What Is the Best Website Builder for Small Businesses?

Choosing the right website builder is one of the most important decisions a small business owner can make. Whether you’re launching your first website or updating an existing site, the platform you choose impacts everything – from how your site looks and performs to how you update content and manage orders on the backend.

In this guide, we’ll break down three of the most popular website builders for small business owners, including WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify. Afterwards, you’ll have all the information you need to decide which builder is best for you, or if it’s time to hand it off to a professional website designer.

The official definition of a website builder is a tool, software, or platform that allows you to design and build websites without needing to write code. Most builders typically offer pre-built drag and drop blocks that allow you to add specific functionality to any page on your website.

Depending on which platform you choose, your website builder will often help you implement basic SEO best practices, manage written content like blogs or case studies, and offer a way to track your orders and customer data.

Because so much of the functionality of your website is based on the builder it’s built with, it’s important to research and pick one that best aligns with the needs of your business before getting started.

WordPress is a powerful option if you’re looking for full control and long-term scalability. It’s an open-source platform that powers over 40% of websites worldwide and is ideal for businesses that want a fully customized site that can grow with them over time.

WordPress can be designed by a professional website designer or by purchasing pre-built design templates. While templates can make designing your site easier, you’ll need the know-how to make any future content match the style of your chosen template to keep branding consistent across your site. There are thousands of both free and paid themes available online, so some research will be needed to determine which is right for you.

Plugins can help you add just about any feature imaginable to your site. Similar to apps on a smartphone, WordPress plugins can be installed as needed, but should always be vetted before using. Some plugins could break your site, introduce security vulnerabilities, or affect your site in unexpected ways. We always recommend checking plugin reviews and making sure every plugin you use is compatible with the version of WordPress you’re currently running.

This is what searching for and finding a plugin looks like on WordPress.

Shopify is the go-to platform for retail businesses and restaurants looking to sell products or services online. It’s built specifically for e-commerce and comes with all the tools you need to manage products, accept payments, and handle shipping. Its user-friendly dashboard is great for getting started, but a professional designer can help you customize your storefront and make sure your site is optimized for sales and conversions.

Similar to plugins with WordPress, Shopify uses Apps to add additional functionality to their sites. Unlike WordPress, Shopify’s selection of apps is more curated and much more likely to work with your site out of the box. Because of this added peace of mind, most popular Apps offered by Shopify are paid, either via a monthly or yearly subscription.

To get a better understanding of Shopify’s capabilities, consider navigating some of the most popular sites built using the platform. Major brands like Gymshark, Deathwish Coffee, and Steve Madden all leverage Shopify to sell their products online. Explore each site, add products to the cart, and study how the checkout process feels as a user.

An experienced website design team can help you implement some of the same principles used by these companies on your own Shopify website.

Let’s be honest – DIY website builders are great, but they still take time, energy, and some technical know-how to get right. And your business can’t afford to look unprofessional online.

That’s where the website design team at Pilot Mountain Creative comes in. We specialize in helping small and medium-sized businesses across East Tennessee build beautiful, effective websites on the right platform for their goals. Whether you want the flexibility of WordPress, the simplicity of Squarespace, or a fully customized Shopify store, we can take care of the hard part so you can focus on running your business.