Each day it seems there are more options for designing a website. As a creative or small business owner, the choice can be overwhelming. There is SquareSpace, Wix, Showit, WordPress, and more. Within WordPress, there are then more options of themes, pagebuilders (such as Elementor), and a host. I’ve seen people decide for many of the wrong reasons and then realize the system is not what’s best as their business grows.

The wrong reason to choose a website platform:

1. You like a template design that only is available for that platform.
2. It seems to be the cheapest way to get started.
3. Your friend or colleague uses it.
4. It offers the quickest way to get the website up and running.

If these are the wrong reasons, then how should you decide?

Start by writing down your business goals, and what you offer.

If you’ve been in business a while, and already know these, still write down your top 3 services or products that you provide.

Think about how your website will show what you do.

Write a list of what pages you will have, and what types of content (images, video, writing) you will have. For most businesses, it will be a mix but if you are a podcaster, for example, then you may have more audio than a photographer, who will have a lot of images.

What do you want viewers to do when the come to your website

I talk about this more in my post about creating a call to action, but in this case it’s more than just a call to action. Will viewers purchase something directly from the website? Will they book a service or a consult? Do you need to share a schedule that is automatically updated? Are you bringing together a community?

Look around at what others are doing

I know I said not to choose a website platform because your friend or colleague is using it. This is different. You are going to look at the features of websites you like and that serve similar functions to get an idea of what types of websites they typically are.

Browse templates (lots of them)

Really search through a good amount of templates on each of the platforms you are considering. You can go to SquareSpace and browse the ones that are included, but you can also run a search for SquareSpace templates to see premium ones that you can purchase from designers. This is true of Showit as well. WordPress is a little different and templates are tied to the theme. If you think WordPress might be the platform, look for Kadence templates, Elementor templates, and ProPhoto templates. These will give you a good start of what is available.

Find Behind the Scenes demos of the different platforms

Youtube will have a variety of videos that let you see what the backend looks like on each of the platforms and themes. You don’t have to study them in detail, but just browse around to see what looks good. You can also test them out yourself. SquareSpace and Showit offer a free month trial. WordPress is always free to install, though you do need a website host first.

How to use this information to choose the right website

I suggest starting backwards here. Let’s say you tried SquareSpace and love it. Plus you see some great designs that will work well for your brand. Now look at your list of what you want your website to do.

If you want your website to sell 5 different eBooks and provide information about you, and your services, research if SquareSpace can do this. My next question to this business would be if you want to blog extensively. If the answer is no, go with SquareSpace. If the answer is yes, and you think eventually you’ll be managing a much larger ecommerce store, then I’d consider WordPress.

If you are a photographer and like to write extensively blog posts weekly, sharing all your images, WordPress or Showit, may be a better choice.

Let’s say you are a business coach and eventually want to create an online community, SquareSpace has amazing community building features!

Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can do research, talk to your peers and figure out what will do what you want best, and grow with your business over time.

If you are struggling with this, you can book a Strategy Session and we can figure this out together. This is perfect if you are going to create the website yourself.

If you are hiring a website designer, working together with you to choose the best type of website is typically part of the web design process.

Questions? Always feel free to get in touch.