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Does your business – or your customers’ businesses – need a website? It could be easier than you think with these user-friendly tools.
A basic website is essential for every business, yet many small businesses either have no website at all or have one that is outdated and neglected.
Building a website can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be with these user-friendly, cost-effective, and easy-to-use tools.
A brave new world
Previously, businesses had to do three things to build a website: register a domain name, create web pages using a software package, and register with a web hosting provider.
The process was complicated and often required the expertise of a professional to code in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and other web languages. Larger sites also required working with a database.
There are many companies these days that sell domain names, host web pages, and offer drag and drop website building tools that don’t require coding expertise.
These tools don’t offer all the power and flexibility of a professionally built site, but they are inexpensive, easy to use, and tick most, if not all of the boxes a small business requires.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the more popular options.
Wix
Wix is ​​the big name in hosted website builders, and for good reason, it offers everything many small businesses need from a website.
Wix includes hundreds of stylish, mobile-friendly templates to choose from as a starting point, and an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor that lets you customize many design elements.
There are many complementary apps for email and social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), website analytics, and customer relationship management.
If you need more, there is an app market with hundreds of third-party tools that can be easily installed.
Wix offers a free basic plan, with several paid plans also available, depending on the features and customizations required.
Square space
Squarespace is another popular hosted website builder that might be ideal for those looking for a modern and sleek design. Its templates are beautiful and its editor is also quite easy to use.
Unlike Wix, Squarespace designs are ‘responsive,’ meaning Squarespace web pages seamlessly change to accommodate different screen sizes, while Wix uses separate stationary designs for desktops and mobiles.
Squarespace can’t match Wix’s sheer volume of functionality, but it does offer a lot of similar options, including portfolio sites, blogs, online stores, and service company sites. It also has SEO, email marketing, analytics, and other useful tools.
Shopify
Wix and Squarespace have everything you need to quickly launch an online store, but Shopify is designed just for that purpose. All of its templates are designed to sell products and services, and it offers a more comprehensive suite of e-commerce tools.
For example, Shopify offers more payment gateways and thousands of integrations with third-party apps to help increase sales, manage shipments, and add many other features.
Shopify takes a little longer to learn than Wix, but there are still no coding skills or specialist knowledge required, and it’s ideal for businesses revolving around an online store.
Come on daddy
Many web hosting providers like Netregistry and GoDaddy now also offer online website builders. GoDaddy’s app, for example, allows you to build a basic website, online store, or service site with a simple drag-and-drop interface.
It even includes SEO, social media, email marketing, and other tools. However, while this is a comprehensive offering, its tools are more rudimentary than Wix’s, and its templates lack the finesse of Squarespace.
Still, GoDaddy’s Builder is a very affordable way to get a beautiful business website up and running fast.
Mobilize
One problem with hosted solutions is that you are effectively locked into the platform of the host. You may be able to export content, but you cannot move the entire site, including the design, to another provider.
Mobirise solves this problem by offering a more traditional website building approach. Users download its software (for Windows or Mac), create the website on their computer, and then download the finished files for publication.
Users need to organize domain and web hosting providers on their own, but once done Mobirise makes it easy to build and publish a website, and the site can be moved to another hosting provider at any time.
Mobirise lacks many of the tools that Wix has to offer, but it’s ideal if you want to build a basic yet attractive website. It’s also free, or you can purchase additional templates and add-ons for a one-time fee.
WordPress
If you want more power and flexibility, you may need to upgrade to a content management system. WordPress is clearly the market leader here, thanks in large part to its relatively easy-to-use dashboard for adding and managing content.
It also offers thousands of themes and plugins to add just about every feature imaginable – and it’s supported by most web hosting providers.
Many web hosting providers make it easy to install WordPress, although until recently you usually needed a web professional to create a custom website.
Nowadays, page builders such as Divi and Elementor offer graphical interfaces, which allow, among other things, drag and drop elements to design WordPress pages.
WordPress is still not as easy to use as Wix, but using a page builder with WordPress offers the best of both worlds.
Other options
If none of these options are right for you, there are plenty of other website builders, content management systems, and other tools for building sites.
Alternatively, there is no shortage of web designers and developers who can do the job for you. Just make sure you do your homework and choose the right people or the right tool for your needs.
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