WEBSITE BUILDER
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What is a Website Builder?
A program called a website builder (also known as a website maker or website creator) aids in the creation of websites without the need for manual coding. There are two types of website builders: Offline and Online Website Builders.
You may download and install offline website builders as software apps on your PC. When you're finished, all you need to do is upload all of your website's files to a web host after building your website and saving your files on your computer.
Meanwhile, web-based and powered by the service of the provider are online website builders. You only need a web browser (such as Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer) and an Internet connection with online website builders, as opposed to offline website builders, which need you to download and install software on your computer. You may now edit your website from any location and device.
Compared to online website builders, offline website builders allow you to work on your website even when you are not connected to the internet. However, you will need to have at least some technical knowledge or expertise because you will have to submit your files to a web host. And, along with the website builder program, you will also need to buy a hosting account.
Meanwhile, online website builders already include web hosting, saving you money.
Benefits of Using a
Website Builder
As mentioned, website builders are perfect if you’re a small business is on a tight budget as you don’t need to hire a
web developer to create a website for you. But, aside from this do-it-yourself approach, here are the other benefits that comes with using the website builder to create your small business’s site.
Quick Website Creation
The best website builder for small businesses will enable you to launch your new website almost immediately. With pre-populated web pages, ready-to-use tools and apps, and pre-designed templates, the best website builder for small businesses streamline the entire website construction process.
The first step is picking the design template that best suits your requirements. The best website builder for small businesses has a collection of hundreds of templates. Each template has elements and content already included, making it easy for beginner website creators. Simply click on an element to alter it, replacing the text and pictures with your own. Drag and drop operations are used to reposition page elements. And to improve your website, the best website builder for small businesses allows you to incorporate additional elements using widgets and plug-ins. Images, photo galleries, movies, contact forms, blogs, and social sharing buttons are examples of common widgets and features that the best website builder for small businesses provides. Once done, just hit Publish! Your website is now live!
No Technical Skills Required
The best website builder for small businesses is made for those with little to no technical expertise. The normal individual just needs to write in text, upload photographs, and update and edit certain elements with a click or drag of a mouse when employing drag-and-drop technology and a user-friendly interface. With the best website builder for small businesses being simple to use, this makes them ideal for beginners. Even for people who struggle with technology yet want to be website creators, using the best website builder for small businesses should not require much from them.
No Design Talent Required
For aspiring website creators, building your site could be an intimidating task as it takes at least some graphic design skills to create an appealing website. But one of the advantages of using the best website builder for small businesses is its templates, and the best part is that you don't have to adhere strictly to the design of the template since it allows you to customize the template to match your requirements and preferences.
Responsive Website
With the convenience offered by mobile devices, more and more Americans are browsing and making purchases online using their phones. As a result, up to 70% of all web traffic now occurs on mobile devices. Using the best website builder for small businesses, you can make a website that is optimized for mobile devices. The display of your site will remain the same even when it is accessed from a variety of devices since this site design uses the same URL and HTML.
Update Anytime, Anywhere
If you want your website to be successful, regular updates are a need. You must offer your visitors fresh and interesting information and new or new goods or features since they are always searching for what's trendy. Using the best website builder for small businesses, you can make regular updates to your website.
And, since the best website builder for small businesses is usually online, you can log in and edit your website wherever you have access to the internet or a browser. The login information and the website builder's address are all that you need to edit your website.
Criteria:
Features of The Best Website Builder for Small Businesses
Now that you got to know the benefits you’ll get from using a website builder, you may be thinking that it’s time to try one out for yourself. However, when you search the keywords “website builder,” “best website builder,” “website maker,” or” website creator,” you’ll see that there are a ton of website builders out there. And unfortunately, although all of them label themselves as the best website builder for small businesses, they’re actually subpar.
To help you know whether you’re indeed using the best website builder for small businesses, here’s a list of five important features that you should look for:
BEGINNER-FRIENDLY
As mentioned, the best website builder for small businesses is designed to provide those with little to no technical knowledge of coding the ability to create and launch their website. That said, the best website builder for small businesses must be beginner-friendly or easy to use. The editor should be clean, have complete features, and has no limitations on where you can place elements.
You should look for another website builder if the one you’re currently using has a complicated interface. As a business owner, you shouldn't have to spend hours of additional time trying to find out how to utilize a website builder or settle for workarounds and alternatives.
HUNDREDS OF PRE-FORMATTED TEMPLATE OPTIONS
The best website builder for small businesses should have hundreds of templates for you to choose from across various categories – from health and wellness, fashion, and exercise, to modern business, landscape, and adventure. Also, you should be able to customize each template. The best website builder for small businesses allows you to change the color, layout, font, HTML/CSS codes, etc. of your website.
The best website builder for small businesses should also give you a head start in your website creation process by providing you with a pre-formatted layout. Other than the basic design elements being present, you should be able to find placeholders for images, texts, and other elements commonly found on a page. This way, the best website builder for small businesses conveniently allows you to replace them with your images and content.
ECOMMERCR AND FORMS
The best website builder for small businesses offers you eCommerce tools and the option of a built-in store or integrating a third-party application. Their eCommerce tools should include add-to-cart options, and calculations, and should allow you to integrate your shipping and payment options and more.
The best website builder for small businesses should also allow you to create forms for customer inquiries and feedback, orders, and more. You should be able to lay out the form based on its purpose and should have plenty of customizable options, including the ability to add CAPTCHA, radio buttons, checkboxes, allow notifications and confirmation messages, and more.
DOMAIN NAME
A temporary site address is typically provided when you establish a website with a website builder, and it typically takes the form of a sub-domain (yoursite.example.com). Utilizing a custom domain is crucial since it not only gives your website legitimacy but also improves its search engine rating. Fortunately, the best website builder for small businesses lets you use your unique domain name, and even provides a free domain name and web hosting with the purchase of their website builder package.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Using various SEO tactics, websites may get better search engine rankings. The ultimate objective is to gain visibility and, ideally, rank at the top of search engines like Google and Bing. This will result in more hits and visits. Visitors that come from your SEO efforts are free and differ from paid traffic (such as Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, etc.). What Google and your users will find most relevant about your website is its content. This is where on-page SEO comes into play. The website must, above all, be helpful to your visitor.
The best website builder for small businesses should allow you to optimize your pages for SEO. That said, it should allow you to edit your page title, meta description, URLs, headings, alt image attributes, redirects, etc.
R E V I E W
Top 7 Well-Known Best Website Builders for Small Businesses
Using the above-mentioned features of the best website builder for small businesses as criteria, we’re going to compare well-known website maker platforms. By laying out their pros and cons, we’re going to help you determine which of them is indeed the best website builder for small businesses. That said, the website maker platforms that we’re going to assess are GoDaddy, Wix, Shopify, WordPress, Squarespace, Lambo Flame, and Web Safe King.
Affordability
Known as one of the best website builder for small businesses, the GoDaddy website builder, along with being straightforward to use, is combined with web hosting services and includes compatibility and enhanced security. Its drag-and-drop interface enables customizing and other advantages include good support and strong analytics.
However, design freedom is seriously limited with the GoDaddy website builder. Because you won't have any access to sophisticated tools, customizing your website could be challenging. Because of the themes' simplicity, it may be challenging for you to create a website.
Wix
Wix website builder offers a variety of tools, hundreds of templates, and a drag-and-drop interface that is versatile, features that place them as one of the well-known best website builder for small businesses. Its reasonably priced plans have a 14-day money-back guarantee, making them perfect for small businesses on a tight budget. With its free plan, you get the whole site builder; premium plans provide you with an ad-free, feature-rich site builder.
However, the Wix website builder is first a little complicated, so you need to take some time to get accustomed to its interface. Its eCommerce options are also a bit costly and its free sites have long domain names. Wix website builder also has a weak mobile version and backend navigation and a slow loading speed.
Shopify
Shopify website builder makes it simple to launch an online store in a matter of minutes by providing a wide selection of third-party apps through a clutter-free user interface, earning it the title of one of the best website builder for small businesses, especially for those who want to sell online. It gives great capabilities for marketing and security and has a built-in shopping cart and checkout manager.
However, the Shopify website builder might be costly if you’re a small business on a tight budget. And as it’s mainly used for eCommerce, the Shopify website builder has very few themes and offers limited customization options.
Wordpress
The WordPress website builder is well-known as the go-to for blog creation as it provides a wide variety of layouts, an easy-to-use interface, and a full complement of capabilities. Its affordable subscription plans provide things like better support and access to a sizable template library, placing them as one of the known best website builder for small businesses.
However, with the WordPress website builder, you’re likely to face plug-in conflicts. And, although the WordPress website builder allows you to highly customize your site, it’s also quite breakable. If you don't know what you're doing, it's simple to ruin your website. That said, the WordPress website builder hands you a challenging learning curve. Also, versions of plugins occasionally don’t align with their WordPress versions. And, if you’re opting on only using the free plan, you are unable to install plugins unless you upgrade. Hosting and technical management are not included as well.
Squarespace
The Squarespace website builder is one of the known best website builders for small businesses because it assists everyone in creating attractive websites, from artists to business owners. The majority of its users will agree that the Squarespace website builder is the most aesthetically beautiful of the well-known website builders because of their available templates. It’s also simple to use and can handle blogs, eCommerce, domain hosting, and SEO.
However, to access advanced features like custom code, you need to pay for a business plan. And to add components like event countdown clocks, it is critical to have the access to enter custom codes. The Squarespace website builder also lacks a comprehensive multilingual approach. And compared to others, there are fewer applications and add-ons present in the Squarespace website builder. Its eCommerce capabilities also fall short of competing programs that provide plugins and other functionality.
Web Safe King
The Web Safe King website builder allows you to create a website in less than an hour. It’s that easy to use their platform. They also have templates available for different industries, allowing you to customize and reflect your vision.
The greatest advantage of the Web Safe King website builder is its affordability, making them the best website builder for small businesses. With their $5.99 website builder personal package, you’re already guaranteed a responsive mobile design, web hosting, speedy page load performance, blog, SSL, and 24/7 tech support. The Web Safe King website builder also allows you to establish an eCommerce site, integrate your social media, and SEO your site.
Lambo Flame
Another known best website builder for small businesses is Lambo Flame. The Lambo Flame website builder is easy to use. It also has full features and allows no restrictions on where you may position items in the editor. Unlike other website builders, it won't take you all day to find out how to use their platform to develop your website, making it perfect for web design beginners.
The Lambo Flame website builder also offers hundreds of themes in a variety of categories, including modern business, landscape, adventure, fashion, and health and wellness. These templates can all be quickly customized because they are all pre-formatted. Their platform also allows you to establish an eCommerce page and create forms. And since Lambo Flame is both a web design and web hosting company, they have affordable website builder packages that come with a free domain name and hosting. The Lambo Flame website builder also allows SEO to better help your business gain visibility in both local and national areas.
