to start. TrustWorkz is digging into the function, finesse, and freedom of popular website platforms to reveal the best platform for a small business website — no coding experience necessary.
Squarespace
Squarespace’s image-centric layout makes it a popular choice for people in creative industries, although its lack of free templates requires an upfront investment. As far as web design is concerned, Squarespace offers a user-friendly builder interface with real time changes, although novice designers may have a learning curve. The biggest drawback is Squarespace’s relative simplicity; to add more than basic functions requires an understanding of coding that most business owners lack. You don’t own your website data, so you can’t take your site with you when you go. And its visual focus also makes Squarespace less impactful in terms of SEO and necessary website updates.
Wix
Wix has really stepped up its marketing game, touting simple, dependable websites for small-scale business owners. On that front, Wix delivers. It offers a variety of templates with drag-and-drop customization so users can easily create a site that suits their needs, even if they don’t have previous web design experience. It also gives business owners affordable bandwidth and storage options. Unlike Squarespace, Wix offers a moderate range of apps to help you customize your website. The downsides? SEO problems abound, although recent patches provide a band-aid. You also don’t own your Wix site, so any customization will be lost when you leave.
WordPress
Because of its relatively simple website builder and superior capacity for customization, WordPress is the most popular content management system out there. It has a bigger learning curve than Squarespace or Wix but offers a variety of customizable themes with simple tutorials, so even web design rookies can make their sites as simple or complex as needed. Due to the almost endless list of plugins available, you won’t find yourself lacking any function necessary for your business to thrive. It’s the most SEO-friendly platform, but it also offers plugins to do the SEO heavy-lifting. And since you own your website, you can move it to another platform whenever you’d like.
When it comes to your website, TrustWorkz trusts WordPress to give our clients the most function, customization, and SEO benefits.
