The Best Website Platform for Small Businesses
Looking for the best website platform for your small business?
Whether you already have a website and you’re planning a transition, or you’re building one for the first time, you’ll learn the best options for your small business.
If you don’t have a website yet, you’re not alone.
Only 64% of small businesses do have a website, and many of them believe that they’re too small to have one, according to Pixolab.
At the same time, according to a study conducted in 2019, more than half of small businesses without a website planned to build one that year.
There’s a simple reason that having a website should be a top priority: because your customers want (and expect) it. A website is a cornerstone of any digital marketing strategy.
88% of consumers research a product online before making a purchase. If your small business isn’t online, a majority of consumers will automatically disqualify your small business.
That said, building a website for your small business is not always that easy. It can seem expensive, and there are a lot of factors to consider.
This post will make it easier by breaking it down, step-by-step.
First, decide whether to hire a designer, or choose a website platform To do the design for you.
Hiring a designer delivers some benefits, and if you’re selling a more complex product, this might be the best option for you. (If you do hire a designer, make sure that they are skilled in search engine optimization, website migration as applicable, and mobile optimization.)
However, most startups and small businesses don’t have a design team and aren’t ready to pay a designer thousands of dollars to create a totally custom website. For many businesses, a website platform is the best and easiest solution.
If that sounds like you, read on:
Second, you need to understand the software you’ll use to build the website.
Remember that there are a few different tools you need to have a website: a domain manager, a web hosting tool, and a website builder platform.
The domain manager is basically the online store where you buy your web address. If you already have a website, you may already have a domain manager.
The best of these is GoDaddy. Their rates are reasonable and their support is great. There’s no reason to over-complicate this part of the process. Feel free to comment if you have questions about this.
A web hosting tool is essentially a parking space online; learn more here. Most platforms do include web hosting. There is one notable exception: Wordpress.org. If you choose to use Wordpress for your website hosting, we highly recommend using BlueHost as your web hosting tool.
A website design platform. These softwares have different pre-built templates that you can customize to make your own.
[Read Also: How to Find the Best Software for Your Small Business]
Third, you need to choose a website platform.
The top website platforms are Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, Leadpages, HubSpot, and the big kahuna, Wordpress.
We’ll cover all of them in the next section, but if you want a simple summary of recommendations, scroll a little further.
For websites that need a lot of different elements, such as a creative portfolio and blog, we recommend Squarespace. Squarespace supports commerce functionality, has some built-in marketing reporting, and does have an email add-on. Unlike other platforms, Squarespace also allows you to host multiple blogs on their website. It’s beautiful, fairly easy to use, and has a lot of modifications. We’ve used it for years, and their support is great. However, Squarespace sites tend to load (very) slowly and integrations with other platforms can present a few challenges.
If you can’t find a template on Squarespace that meets your needs, Wix is a good second option because it’s totally freeform. If you have a designer or are design-savvy, Wix can be an option; overall, it offers more templates and more design functionality. If you don’t have design skills or don’t want to spend a lot of time learning a new tool, Wix is probably not a great option.
For eCommerce websites, we definitely recommend Shopify. The templates are great, and they offer all the functionality you need to begin selling your products and grow your business. Plus, they offer lots of great integrations with other eCommerce-focused tools.
For lighter websites and non-eCommerce small businesses, I’d recommend LeadPages. They have a few different templates, and are really conversion-focused. Leadpages was originally just a landing page platform, but they’ve expanded their offerings to conversion-focused sites. Unfortunately, they don’t offer any eCommerce functionality on their websites, and their blog functionality seems to be limited.
Technically, you can also build your own website with HubSpot templates. It’s not a bad route to go; if you plan to use HubSpot for much of your marketing efforts, it may be the best option for you. That said, it’s the most complicated solution to the problem, and would probably be hard to implement without help from a designer. Why? HubSpot doesn’t offer pre-built, complete website designs. It has a marketplace where designers can upload templates for single pages. That means you have to build your small business’s website page-by-page.
Finally, let’s talk about Wordpress. There are actually two different Wordpress tools: wordpress.org and wordpress.com. Here is the information you need to understand the difference between them:
Wordpress.com is the simplest version of the Wordpress platform, because it includes both web hosting and web design, and it’s good for people who are starting a blog or a basic website. You’ll have to pay a small amount to have your own domain, and for some premium features here. You can only choose from the available free or premium templates. Also, you won’t have access to the backend of your site, including any code, databases, or other tools.
Wordpress.org provides more functionality and more customization, including access to all of your data. That said, you will need to use a separate hosting tool (again, Bluehost is our recommendation). The most important benefit of Wordpress.org is that you can upload your own plugins; no other platform has such integrated add-ons. For example, Yoast is a purpose-built SEO plugin that will grade your webpages for search engine optimization. It integrates absolutely perfectly with Wordpress.org.
If you’re serious about growth and you’re committed to using Wordpress, you should use Wordpress.org. Frankly, it’s a bit more challenging than some of the other options here, but there are important use cases.
In summary, here are our recommendations for the best website platforms:
Recommendation for Most Small Businesses, Particularly Those with Complex Sites, Creative Offerings, or Light Commerce Needs: Squarespace
Cost: $11-36/mo
Recommendation for eCommerce Small Businesses: Shopify
Cost: $29-299/mo.
Recommendation for Non-eCommerce, Conversion-Focused Small Businesses: Leadpages
Cost: $25-199/mo
Recommendation for Custom-Designed Sites: Wordpress.org & Bluehost
Cost: $15-50/mo., plus design costs
Now that you know the basics of choosing a platform, you’re ready to take the next step in actually building your site - hiring someone to help. We’d be happy to be considered. Contact us today to learn more.
Finally, these recommendations - and many more - are included in our list of the best softwares for small businesses and startups.
If you’re tired of researching the right tools for your growing business, this free resources can help. Get the guide here!
