Which Website Builder Should You Choose in 2024
Choosing a website builder for your small business or startup is a choice that should be taken lightly. Despite the claims of marketers, creating a website is a laborious, time-consuming process. Your website is also the hub of all of your marketing activities… as Josh Hall says “All roads lead to a website.” Choosing the wrong platform could cost you time, money, and even your entire marketing strategy. That’s why I created this post: to equip you with the knowledge you need to choose the right website builder in 2024.
Things to Consider When Choosing A Website Builder
Longevity
In terms of website builders, longevity refers to how long the tool has been around and supported as well as how dependable it will be going forward. You want to choose a website builder that has been around for a while, been battle-tested in the market, and is updated consistently.
Support
As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you want to choose a website builder that has excellent customer support as well as a community of active users.
How do you determine if a tool is well supported?
- If it’s a premium platform (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, etc.), contact their customer support with a question. See how long it takes them to reply. Do they respond to you or refer you to an article/blog post?
- How many active FB groups are there? If you choose WordPress, see how active the group is for the theme or plugins that you want to use. FB are a good indicator as well as a good place to get support and hire freelancers.
- Does the platform have an extensive knowledge base? This is basically an archive of how-tos, tutorials, and troubleshooting articles.
- When was the last update? Look for a changelog and see how often they update.
If a platform has the above then you can consider it well-supported.
Ease Of Use
You want to choose a website builder that you can start using right away. It should be easy to navigate. It should be easy to understand without spending an entire day watching YouTube tutorials. Finally, you should enjoy using it. This will change from person to person.
I know some people who love Squarespace. I think they are insane but it doesn’t change the fact that they love building website with Squarespace. To each their own… even if they’re wrong.
Price
Price and price tolerance for a website builder is also subjective. It’s also last on the list for a reason. Lot’s of shitty website builders will try to lure people in on price but aren’t ready for production (Looking at your, Brizy) but here’s a few things to consider:
- Does the tool offer you everything you need at the base price?
- Does the tool have a good reputation? What do the 1-star reviews complain about?
- Does the website builder up-sell you on different add ons?
- Do you need to purchase add ons, extra plugins, or a different membership in order to access features?
- Can one sale cover the cost of the subscription?
Basically, look at the available info and analyze the cost performance. It’s ok to shop around. Make use of those free trials and spend a couple days trying stuff out.
Website Builders In Action: Use Cases
Choosing the right website builder will primarily come down to how you want to use your website. What is its purpose: lead gen, online sales, traffic for Adsense revenue, affiliate sales?
E-Commerce
If you want to sell things online, I’d recommend Shopify. That’s it. You could choose to build an e-commerce store using WordPress and WooCommerce but you would need to purchase a bunch of extra premium plugins in order to achieve the same functionality that you’d get with Shopify.
It’s fast, it’s easy to use, well-supported, and it’s MADE FOR E-COMMERCE.
Brochure Sites
Brochure sites is a term web designers use to describe your typical business website. It acts a brochure for your business and entices them to call you, set up an appointment, or fill out a contact form. It’s a basic business website.
For these types of sites, I’d recommend WordPress or Wix. If you plan on investing in content marketing and SEO, choose WordPress. I choose WordPress over Wix (despite being a fan of Wix) because WP is really built for content marketing and SEO. You also aren’t locked into it like you are a Wix site.
Affiliate Marketing & Adsense
Choose WordPress. It’ll serve you best and it’s what all the pros use.
Lead Generation
This really depends on your product/service. WordPress is a solid choice for this purpose. My site is built with WordPress using Kadence Blocks but Webflow or Wix could also be very good choices. Webflow is a particularly good choice if you have design skills.
Don’t Use Squarespace
Notice how I never mentioned Squarespace as the right tool for the job? That’s because it basically sucks at everything. Squarespace is really only good at marketing itself to the masses. It’s not as bad as Canva’s website builder but that’s not saying much.
Also, Don’t Use GoDaddy
GoDaddy and other hosting services will upsell their website builders but these things are horrible. Don’t use them. Just don’t use GoDaddy, period. They provide a subpar product to unwitting customers but promote it at being top-notch.
No serious web designer uses GoDaddy.
Conclusion
When you’re trying to choose a website builder for your business, stick to WordPress, Webflow, Shopify, or Wix. Once you’ve figured out how you want to use your website, compare these tools on price, longevity, support, and ease of use. After that, commit to the tool until you outgrow it. Don’t jump from platform to platform willy nilly.
Thanks for sticking with me through this article and watching the video! Please share this if you found it helpful.
