Are you overwhelmed by the array of website builders available today? From Webnote to Weebly, and from Squarespace to Wix, the options seem endless. Each platform offers unique templates and user-friendly tools, but how do you choose the right one for your needs? This article will help you navigate these waters, ensuring you select a website builder that aligns perfectly with your vision and business goals.
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Before we delve into these specific website-builders, let’s address the questions posed at the beginning of this article.
Why do I need a website builder?
If you’re a small business owner looking to establish an online presence without breaking the bank, a website builder can be a game changer. Many fear that building a website might be too time-consuming or that the end result won’t meet their expectations. Choosing the right website builder is crucial to avoid these pitfalls.
For web developers and designers, the right tool can drastically reduce project time, freeing up space to enhance the website’s aesthetic or functionality.
Which Website-Builder is right for me?
Before diving into your wallet, consider what you want your website to achieve. Start by sketching a basic design and exploring competitors’ sites for inspiration. Identify key features your site needs, like a photo gallery or a contact form, and think about the future. Will your website’s purpose evolve? How often will you update it? Answering these questions is essential before committing to a platform.
Many website builders offer drag-and-drop interfaces, meaning you won’t need to code. They typically also provide trial periods, so experiment with a few to see which one fits best.
Few ways you can help yourself answer this question are;
- Create an initial design for your website.
- Checkout competitors website to see what’s working for them, to get some inspiration and this step can also be used to see how you can make your website better than your competitors.
- Write down the goals of the website and a few key features that it will have, such as image slider, contact us form etc. One important factor to consider is the growth options.
- How often are you going to update the content?
- How often are you going to update the key design features?
- Is the purpose of your website change in the near future?
It’s very important to know the answers to these questions before you subscribe to a Website-building platform.
Most website builders have a drop and drag user interface, this means you don’t have to code a single line of your website. Additionally, most Website-Builders offer a trial period so you can always try different options and see which works best for you.
What kind of websites can be built using Website-Builders?
Website builders offer a range of templates suited for various industries, allowing you to customize your site with minimal effort. The best builders enable you to create premium websites with little to no coding.
The following some distinguished Website-Builders which have piqued my interest:
Squarespace
Square space is the premier mainstream Website-Builder everyone knows about for good reason as well!
It is described by some as:
“The Apple of website builders. It’s intuitive, curated and thoughtfully designed.”
The following are the pros and cons of Squarespace:
Pros
- With its recent update, Squarespace has had major improvements.
- More templates have been added to its already huge arsenal. Now all templates have access to the same feature.
- Options for customising the template are throughout the editor, you can now choose a different layout for each section, you can also edit properties such as height, padding, margins, background colour to some degree of freedom all within the page editor.
- Fonts & colours settings have improved majority since the update, now you can choose a base font and size, you can add custom fonts, similarly with colours they introduced a colour palette which allows you to choose any colour.
- They provide a various list of integrations such as:
- Amazon – Affiliate tracking.
- Mailchimp – Newsletter software.
- Acuity Scheduling – Online booking.
- Typekit – Webfonts.
- Google Fonts – Webfonts.
- G Suite – Email for your custom domain.
- Disqus – Blog comments.
- Bandsintown – Tour dates listing.
- 500px – Photo galleries.
- Instagram – Feed or your photos.
- Zola – Wedding registries.
- Chow Now – Order food for pickup or delivery.
- OpenTable – Restaurant booking.
- Apple Pay – Pay with Touch ID.
- Xero Accounting – Accounting software.
- ShipStation – Print shipping labels.
- And much more
The websites don’t take long to make and mobile optimisations are optimised for you already which saves you heaps of time.
Cons
- Providing only the templates is Squarespace’s best and worst quality, it’s true that you get a to choose from a wide variety of themes and some of the times you might find the right theme to suit your brand, but the majority of the times you would have to make sacrifices on your brand image because it doesn’t let you design a website from scratch, which is essential to make your brand unique.
- Now with the new update, you cant jump between templates once you have chosen one.
Overview
Squarespace is very clever with the features they offer, their approach to website building is to give the least amount of features required to get the maximum benefits. This means every feature they offer is essential and required. This approach helps with keeping things simple and not overwhelming their client.
Squarespace is good at everything but a master of nothing, it tries to approach website building as one size fits all mentality hence making it the jack of all traits.
It’s perfect for small business owners who want to get a decent website out without investing too much time or money.
Wix
Wix is another mainstream Website-Building platform, which very unique due to its editor and one of the main competitors of Squarespace.
The following are the pros and cons of Wix,
Pros
- Wix is unique as its one of the only Website-Builders which gives you an unstructured editor, this means you can drop various elements on your webpage and then place it with pixel-perfect precision.
- Wix offers 500+ themes to choose from, some of which are outdated and others are modern & clean.
- Using Wix you can design your website from scratch.
- All themes are responsive to various screen sizes.
- Themes are highly flexible compared to Squarespace, Weebly.
Cons
- Although the unstructured editor gives you the freedom to place elements anywhere, you have to manually move these elements for different screen sizes and it takes an ample amount of time to do this right.
- The editor sometimes glitches when you change the colour of the themes.
- Wix offers various features similar to Squarespace but falls short to Squarespace.
Overview
Perfect for business owners who want to invest some time into structuring their website to give it a unique feel, but there are still some design constraints due to the lack of freedom it offers within their features.
Using Wix you can get a website to publish which is structured in your vision hence making the website more in line with your brand personality.
Carrd
Carrd is a unique Website-Builder, it’s not well known but it has its own niche as it only builds one-page websites.
The following are the pros and cons of Carrd,
Pros
- Various templates to choose from, they all have a modern clean feel to their design.
- The editor is easy to use and is specialized for single paged websites.
- Allows you to customise the themes to some degree.
Cons
- Only useful for one-page websites
- No custom designs
Overview
Carrd is a Website-Builder for brands who have a singular page design, the templates are very clean and well suited for startups as its also very cheap and easy to use.
Webflow
Webflow is the Website-Builder which allows you to custom design your website, Webflow accomplishes this by not shying away from the complexity of HTML and CSS. it incorporates HTML, CSS fundamentals into its editor and lets you visually ‘code’ your dream website.
The following are the pros and cons of Webflow,
Pros
- Full control over the design/ structure of your website.
- Provides great bite-sized video tutorials on its editor and its capabilities.
- Allows you to add make custom complex animations with relative ease.
- Allows you to embed code on the website and also add custom code, so you can give your website the premium touch it deserves.
- Webflow offers numerous cloneable projects which can be used as templates for your website.
- Webflow gives you the ultimate design, structural freedom which comes with custom coding, minus the coding bit unless you’re doing something very specific
- For someone who has background knowledge of web development, this website builder can help you trim ample time for any project.
- Webflow has a growing community so there it has a wide variety of resources which you can use and apply.
Cons
- Requires you to understand the fundamentals of web design, for instance, style hierarchy, box model, floating, position types and much more.
- There is a bit of a learning curve involved which is aided by the video tutorials Webflow offers but still takes someone with a no coding background to get the hang of it.
- It requires a big-time investment, assuming the user doesn’t have a coding background.
- Mobile optimisations are manual and it takes a big chunk of time to edit it especially when you don’t have much experience but it allows you to make any number of changes on the mobile version.
Overview
Webflow is a Website-Builder which allows you to build dynamic websites which have a premium touch to it.
Its well suited for developers and designers who want to build amazing websites in a short time frame. It’s also well suited for people who want to invest time into a top-class website and are willing to the fundamentals of web design, its a good way to get into web development.
Conclusion
Each website builder serves different needs and preferences. Whether you prioritize ease of use, design freedom, or specific functionalities, there’s a tool out there that matches your criteria. Consider what’s most important for your online presence and choose a platform that supports your vision, be it Squarespace for its all-in-one simplicity, Wix for its design flexibility, Carrd for straightforward single-page sites, or Webflow for its advanced design capabilities.
If you’re looking to get your business website out asap and you’re happy to potentially sacrifice your brand image for the short run, then Squarespace is the Website-builder for you.
If you’re not in rush and you are looking to for a builder which allows you to structure your website without spending ample amount of time then Wix is the way to go for you.
If you’re looking for a single-paged website then Cardd is the right website builder for you.
But if you’re looking for a Website-Builder which gives that premium touch your looking for and helps you mould your vision for your dream website, then Webflow is the platform for you.
