Website Platforms: Which One is Right For Your Business?

Jul 13

Okay, so selecting a website platform for your business can be overwhelming, confusing, and straight up frustrating. I get it. If you’re not a web designer or someone who understands the differences between them, you can find yourself going down a Google rabbit hole.

But, this is where I come in and lay it out for your simply and straight forward on which website your business should be on depending on what your long-term goals and what platform will help you achieve them.

For My Service Providers

If you’ve been following for awhile, you know I talk about Squarespace (often). Squarespace is an all-in-one website creation platform that is perfect for small business owners and service providers.

There are many benefits to using this platform, so let me break them down for you below.

Easy to manage after designed + developed
Quick and easy chat support
Built in SEO capabilities
Basic e-commerce store to sell merchandise + downloadables
Other features such as members only areas, email marketing capabilities, scheduling appointments, and more

It truly is the all-in-one platform because they offer a free domain for the first year! Squarespace is fairly affordable for any small business owner with their business plan for $23 per month on an annual plan. Plus, they have an app to manage your business on-the-go, and that’s something I love as a small business owner!

Click on the images below to take you to their websites.

For My E-Commerce Businesses

Whether you own a retail store, a few locations or starting off as an online store, Shopify should be your choice of platform. There are many other website platforms to choose from, but Shopify is the superior platform and fits the bill for the online + retail space.

With that being said, here’s a laundry list of reasons to have your store on Shopify.

It’s the most secure and reliable platform out there
Available in over 20 languages, which makes it easy to translate content throughout your site
Design customization makes your brand stand out from others
The platform is built for growth and offers plans to fit your needs
It’s affordable and the basic plan (that is far from basic) starts at $29 per month
An extensive analytics dashboard
Lots of marketing options in the dashboard
Shipping made easy and customizable to your business
And many other amazing features

Many large retailers and companies you love such as KKW Beauty, Gymshark, and Whole Foods Market host their website on Shopify.

Below are a couple Shopify websites I’ve designed + developed to see the potential by using this platform. Click on the images below to take you to their websites.

Make it stand out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

For My Content Creators + Bloggers

If you’re a blogger, someone who pumps out a lot of content, and wants to link up to all your affiliate marketing — WordPress was created for you! Although it has its downfalls and isn’t my favorite platform, it’s the best one out there for bloggers and content creators.

Here’s why…

It has an extensive library of plugins (apps) to incorporate various elements into your site
It’s perfect for long-format content and lots of it
Affiliate marketing ties in really nicely such as RewardStyle
SEO capabilities through Yoast (a plugin) to organize your pages and posts to rank better on Google and search engines

Here’s a look into a client’s website that’s hosted on WordPress. This website below has transformed and has been designed three times in the past 8 years due to the business model changing. It first started out as a fun, side project, which lead to a full-time blog, and now the blog is just a piece of their design company.

With years and years of blog content hosted on WordPress, we decided to keep them on this platform so there wouldn’t be any chance of losing any posts.

Click on the image below to view their site.