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Previously to create a website, you needed to know how to code or pay a programmer to make a website for you. Today, you can use a website builder to build a website from scratch without all of those skills. But, choosing the best site builder for small business can be challenging. To help you decide on one, we’ve broken down what to look for when choosing and which website builder we suggest!
What Is a Website Builder?
A website builder is an all-in-one software tool that lets users build a website quickly. Generally, you won’t need to know how to code or have expert website design skills to use a website builder.
An ideal website builder is easy to navigate through, it should help you build a professional-looking website that looks good on both desktop and mobile devices. Most modern website builders make it easy to integrate e-commerce and social media tools.
Most website builders also include template options to guide your website design. Different templates may be more suitable for small business owners, bloggers, or online stores.
What To Look for When Choosing a Website Builder
Before choosing a website builder, you need to jot down what you want to do with your website. Is it a blog? Is it an e-commerce store? What are your goals and what website features will help you to achieve those goals?
It’s important to choose a website builder that can handle your needs as your business grows. Here are features to look for when choosing a website builder.
- Design Templates: If you have little to no experience coding, make sure your website builder has ready-made templates for you to use. These templates should be modern and functional. Typically they’re specific to your products or service such as an online retailer, blogger, or small business owner.
- Customizable Options: Design templates give you a great place to start but don’t always have a lot of flexibility. When your business grows, can your website grow with you? Can you have your website upgraded by a professional website builder without losing your hard work? It’s important to keep the future in mind when building your website. Make sure your website builder has the option for upgrading out of their basic design templates.
- Mobile-Friendly Design: Did you know there are now more searches on mobile devices than on desktop computers?* This means your website must be mobile-responsive. Make sure the website builder has the capability of working well both on desktop and mobile devices.
- Integration & Functionality: Do you need to integrate social media into your site? If you’re an online retailer, e-commerce and social media integration is a must! Make sure to choose a website builder that supports functionality for both your current and future needs.
- Search Engine Optimization: Make sure your website builder has SEO features. Look for the ability to create SEO-friendly URLs, meta titles, headers, and alt text for your photos.
- Cost: The price of website builders varies but know what you’re paying for. Compare the features & abilities before selecting a website builder.
- Tutorials and Resources: Check to see if your website builder has resources and an FAQ on their site. Also, check to see if there are YouTube tutorials available to help guide you through using your website builder.
Different Website Builder Options
There are many ways you can build a website! Website builders like WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, and Weebly are all options we see regularly. Most of these options have some or all of the features we mentioned above. But, there are several major differences we know that have solidified our choice of the best website builder for small businesses.
The Best Site Builder for Small Business: WordPress
- It’s free! Open source, anyone can contribute to the improvement of core functionality and security.
- It’s highly scalable and customizable so you can grow your website with your business. There’s a plugin or extension for anything and everything, lots of free ones! Plus, the code isn’t difficult to learn (from a coder’s point of view).
- With Squarespace or Wix, if you stop paying for their services, you lose your website. You can’t transfer the design and content to a different platform or host. WordPress is easily transferred to different web hosts.
- Use themes to control how your website looks. You have different options for how to create and select a theme that best fits your business. You can use a third-party out-of-the-box theme and you can customize it to your business need, use the WordPress develop theme that comes with the download, or get a programmer to custom code a theme for you. If you hire a programmer or design team to custom code a theme for your website, this guarantees your site features everything you want it to.
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