Choosing the Right Website Builder: A Comparison of WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace

As a small-to-medium-sized business (SMB), your website is much more than an e-commerce platform. With 97% of consumers now using the internet to find local businesses, your website introduces your brand to potential customers and serves as a crucial sales funnel. SMBs with websites benefit from enhanced credibility, greater visibility, and significantly improved lead generation: Not only do 78% of local searches result in offline purchases, but small businesses with websites typically generate 126% more leads than businesses without websites.

Fortunately, website builders (such as WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace) allow SMBs to get online quickly, without requiring coding skills. Website builders use a visual, template-based interface to streamline website creation while still achieving professional results, and many platforms offer advanced functionality capable of handling complex tasks. 

Before using a website builder, however, it’s crucial to understand what makes the three major platforms distinct. While Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress share many of the same basic features, they have some important differences that can impact the overall functionality, design, and scalability of your online presence. To ensure you end up with a website that reflects your brand and vision, we have prepared a detailed guide outlining each platform’s features, pricing, and support so that you can make the most informed choice for your SMB

1. Define your business objectives.

For best results, clearly outline your overall business goals and consider how your website can support them. Depending on the nature of your products or services, your goals might include increasing sales, generating leads, improving customer service, or enhancing brand awareness.

Your business objectives will also influence the type of website you want to build. If your goal is to increase sales, for example, you may want to focus on creating a straightforward e-commerce website. If you want to make your brand more visible, an informational or portfolio website might be the ideal way to showcase your expertise in your niche, particularly if your business is service-oriented. Clarifying the type of website you want to create is crucial because it determines the layout, design, and functionality you will require. 

2. Identify your target audience.

Next, you will need to define your target audience to create content that is appealing to them. If you don’t have a website, try using social media, email, or customer satisfaction surveys to get a sense of who your ideal customers or users are. If possible, collect information about their age range, interests, pain points, and preferences. Not only will this information inform your digital marketing strategy, but it can also help you design better, more personalized products and services.

3. Set key performance indicators (KPIs).

Once you know your ideal customer, identify the metrics that will help you measure your website’s success. (Key metrics to consider include conversion rates, bounce rates, time on site, or search engine rankings.) Ideally, you should set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals to keep track of your progress and ensure you’re achieving a satisfactory return on your investment.

4. Determine required features and functionality.

With your website’s purpose in mind, list the essential features and functions you will need to achieve your business objectives and provide an excellent user experience. For an e-commerce website, for instance, a secure, reliable, and convenient shopping cart interface is a must, along with search functionality. For an informational website, you will need a robust content management system and lead generation capabilities (such as integrated forms).

5. Establish a timeline and budget.

Develop a realistic timeline for the website development and launch, taking external factors into account (e.g., the need to take photos or write content). Then, create a budget that aligns with your business objectives and determine which tasks you can handle in-house, and what you will need to outsource to third parties.

For small businesses, website builders are a game-changer. Tools like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress offer intuitive visual interfaces, allowing users to create professional-looking websites without any coding experience. This accessibility is particularly beneficial for small businesses that may not have the budget or technical expertise to build a website from scratch. Likewise, website builders typically offer affordable subscription-based pricing plans that include hosting, security, and automatic updates, further reducing the overall costs of maintaining an online presence.

Customization is another area where website builders excel. While they may not offer the same level of flexibility as a bespoke, hand-coded website, these platforms still provide a wide range of design options, allowing small businesses to create a unique online presence that matches their brand identity. Additionally, many website builders offer advanced built-in functionality (such as e-commerce capabilities, SEO tools, and social media integration) and come fully mobile-responsive, ensuring that small business websites are optimized for viewing on all devices.

With so many features and designs available, research is crucial to understanding which website builder is right for your small business. Read on to discover the advantages, disadvantages, and unique capabilities of the top three website builders:

Wix is a popular website builder known for its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, making it an excellent choice for beginners. With Wix, you can easily create a professional-looking website with minimal technical expertise, either by arranging items or by taking advantage of the platform’s built-in Artificial Design Intelligence, which can automatically generate a complete website based on user information.

Wix offers over 800 pre-designed templates and a comprehensive set of features, including e-commerce capabilities, SEO tools, and responsive designs, making it suitable for creating an e-commerce, portfolio, or informational website. The platform also takes care of hosting and maintenance services, allowing you to focus on the creative aspects of web design. However, the level of customization is more limited than WordPress, and you may have less control over the underlying code. Some users may also find Wix’s 100-page limit restrictive if they have a large site plan.

Squarespace is another all-in-one website builder known for its attractive, versatile designs and intuitive interface. Like Wix, Squarespace is a great option for those who want to create a visually appealing website without utilizing technical expertise. The platform offers over 100 templates (with options for landing pages, portfolios, blogs, and more), built-in e-commerce functionality, and powerful content management tools. Squarespace also handles all the hosting and security, making it a hassle-free solution.

Unlike Wix, Squarespace allows users to create over 1000 pages per website and provides the option to edit their website’s code. It also offers a more advanced, streamlined e-commerce experience, making this platform ideal for online stores. However, the level of customization is still more limited than WordPress, and the pricing can be slightly higher compared to other website builders.

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) on the market, powering millions of websites worldwide. Unlike Wix and Squarespace, WordPress offers customization and flexibility similar to hand-coded websites, allowing users to create complex, unique websites. With a vast ecosystem of over 30,000 themes, plugins, and third-party integrations, WordPress can be tailored to meet almost any requirement. While WordPress requires a bit more technical expertise to set up and maintain, it provides users with more control over the underlying code powering their website and the ability to scale their website as their business grows. Additionally, WordPress is an open-source platform, which means it is generally more cost-effective compared to proprietary website builders.

To set up a WordPress website, users must find a hosting provider, which requires the ability to install WordPress on a server. They will also need to research the WordPress interface, which is more complex than Wix or Squarespace. Though this steep learning curve can be intimidating to novice users, WordPress has significant advantages for businesses that wish to scale up their operations. WordPress websites can be migrated to a faster server with minimal disruption, for example, allowing business owners to adapt to a rapid surge in traffic or e-commerce demands.

When choosing a website builder, small businesses should always consider the potential for growth and scalability in addition to functionality and ease of use. If you plan to sell a large volume of products or gradually expand the size and complexity of your website, for instance, you may need to consider more advanced options, such as using WordPress or adding custom code to a Squarespace website. Before selecting a platform, check for features like upgrade options and future migration capabilities and create a sitemap to help estimate how many pages your business website will need. 

Choosing the right website builder is a critical decision for small businesses. With platforms like WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace offering a range of features and capabilities, it’s essential to carefully evaluate which one not only fits your immediate needs but also can adapt and scale as your company grows.

Likewise, it’s important to remember that while website builders make web design accessible to everyone, building a website still takes time – and may require technical expertise. Rarely, website builders can experience errors or bugs that require coding knowledge to correct, and some platforms, like WordPress, are best suited to users with a technical background. As such, it’s often beneficial for small business owners to collaborate with a web design agency, even when using a website builder. Some web design agencies, such as AllinBrand, offer specialized, highly affordable “done for you” website packages that leverage template-based platforms to create unique custom websites at a fraction of the cost of traditional web development. With this approach, you can focus on your business while our team designs a website to fit your precise specifications.

To learn more about our bespoke website design services, contact us today for a free consultation. We will be happy to help you establish a professional online presence for your small business using the website builder of your choice.