WordPress vs Wix vs Weebly vs Squarespace
Building your website today is quite a feasible proposition and one that does not require hiring any developers. The wide range of free and reasonably priced website platforms have made it all possible. Some of the most widely used site builder platforms today are WordPress, Weebly, Squarespace and Wix. Each of these offers the average person with powerful site-building and SEO tools. Anyone can build an engaging site without the hassle of having to learn programming languages from scratch.
The choice of a site builder platform is one of the most important and fundamental steps of establishing a website. Several factors must be considered before getting a determined answer. How your website appears, its navigation features, back-end management ease and the overall experience it offers to users are all crucial. Web design elements are also major selection criteria.
All the above-mentioned platforms offer their own combination of features, functionality, cost and benefits. Deciding to proceed with one is quite difficult for the average user. Take a look at the information provided below to outweigh the perks.
Which Site Builder Platform Can Suit your Needs the Best?
Look into each platform’s features and benefits -
# WordPress
Key Features -
* Themes from renowned designers and developers are easily accessible. You can also visit dedicated theme stores to purchase eye-catching and highly-responsive custom themes.
* Many WordPress themes are mobile-responsive, offering uniform and seamless experiences across all devices.
* WordPress offers a vast range of useful free and premium plugins that add functionality and better back-end management. These are also ideal if you want to try digital marketing on your website.
* Images are stored in well-structured galleries, can be edited and optimised easily. Videos from major platforms like YouTube and Vimeo can be self-hosted.
* The site builder is also ideal for e-commerce websites, with MarketPress and WooCommerce being popular ecosystems.
Benefits -
* Steep but rewarding learning curve, full control over all elements
* Themes and plugin licenses can be purchased, customised and migrated easily.
* Backup to Dropbox plugin ensures automatic saving of data facilitating easy revival after crashes.
* WordPress websites are SSL secured and IP address can also be blocked.
* The powerful Yoast SEO plugin is used on WordPress.
# Wix
Key Features -
* Wix offers several ready-to-implement templates for designers, businesses, hotels and restaurants, among others.
* Users can drag and drop elements to create their website, and no technical knowledge is required.
* Wix offers various gallery templates with convenient in-built editing features.
* You can access hundreds of theme templates depending on the type of website you are building.
* It is a mobile responsive platform offering uniform experience across devices.
* Wix e-commerce is a competent e-commerce website management system with comprehensive tracking features.
* It offers various apps for communication, customisation and social media.
* Users can effortlessly add background video and access numerous royalty-free photos.
Benefits -
* Wix is renowned for the ease of use it offers to first-time or inexperienced site creators. Video tutorials are provided to make things easier for users.
* You get access to several features through the platform, i.e. hosting, site builder, blog, pages, scheduler, and online storage.
* Upgrading to a premium domain is quite easy and inexpensive.
* The Wix Site Builder app enables effective web page optimisation.
# Weebly
Key Features -
* Weebly offers more than a hundred sleek and professional themes, which all have several colour variations.
* Every theme on Weebly is mobile responsive. Themes can also be edited for mobile devices with its mobile editor.
* Thousands of free and paid photos are available to use on Weebly websites.
* Adding text, image, and video elements to the Weebly site builder is very intuitive.
* It is also ideal for bloggers and offers full control over all elements i.e. tags, categories, comment, social media and RSS feed.
* Users with programming knowledge can add custom code on the platform’s theme editor.
* E-Commerce features include shopping cart, advanced tracking and secure checkouts. Shoppers also have various sorting options for variable-based product search.
Benefits -
* Integrated analytics exhibit all statistics like page views, visitor sources, search terms etc.
* Weebly sites are hosted on the cloud and ensure easy access to resources.
* Sites are quite easy to set up and users get helpful tips during the creation process.
* Loading times of websites are quite fast across all platforms.
* Powerful SSL website security maximises protection against hackers.
#SquareSpace
Key Features -
* All SquareSpace packages come with hosting and custom domains. It eliminates the need for any external services to get a site up and running.
* SquareSpace itself handles security and site backups.
* It comes with drag and drop site creation and can be built without any programming language skills.
* Theme templates are minimalist and modern, and users can opt to use multiple themes within a single website.
* All SquareSpace themes are mobile responsive and sites offer consistent functionality across platforms.
* Users can benefit from digital marketing functionalities including SEO, Mailchimp integration and social sharing.
* Bloggers can enjoy integrations with Evernote, Google, Dropbox and several other renowned third-party apps.
* Themes can be customised to a great extent if you carry knowledge of CSS.
* SquareSpace offers integrated e-commerce functionality to business owners. Shop owners can sell physical and digital products and offer convenient discount codes for customers.
* The ShipStation feature can be utilised for shipping labels printing, and it enjoys compatibility with many leading mailing services.
Benefits -
* Getting started is incredibly easy and fast.
* A block-based responsive web design system ensures peak functionality on desktop and mobile alike.
* Fees are quite nominal and packages can be upgraded based solely on requirements.
The information given above intends to give novice users an idea about the most popular site builder platforms today. You can use it as a guideline to decide upon the ideal site builder system. It makes sense for users to explore the prices charged by each and how they compare to the features.
Whether you choose WordPress, Weebly, Wix or SquareSpace, there will be no need for hiring a developer. The days of paying premium fees to developers are over.