Since the early Internet days, there have been plenty of options for building a website which can be a tad overwhelming for newbies. If you didn’t know HTML, there were even options back in the stone age. We remember Geocities back in 1994 as one of the original ways to create your website without requiring coding skills or developers. Microsoft Frontpage and Adobe Dreamweaver had a little more of a learning curve but certainly if you were more of a visual person, these tools were perfect. GoDaddy were fairly early adapters in this space as well, offering website building tools around 1997 but it was really the early 2000’s that saw a bunch come to the forefront.

WordPress was an interesting one that came in with a bang in 2003. Originally developed as a blogging platform, its open source nature allowed users to explore other ways of using it. It evolved into a fairly powerful CMS with robust features that saw some of the biggest websites leverage the platform. It now accounts for some 43% of all websites.

Squarespace came along in 2004, Wix in 2006, Weebly in 2007, Webflow in 2013 and these have become some of the more utilized platforms. These are considered more website building tools that again, don’t require a great deal of coding skills and can quickly have you up and running with a website that has some powerful capabilities. There are a lot more options but when it comes to ease of entry, these tend to be the ones most folks consider. With all of these options, there is some questionmark as to which platform to go with. As web developers and digital marketers, it’s always important for us to explore as much in our space as possible so we’ve used all of them at some point. Perhaps we can lend our perspective on your decision-making.

WordPress

So let’s have a look at WordPress first. We started Dinkum in 2005 so WordPress was fairly new. At the time, we were mainly using Drupal and Joomla to build websites. They were good but a little tricky for our clients to manage. We started trying out some WordPress websites and found that our clients were able to manage the content a lot better, ultimately saving them some money and saving us some time. Our devs also enjoyed building themes. For us at the time, it was a no-brainer to switch to strictly WordPress as we could do a lot with them and they performed great for SEO which was and still is at our core. For you however, there may be some barriers to entry. You don’t need to be a developer to add a theme, but there may be some customizations that are pretty tricky to manage. Some pre-built themes that you can buy from sites like themeforest can make it even easier as they also pre-populate with demo information that you can then update. They will often use page builders like Elementor or WP Bakery which is aimed at making managing the website easier for those who are more visual. The drag and drop experience. There is still probably some learning curve but it’s doable for many. Also can be high maintenance requirements.

Pros

• Vendor agnostic
• Scalable
• Moderately easy to use
• Very SEO friendly
• Highly familiar with users and developers
• Costs (can be very affordable)

Cons

• High maintenance requirements
• Some security concerns
• Can be complicated (especially for beginners and non developers)
• Costs (can get expensive if need a company)

Squarespace

We’ve built quite a few Squarespace websites through the years. There are times where its more appropriate. Certainly a couple of key factors with Squarespace is that it’s easy to use if you’re not a developer. Their drag and drop interface is one of the best out there and they have a great range of nice looking templates to start with. They also provide some key elements like domain name registration, SSL certificates, hosting, analytics and some other marketing tools. Pricing to start is also reasonable. Developers do not fare so well here as customizations can be quite limited.

Pros

• Easy to Use
• Design forward
• All-in-One Solutions
• Mobile Friendly

Cons

• Customization Restrictions
• Limited app integration
• No vendor flexibility
• Cost can add up.

Wix

We’ve used Wix a few times and it’s quite similar to Squarespace but with a few differences. Biggest thing for us was the App Market which allows you to easily add some functionality to your website. The interface is also pretty easy to use. They have a lot more templates available for free and you can also purchase templates. They also have a free tier if you include their branding but pricing can quickly get out of control. Wix claims they do SEO better and have tools available and they have made strides to accommodate but ultimately we wouldn’t suggest Wix if SEO is an essential factor. We found it a little buggy as well and seems to be a few more complaints against them but we can’t speak to that.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Extended capabilities
• Lot of templates to choose from
• App Market

Cons

• Limited overall customizations
• No vendor flexibility
• Cost can add up
• Buggy and glitchy at times

Webflow

Another one we have used occasionally is Webflow. We heard it was more developer-friendly so we definitely had to check that out. We found it more designer-friendly where you could build a website visually so you do not need to know how to code to use the platform. The code that it produces is pretty clean especially compared to other builders. It’s also fairly easy to use for content management which is the real plus for these website builders. There is definitely more of a learning curve required with the interface which is less drag and drop and more about working within a framework. Pricing is initially reasonable but can really get out of control depending on number of users, website visitors and features. It’s also not great for blogging so if that’s your primary requirement you might want to try elsewhere.

Pros

• No code design-friendly
• Easy content management
• More customization options
• Better SEO opportunities

Cons

• Pricing complexity
• Higher learning curve
• Poor blogging option

Summary / Thoughts

So there’s plenty of pros and cons for all platforms and of course it depends primarily on your own needs. Some just want a presence to show off their services or skills. They don’t want to update it often. They don’t want a blog. They want to set it and forget it. So in that case a website builder is perfect. We’d lean towards Squarespace for someone like that.

Others want to be a little more active. Show off their portfolio. Post a blog to communicate their thoughts and messaging. WordPress may be useful for them but it does depend on their skills and/or budget so perhaps a Squarespace or Wix will work better.

Still, if you have a small to medium business, you’re going to want something a little more, especially if you really need a lot of customizations and integrations. Webflow might be a better fit especially if you have a designer on hand or like to think you can design. More likely for something a little more robust, we would be inclined to recommend WordPress. One issue that we kept coming across when using site builders was that our clients’ needs would evolve but the website couldn’t evolve with them. Then we would have to move to another platform which is easier said than done.

Something that we try to push for all client is website management requirements. We encourage updating regularly. We promote paying attention to your website. We want you to look at your data and analytics to see what’s happening. Communicating your message is a key part of having a website. Take full advantage of that! If that means using a site builder then use a site builder.