In this article, you are going to learn about website builders for small business.
Website builder provides a ready-made platform from which users can construct their website.
They are backed with tools and features that enable individuals to design and run their website.
The buildup process involves drag and drop of features to the editor until the design is complete.
Why do you need website builders for small businesses?
Here are some of the reasons why you might consider website builders:
No programming or technical skills are required.
Website builders are designed for people with little to no technical skills. Website builders use the drag-and-drop technology and a user-friendly interface design, allowing the average person to type in a text, upload images, or change and move any element with a simple click and drag of the mouse – all without having to write or edit a line of code.
Your website can be edited at any time from any computer
Because website builders are online-based, your web files are hosted on the service provider’s server – not your own computer. You can log into your account, make a change, and click save or publish and your changes are live.
Fast development
Website builders for small business simplify the entire website creation process. You start with pre-designed templates, pre-populated web pages, and ready-to-use applications and tools.
Flexibility
Lots of templates, design options, and good editing functionality using a drop and drag function.
- Easy maintainability
- Low-cost development/ minimal budget- It’s affordable.
- No design talent required among other reason
- Ecommerce functionality
If you are a small business, choosing a website builder from hundreds of them may be overwhelming.
The providers always differ in many ways including pricing, bandwidth, design templates, etc.
Due to minimal budget, you may simply run for the cheapest deal which may not always meet your end goals.
However, this article walks you through the best website builders for small businesses and the various features that they offer.
Best Website builders for small business
Below is a list of the best website builders for small business:
#1. Olitt.com
Olitt.com offers perfect themes for your website from over 200 template designs that are optimized for SEO and mobile devices, making it one of the best website builders for small business.
Benefits of using Olitt.com
- Easily adds custom JavaScript.
- Free SSL certificates
- Free DNS management
- Access to SEO resources
Olitt Pricing
Free plan where you can connect your own domain name.
Professional plan – $60/year (Olitt.com branding removed, up to 2 websites connected and 1 GB web hosting space)
Business plan – Goes for $10dollar/ month with unlimited web hosting space and up to 5 sites connected.
#2. Squarespace
Contains beautiful templates and outstanding features that are best for blogging scheduling, audio players, and galleries.
Pricing:
It offers 4 plans – 2 for general websites and two for eCommerce.
Personal $12 dollars/month, business $18/month, basic commerce $26 dollars/month and advanced commerce $40 dollars/ month.
#3. Web.com
Web.com offers over 2500 galleries of templates with cross-compatibility across them.
They also offer to coach on SEO and online marketing. However, they do not offer a free plan or trial package.
Pricing
| Plan | Offer($/1st month) | Full price($/month) |
| Website builder | 1.95 | 22.95 |
| Website and online marketing | 2.95 | 29.95 |
| Website, Marketing, and store | 3.95 | 39.95 |
Although it offers 24/7 support and cheaper start-up offers with a custom domain, Web.com is overpriced with $22.95 the cheapest monthly payment after the first-month offer.
The platform also has a messy customization tool.
#4. Wix.com
Also seen as ‘heavyweights’, Wix.com has over 500 designer-made templates and over 3000 users.
Wix also offers other benefits such as advanced search engine optimization (SEO) and social tools, free option and premium plans, 500MB bandwidth for free websites, free domains, and drag anywhere editor.
Wix Pricing
Their packages run from “combo” to “business VIP” with the cheapest Ad-free costing $12 per month.
VIP plan costs $24/month with 20GB space and unlimited bandwidth. The unlimited plan is a close variation of VIP with most of the features halved.
The plan sells for 12 dollars with 10GB space, 1-hour video, 1 domain, etc. The two packages are Ad-free. The other plans include Combo and connect domain.
#5. Weebly
Weebly enables you to build websites that do not require fancy staff at a cheap price.
Although it has a lot of eCommerce tools, users need to pay more to use them. Weebly has blogging capabilities but not as impressive as other builders.
Weebly contains 4 plans i.e. free plan, connect plan ($5/month), pro ($12/month), and business ($25/month). It also provides SSL security in all of its packages.
Free plan users are allocated 500MB of hosting space.
#6. Shopify
It’s the best and easiest to use in building an eCommerce website. It provides you with tools you can build a professional online store in the shortest time.
Shopify Pricing
- Shopify lite — $9 per month.
- Basic Shopify — $29 per month.
- Shopify — $79 per month.
- Advanced Shopify — $299 per month.
#7. Ecwid
Ecwid is one of the best website builders for small business. But unlike others, ECWID does not allow you to create a website from scratch but enables you to add eCommerce features to your website.
Users are only required to embed the code. There are no themes or templates with Ecwid. Instead, they automatically match your website style through a feature they call Color Adaptation.
If you’d like to customize colors any further you need to use apps in the Ecwid app store.
Ecwid Pricing
- Free plan forever
- Venture ($15/month), business plan ($35/month), unlimited @ $99/month.
#8. Big cartel
Big cartel is priced cheaper than its competitors. Big Cartel is an eCommerce builder that lets you make an online store for free.
Suitable for selling individual pieces such as artworks rather than bulk uploads due to its simple sales features, Big Cartel is good for small businesses who aren’t looking to scale up soon.
Pros:
· It’s free
· User-friendly prompts and clear navigation
· Ideal for individuals selling simple things
Cons:
· Lack of depth and quality
· Basic themes with low customization
#9. Squarespace
Pages are created by simply dragging and dropping sections into your website.
Squarespace pricing
The price differs in their 4 plans with the cheapest being the free plan to the most expensive $72/month.
The plans are: free, professional ($12/month), performance ($26/month), and Premium ($72/month)
#10. WordPress.com
WordPress.com offers free, beautiful, and customizable designs, fast and secure hosting, and 24/7 support.
However, wordpress.com randomly inserts Ads anywhere on your content and there is no way to control where the Ad shows.
Conclusion
While there are many website builders that small enterprises can choose from, consideration shouldn’t be limited to the cost incurred but to the overall benefit that they stand to gain by picking one.
There are many website builders, but those covered here tend to outshine them and stand high for consideration.