Gone are the days when building a website meant spending months and lots of resources for it. Now you either have to hire a web developer and give them a UI/UX wireframe to follow or just go online to find the best website builder for small business. There are ample website builders available online to give you a cheaper and much easier option for building your website.
The year 2020 made many of us realize the importance of working remotely, thanks to the outbreak of a pandemic. It also taught us how to get things done by ourselves. One of which is to create a website with the help of a website builder. Also, you don’t need any coding skills or a deep knowledge of UI/UX to build your own website anymore.
But there’s one unanswered question that may be hanging you on in a dilemma – how to choose the best business website builder?
Well, here are some questions you need to answer to finally pin on the best website builder for your business.
- What’s your budget?
Yes, we told you it’d be cheaper but it’s certainly not free. So, you have to determine a budget first. Consider everything from domain registration to web hosting. Also, chip in the investments you’ll be making to hire a content writer or a graphic designer for images and copies.
Most of the website builders offer free trial plans but their premium plans cost somewhere between $10 and $50 per month. If you’re only beginning setting up your business, you can go with the trial plan initially and then look for a plan that includes hosting as well.
Find out their plans that may allow you to pay flexibly. Some of these website builders offer quarterly, monthly and yearly plans. Wix and Weebly offer an endless trial period, but your domain remains under their name. Squarespace, on the other hand, offers a short 14-days trial plan and bars you from editing your website further on until you upgrade to a premium plan.
- Is the website builder user-friendly?
Many of these website builders nowadays come with a drag-and-drop feature, which makes it easy to use for a layman. You can easily place different blocks on the pages of your website as per your preference. But you’d need to have some knowledge of website building to be able to do that.
However, with this feature, you also get to preview how your website would look once it’s built. And you can always make changes, if required.
For a basic website, you can go with a website builder like GoDaddy. You’d have to invest very little time understanding it, and its design assistance is brilliant. But for a complicated website, we’d suggest you choose a more trusted website builder like Wix or SquareSpace. These two are the top-quality builders as per common customer reviews.
- Are there enough plug-ins and modules available?
If you opt for a website builder for your small business, then you should know that a website built by such a software does not accept many third-party add-ons or plug-ins. So, make sure that the website builder you pick already comprises enough plug-ins and modules.
- How many templates and customization options does it offer?
It’s important to have multiple template options available because most website builders don’t allow you to upload new templates. Wix, for example, offers you more than 800 templates in its $14/month premium plan.
But even if there aren’t many template options available, that’s okay. Because most of these software allows you to edit the template and customize it. The templates are more or less flexible and allow you to move elements here and there. Now what’s left for you is to check the customization options available.
- Does your free trial plan offer functionality? Or do you need a paid plan?
Trial plans are great. But they don’t often offer great functionality. Most of the vital functions are available in the paid or premium plans.
In free plans, you don’t get access to extra storage space or option to disable third-party ads, or even to design a functional online store for your business.
Plus, with a free plan, you only get a domain that is third-party owned such as abcdwebsite.wix.com. So, you don’t get your own domain plus some of these websites don’t rank well on Google search results.
- Do regular updates on the website builder change your website design?
Unfortunately, yes.
These website builders often come up with new upgrades, which affect your website’s design as well. Their website developers have the right to change plug-ins or templates as per the upgrade. So, one day, you might end up seeing a website that doesn’t look like yours at all. And the worst part is, if you don’t like the update, you can’t really tell them to bring back the old version.
This is a downside of creating a website with a website builder online. But the silver lining here is that the process of building a website with these software is so quick and easy that before the next upgrade comes in, your website might already be up and running.
- Does your website builder for small businesses offer SEO services?
If you are starting up a business and looking to create a website, you should read about the importance of SEO.
SEO means search engine optimization, which helps your website rank better on search engines such as Google. Most website builders promise SEO services; they have perfect tools to optimize your website. But you can’t really determine how much it’ll work for your business.
Our suggestion is that you find a website builder that lets you work on the SEO of each page separately. That does not mean that you’ll be manually modifying the txt files or adding more analytics tools. It means that you’ll be able to add alt texts, tags and other SEO data as per your preference. You can also take help from an SEO expert for this.
- Do you get end-to-end support from the business website builders?
You are not a professional web developer, which is why you’re seeking help from these website builders. So, before you decide to buy a premium plan of a website builder, make sure you check the resources and support it offers for you to learn. It’ll be a gradual process, and there’ll be uncountable edits. So, you have to make sure that the builder offers you enough tutorials explaining the best ways to build your own website.
If you’ve been ticking off against each of these eight points for a website builder, then you have your option figured out.
The post How to Choose the Best Website Builder for your Business in 2022 appeared first on HR News.