“Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder still, perhaps too hard.”
I like this quote from best selling author Barry Schwartz (the Author of The Paradox of Choice) because it captures perfectly the struggle when you are standing in the sauces aisle at your local supermarket or trying to decide which technology to use for your service company website
The goal of this post is to draw the "big picture" and give you the keys to make your decision with serenity
20 years ago, building a static webpage was as simple as:
- Opening a text editor
- Jolting tags on the page like these:
<html>
<body>
<h1> Hello World </h1>
</body>
</html>
- Save the file as .html
- Open the file with a browser
And voila, you had a web page. Upload it to a server and you even get a website
In 2023, this web thing has been moving forward at a very fast pace: according to a report by IBISWorld, the Web design industry has generated over $42 billion in revenue in 2021 in the United States alone
Today most business have an online presence: to accompany this massive move online, the tech industry has developed a plethora of tools to build websites for any kind of needs, business and people (even those without coding skills)
Not sure if your need a website? Check this post Does Your Service Business Really Need A Website? The Honest Answer
With so many options to choose from, how do you choose the one that will work best for you?
Don't panic, I am here to help. From experience, you can narrow this down to 2 elements that are unique for your situation
These are:
- Your business goals + the website features you need to achieve these goals
- Your access to technical skills + the time / budget you want to spend on technical tasks
Once you are clear on your goals, here is how to decide:
Case #1: Your goal = create (quickly) an online presence
- Your website is for branding / marketing purpose with standard features (contact forms, newsletter opt-in, SEO...)
- You have limited technical skills and/or dont’ want to spend resources on managing the site
- Having an original design is not mandatory, a clean template is enough
- Changes on the site will be limited
You can even build the site yourself with Wix and pay a monthly fee to host the site: No technical skills required and no maintenance
It is fast and cost efficient BUT has 2 downsides:
- Your website won’t stand out from the many others built on the same platforms with the same templates
- You depend on Wix for the hosting with a direct impact on your site performance and its SEO (Wix sites are known for not being optimized code-wise and being slower).
May not be a deal breaker as long as you keep in mind you may quickly get blocked
Case #2: You goal= a marketing website to generate leads
- Branding / marketing purpose with standard features like contact forms, newsletter registration and optimized SEO
- You have limited technical skills and/or dont’ want to spend resources on managing the site
- You want your website to standout and generate leads that feed a CRM (Hubspot…)
- You are planning a content strategy and frequent updates on the site (content, layout…)
Webflow is a really cool platform for building websites that even non-techies can use. You don't need to know how to code to create professional-looking websites with Webflow, thanks to its drag-and-drop interface and pre-made templates. When it is technically possible to build the site by yourself without a tech background (Webflow is a no code builder), you will have to invest serious time to learn the tool (at least ~100 hours) or hire a Webdesigner (check this post for advices on how to find one)
Webflow offers native integrations with mainstream software products (CRM, booking system, payment gateway) but not all of them (I recently had to turn down a project because I couldn’t integrate a local Vietnamese payment gateway with no code). Learn here how you can sell digital assets with Webflow and Shoprocket
To make your site stand out, you will need stunning visuals (learn with this detailed guide how to choose them) and strategies
Case #3: You goal= build an e-commerce website
- Your website is mostly for
- You have limited technical skills and/or dont’ want to spend resources on managing the site
- You want your website to standout and generate leads
- You are planning a content strategy and frequent updates on the site (content, layout…)
Shopify is an all-in-one e-commerce platform that enables businesses to easily create and manage online stores. You can build the site by yourself without technical skills (the secret is to select carefully a theme and stick to it)
Webflow also offers an e-commerce plan but at date, Shopify is a lot more flexible
Case #4: You goal= a site packed with custom features
- Your business goals require you to integrate complex features on your website like a booking systems, payment gateways
- Or you need to connect your websites with other products not standard like a an inventory tracking software, an ERP…
WordPress is a versatile content management system (CMS) that is widely used to build websites, blogs, and online stores. One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is its extensive library of plugins, which enable users to add new features and functionality to their websites, such as e-commerce capabilities, social media integration, and search engine optimization. Additionally, WordPress allows for custom integrations with third-party tools and services, allowing users to tailor their website to their specific needs.
This however comes with some serious downsides:
- Security: WordPress is a popular target for hackers and other malicious actors
- Performance: WordPress can be resource-intensive, which can lead to slow page load times and other performance issues
- Complexity: Although WordPress has a user-friendly interface, it can still be quite complex to set up and manage, especially for non-technical users.
- Updates: WordPress frequently releases updates to its core software and plugins, which can sometimes cause compatibility issues or even break a website if not handled carefully.
- Customization: While WordPress offers a wide range of customization options, some advanced customizations may require coding knowledge, which can be a challenge for some users.
Final words
In conclusion, choosing the right website builder depends on your specific needs and preferences. WordPress, Wix, and Webflow are all great options for building professional-quality websites, but each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses:
- To go fast go with Wix
- To stand out, go with Webflow
- For ecommerce, go with Shopify
- For complex use cases, go with Wordpress or a custom development
