All of us at KIAI Agency Inc. love to talk about building websites, web development, tips and advice on content and social media…you name it!
Today, we’re going to talk about the platforms that you can use to build a website. There are a lot of differences between each and every platform. If you want to start owning a website yourself but don’t know where to start, this list may be able to help you.
1: WordPress
We love using WordPress at KIAI! It’s the most popular website platform, with 50,000 websites being launched every day. If you’re serious about your business and its online presence, WordPress is a must-use platform.
Because it’s an open source platform (meaning, its code is opened and can be modified and redistributed), there are tons of information and tools available for its users, so if you need help with anything, chances are there is an answer to your questions!
So why is WordPress so popular? Well, for one, it communicates great with Google! Many of the websites that appear on their first page are usually built from a WordPress website. There are tons of options for plugins for SEO and ecommerce, too, such as Yoast for SEO and Woocommerce for ecommerce. These are excellent features to have on your website if you want to rank high on Google and sell your products online!
Another big reason to use WP is that, once your website is ready, WordPress makes it easy to update information, add or change images, and post blogs and videos.
In terms of looks, there are a lot of free themes you can try out, however they might not look as professional as their Premium choices. These templates would cost about $50 US. And of course, there’s the option of building your own custom design website using WordPress as a platform for your blogs. If you don’t have experience in building websites, you should probably hire someone for the Premium and custom, as there’s coding involved. But what if you can’t afford to hire someone and wants to build a website yourself? Keep reading, we have more options below.
2: Webflow
Webflow is the next best choice after WordPress for a lot of good reasons. It’s a creative way to design your website, and it’s perfect for developers who are creative enough that they want to dapple in web design as well. Webflow is a platform for real professionals. It’s good for coding HTML into the template and design you want for your website, but you don’t have to use all of the coding 100% of the time.
Webflow has the fast ability to code, design, and develop a website simultaneously. If you want to get just the right look and feel of how your website should run while also having it be responsive, then Webflow is a great choice.
3: Wix
A tool that everyone can use. You may have seen advertisements for Wix already on YouTube. I’m specifically talking about the ads with iJustine from her channel as well as Rhett and Link from Good Mythical Morning.
The point is, Wix is very popular as a website platform because it’s incredibly user-friendly. You can set up a website easily and if you have any difficulties, their customer support is incredibly responsive.
What’s really cool about their templates is that a lot of them are video-friendly. This is great news because video marketing is especially important for any business looking to find success!
That being said, while you can have a beautiful template set up for free, it will appear with the phrase claiming it is a free website built by Wix once the site has been launched. If you’re going for a more professional look, you will need to pay a fee.
4: Weebly
Weebly has some beautiful templates to offer if you’re considering their platform. Each template can be chosen based on the type of business you want to present to your online audience.
The templates are offered so you don’t have to use code or enter HTML yourself. There are many different types of websites you can build using Weebly, and many beautiful pictures you can use when setting up your website’s template as well. You can choose a regular website if your business is very service-based. There are lots of ecommerce tools and options if you have a lot of cool products for sale. If events are more along what you promote and advertise, there are some gorgeous choices in terms of templates. Even if all you want is a personal blog, they have some great ideas!
5: Squarespace
Another popular choice in website platforms is Squarespace. You can sign up for a free trial and your credit card will not be charged for it. What’s really cool about them is that once you’ve published a blog post, for example, it will automatically be shared to your social media. You don’t have to worry about manually posting your best pieces of work because the ability is already built into your website!
Each site also contains built-in RSS so your readers don’t have to worry about bookmarking your site to see your latest content, and it can be published to Apple News directly if you have something new to share!
If you want to keep track of how your website is doing monthly, Squarespace comes with its own analytics software like Google’s. From there, you can see how your traffic numbers are doing, the number of page views, conversion rates, and more, all through their visual reports.
So which website platform should you use?
- Go with WordPress if you’re a professional.
- If you’re a beginner you have 3 options; Wix is the simplest, then Weebly, then Squarespace.
- If you have HTML knowledge, but are not a total pro, use Webflow.
Now that you know the best platforms, do you need help with building your new website? Give our team a call today! Like I said, we love to talk about websites…we also like building them, too!
Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to KIAI Agency Inc. and a clickable link back to this page.
