Squarespace – Everything to Sell Anything!
Well that’s the claim that the company make as a flexible and affordable web builder for small to medium businesses. But so do Wix, WordPress, Showit, GoDaddy & Webflow to name a few. Each platform has its own pros and cons and there may be one platform that suits your requirements better. Here at Clare Walter Design, I’ve tested Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Showit and Webflow and below I break down the benefits of each platform, as well as why it might not be for you.
WordPress
WordPress is a very flexible platform and allows you to use styling editors like Elementor, Bricks, Breakdance & Divi to customise your site to exactly how you want it. Or youIt has good SEO capabilities as developers have good access to the meta data of your site. Here’s a preview of how Elementor works:
The user interface requires a lot of time to master, so to DIY you’ll need to invest days, even weeks to get it right.
It relies on plugins to provide a huge range of components on your website. It also and relies on a lot of user diligence to ensure that plug-ins are updated and maintained to ensure that your site doesn’t lose its integrity. It’s wise if you get a WordPress website to sign up to a maintenance plan after the build, to make sure security & component plugins don’t break. It’s not a ‘plug and play’ platform like the ones below and requires ongoing support. To hire a web designer to build your WordPress site can also be costly. Some basic 4-6 page brochure sites start at $5-6K and if you’re looking for an e-commerce site you’re likely to have to invest $10K+.
Who it’s for?
- Businesses who want a great deal of customisation and ongoing maintenance & support
Who it’s not for
- Businesses who want a more cost-effective solution
- Those who don’t want to worry about ongoing support to manage plugin updates & security
Squarespace
Squarespace is a fully managed platform which means unlike others of its kind, you don’t need to keep updating plug-ins, widgets or worry about security updates, it’s all done for you in the background. It uses the Fluid Engine drag-and-drop editor which makes building quicker, meaning a more cost-effective website for you if you hire a designer to build it for you. It seems intuitive and to build a very simple site based on a template, DIY is certainly possible. But it can consume your time pretty quickly and it can take a while to get used to the interface.
Here’s a sneak peak of what it looks like to design in Squarespace:
The interface is sleek allows developers to enter CSS code, which means they can easily customise most components to your brand & requirements.
Once built, it’s very easy to make edits, change photos and add sections. Your web designer can also set up templates for blogs, pages & blocks making it easy for you to add content after all the styling and base pages are set up. The back end is very intuitive and things like email set-up, online booking & domain management are very simple to manage.
The downside is it is not THE cheapest way to get a website built. The reason being, a developer will still need to know code in order to fully customise the site to your brand. And this kind of knowledge comes at a price. But if you’re paying someone to design your site they will most likely know how to code, hence why WordPress & Squarespace are the most popular platforms for true web developers.
Who it’s for?
- Businesses who need a website build within the $2-5K range and are looking for a professional website designed quickly
- Those who want to be able to make updates to their website once its built without having to worry about breaking anything
- Those who don’t want to pay for ongoing maintenance
Who it’s not for?
- Businesses who want a great deal of customisation on their website and have specific components in mind
- Those who have a bigger budget and can pay a developer to maintain their site long-term
Wix
Wix is another great platform in terms of user friendliness but it’s just not as flexible as other platforms and a nightmare in the event of rebranding.
They do have some direct technical support but business hours only, not 24/7. You can whip up a fairly decent site in Wix yourself at a cheap price, but to do anything more involved will take a big chunk of your time. Web designers tend to steer clear of it as its user interface is annoying and it can be quite buggy.
Who it’s for?
- Businesses who already have a Wix account and set on keeping it there
- Those who are happy for a web designer to spend a little longer designing their website and don’t necessarily want to make updates themselves after the build
Who it’s not for?
- Businesses who have a tiny budget and don’t want to pay extra for plugins as they can get quite expensive through Wix
- Those who don’t need 24/7 customer support through their platform
- mer support through their platform
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is probably the cheapest, simplest but the most basic of web builders. Originally a web domain hosting platform, their main interest is ongoing web hosting and domain registration fees. The primary limitations of their web design business are limited site design and customisation, no unlimited storage or ecommerce tools. Worse still, very little integration with social media and a whole host of intermediate to advanced 3rd party marketing tools. Their low priced plans might be cheaper on the surface, they can quickly become more expensive with all the additional charges to create a working website. Still, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to get a simple website online yourself.
Who it’s for?
- Those who want to completely DIY quickly
Who it’s not for?
- Businesses who are ready to invest in a professional website and hire a designer to make sure it appears premium
Showit
Showit is a lovely platform to design in. Its drag & drop editor is like working with a design program on your desktop. It’s very intuitive. Showit also offers a wide range of customisable templates and the ability to create responsive designs. However, while it can integrate with external platforms like Shopify, the native e-commerce features are not particularly robust. Additionally, Showit’s pricing plans may are relatively high compared to the other platforms listed above. And as it’s a relatively new platform, it may not have the same extensive plugin and app ecosystem as Squarespace.
Who it’s for?
- Businesses who may have used design programs like Illustrator before and like working with a drag & drop editor
Who it’s not for?
- Those who want to add custom CSS code
- Those who are after a more cost-effective option for a similar output
Webflow
Webflow is another platform that can allow you to create beautiful websites, however the learning curve is steep. It’s based on a cascading style sheet (CSS) method of building, which will come naturally to web designers and developers, but is tricky to learn for someone not well-versed in coding. Although it’s training materials are vey comprehensive.
Who it’s for?
- Web designers & developers who want a platform that’s easy to build with that adheres to a CSS-style foundation
Who it’s not for?
- People with no CSS experience or who have little time to train up on a new web platform
So which one is right for you?
There are even more web building platforms and no doubt more of them will pop up in the future.
The main thing you need to consider is: are you engaging a web designer who is a specialist in your chosen platform? I believe good design is less about the platform used, and more about the principles of design. Things like User Experience design, accessibility, SEO & design principles are the drivers behind a good website.
However if you’re already used to a particular platform and it works for you, make sure you choose a designer that specialises in that platform. And hopefully this article gives you an idea of which platform is right for you and your business goals.
I personally choose to build prodominantly in WordPress with Elementor. It gives me a good about of flexibility and also allows my clients to easily edit their own content. I also build in Squarespace and Shopify for those clients who need something they can manage themselves. But ultimately, the choice is yours!
