Which Website Builder Is The Best Choice For Your Business?

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You are launching a new business and have a nagging question looming over you like an ominous thundercloud: Where do you build your website? 🤔 With so many website builder options available, it can be overwhelming wading through them all. You have to compare features you may not understand, review prices that vary greatly, look up unfamiliar web lingo, and think about scaling in the future.

Take a pause and catch your breath. Let me break down the basics to help get you started on the right track for your business. There are three main options you will likely consider:

1. All-in-One Website Builders
2. E-commerce Platforms
3. Content Management System (CMS)

Technically, there is a fourth option, too. It is for more innovative businesses that might have a different goal and type of product/service. You can skip the website altogether and build an app instead. That is not an area I’ve dabbled in myself, but it could be a viable option for some cutting-edge startups.

However, the three main website-building options are my forte so that is what we’ll talk about today.

Let’s get right to it.

1. All-in-One Website Builders

Platforms like Writer’s Residence, Squarespace, Wix, Carrd.co, and many others provide an all-in-one solution for building websites yourself — and with no or very low coding knowledge required. These platforms offer intuitive drag-and-drop editors, pre-designed templates, and built-in hosting. That makes it easy for beginners to create and launch a website quickly.

However, site builders often come with limitations. The monthly/annual investment is often higher right out of the gate for new businesses. Want access to site analytics? Add e-commerce (to sell products)? Improve SEO? You may need to upgrade to a higher tier — which costs more. Professional themes designed for a specific site builder (i.e. Squarespace) will often be more expensive. 

Specific site builders may not have a robust community of users that provide peer support, which means you may be left to rely solely on their in-house support teams, public-facing documentation and how-to guides, and a smattering of video tutorials kind souls have put together to help others through common challenges.

Recommendation

✅ Good for Solopreneurs/Small Businesses Who Want to DIY

Site builders can be ideal for solopreneurs and small businesses who require a one-page site or a small 3-5 page website to help launch their business quickly. The higher hosting cost is offset by the fact most can DIY their first website using the documentation and a free or paid theme. You most likely won’t need to hire or contract an outside designer/developer to help you get started.

2. E-commerce Platforms

These are platforms like Shopify, Square, and even marketplaces like Etsy that allow you to build out a virtual “storefront” to sell your products and/or services directly to your customers. It typically includes a shopping cart, a payment system, order confirmation, and more. As e-commerce has grown in popularity, these platforms have become fairly easy to use.

However, as you are selling and customers are buying directly through the platform, you will notice that the monthly/annual costs will be higher than with a basic website to cover these additional costs. There will also be payment processing and transactional fees to consider when pricing your products.

Depending on the platform you use and how new you are to selling online, there may be a bit of a learning curve. Be sure to check out a platform’s public-facing documentation and tutorial videos to make sure that you can understand the initial setup and how to customize your storefront. If it seems out of your wheelhouse, you may want to outsource the build to a professional.

Recommendation

✅ Good for businesses who will sell products or services immediately and require a virtual storefront

If your business is designed to sell physical or digital products or services paid for online, you may want to consider starting off with an e-commerce website.

3. Content Management System (CMS)

Platforms like WordPress, Drupal, and a few others offer flexibility and scalability for building and managing simple or complex, small or massive, websites. With a CMS, you typically have complete control over your site’s design (theme), functionality (out-of-the-box “core”, third-party contributed code, and custom code), and content.

However, CMS platforms typically require separate hosting — so you’ll need to find a good web host provider, purchase a hosting account, install your CMS, and then build your site. (Note: More and more reputable web host providers are now offering “easy install” options for WordPress and Drupal.) With CMS, there are also endless ways to extend your website. If down the road you want to add e-commerce, you can install and configure (for example) the  WooCommerce plugin for WordPress or the Drupal Commerce module for, well, Drupal.

Most CMS do have a learning curve and there may be some complexity involved. For example, it is fairly easy to install and get a basic site up and running with WordPress… but customizing it to your business needs can take time. Drupal has an easy install process as well but the out-of-the-box site you spin up will need even more customization. But most CMS, especially WordPress and Drupal, have very robust communities where you can find support and guidance.

Even then, building the site your business needs with a CMS will often require hiring or contracting a designer/developer specializing in that specific CMS — to build the site initially and to maintain it over time.

Recommendation

✅ Good for businesses with more complexity, customization needs, likely to scale fast, or have larger budgets

Going the CMS route, like a hosted WordPress or Drupal site, is the preferred route for a new business that intends to have a medium to large-sized site, has more complexity (such as international reach with multiple languages), and/or requires customization (custom theme, custom code, and third-party integrations). 

Though you can start off doing it yourself, you may want to invest in a developer from the start who can build out the site using best practices and set you up for long-term success.

Let’s sum up your website builder options

Now you know the three main options for building your website and which one likely matches your current need. Here is a chart to help summarize it:

Remember, one great thing about websites is that they are not set in stone. As your business grows, your website should also grow to meet your changing needs. You might start out with a one-pager website hosted on a site builder and then expand into an e-commerce platform in a year or maybe hire a developer or two to build out a complex CMS site that handles your international business.

Want to talk over your options in more detail? I’m available for 1-hour consultation calls. For just $100, we’ll discuss your business needs, your goals, your budget, and what option is the best match for you today.