When it comes to building a website for your business, there are plenty of options. It can be a bit confusing to figure out what the differences are, benefits, cons, pricing, and functionality. Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, WordPress and others are some of the main competitors when it comes to web design platforms that don't require you to pass a 6-week coding bootcamp or have a degree in computer science.
Most business owners fall into the following categories when it comes to website building...
- Classic - Classic website with information on the business, what they offer, and how to reach out. This kind of website is the easiest, as there is no functionality needed like payments, inventory management, scheduling software, or alike.
Store - eCommerce websites that enable visitors to make purchases can be a bit trickier, and there are a lot of possible functions you'll want if you're selling something on your website.
- Do you want to track your inventory?
- Sync it up with your in-store inventory?
- Integrate a CRM to manage customer data?
- Take payments locally and internationally across different credit cards, buy now pay later options like AfterPay, or from PayPal?
- Sync up to shipping software to easily factor in the cost of shipping and print labels?
- Utilize cart abandonment, gift cards, coupons...?
- Allow memberships and pricing plans?
- Service - Some services allow you to pay online, book an appointment, or more.
Of any of these options, if you're a small business owner, there is one thing you should have - the ability to edit your own website whenever you want, yourself. Waiting around for your website manager to make a small change, or fix something extremely important can be very stressful, and every small business owner knows that what you can have full control over, you want full control over. For this reason, a DIY website builder is key. HOWEVER, building a great website is hard, even if these programs look easy. And managing them, making changes, or updates can be a hassle, so sometimes you'll want to team up with an agency or consultant to have access to your website and be there as needed.
Wix can handle all of these. It isn't the best at every one of them, but it does all of them, and you stay in full control of your own site.
Not sure Wix is the right fit for your business? My free platform quiz asks a few questions about what you need and tells you which platform I'd use.
