What's the Best DIY Website Platform? It Depends on What You Need

There are a lot of "best of" lists on the internet, but the truth? In competitive markets, best is subjective. At Tao Websites & Graphic Design, we work with more than one content management system because they do different things well.

This is true in other contexts as well. Let's say you're going camping. What's the best tent? It depends! Are you camping alone or with a family of four? Are you backpacking or car camping? Are you camping in the snow or on a warm summer night? What's your budget? The list goes on!

What's the best tent? Depends on if you're snow camping alone or family camping in the summer!

So, when people ask me what the best website builder is, I start with one question:

What is the goal of your website?

In other words, why are you creating it? What do you want your site visitors to do? Are you an influencer trying to get subscribers and followers on social media? Are you setting up an ecommerce store to sell products internationally? Or are you offering a service in a city or metro area?

The answer to this one question can help me identify the functionality needed on your site. Then I can make a recommendation customized for you. For example, Squarespace, one popular platform we work with, is great if you're a cinematographer, author, or public intellectual. You can showcase your skills; incorporate text, videos, and images; and provide a contact form for potential clients.

Simple can be beautiful. Because Squarespace keeps their features limited, the platform is uncluttered. It's easy to create a Squarespace website that looks elegant and scales beautifully across different devices and screen sizes. Limited options are part of why Squarespace is simple to edit and responsive.

Squarespace is not the best solution for more complex projects, however. If you want to do more on your website, Wix offers more robust features and customizations. Specifically, they have built-in features for:

• Selling products online (ecommerce)

• Scheduling, promoting, and invoicing for services, classes, or appointments

• Running a restaurant or catering business

• Setting up events and selling tickets

• Creating a large site with dynamic pages

• Customizing design and functionality for a bespoke look and feel

Because Wix does so much, there is more to learn and more to mess up than with SquareSpace. You can create your own Wix site, but many business owners find it more efficient to work with Wix Partners (like us) to optimize design, SEO, and functionality. If you take advantage of all the features Wix offers, you won't need a lot of other applications like MailChimp, Calendly, Canva, etc. Email marketing, event calendars, invoicing, graphic design tools, photo libraries, FAQ tools, and more are right in Wix. Work with a professional designer to set up your site, and then you can make small changes to products and services yourself.

Shopify is another option specifically for ecommerce. Because it's tightly focused on ecommerce, it's an easy and seamless shopping experience, but not quite as user-friendly for business owners. It requires more custom coding and plugins/apps than Wix does.

There are always tradeoffs. If your tent fits more people, it's going to be bulkier. Not so great for backpacking, but just right for that family reunion at the lake. If your website does a lot of things, you may need a more customizable (and therefore more complicated) web design platform.

If you have more questions about choosing a website platform for your business, reach out today. Tao Websites & Graphic Design is a top-rated web design company based in Eugene, Oregon. We create elegant, affordable websites for small businesses and nonprofits all over the world using several popular and easy-to-edit website builders.