How to build a beautiful website that won’t cost you a fortune
Building a new website can feel overwhelming. Where do I start? How much will it cost? What provider do I use? Whether you’re looking to build your very first website or refreshing an outdated one, it might feel like you don’t have enough time, money or know-how. We’re here to talk you through the basics, and how simple it can be to make a beautiful, unique and affordable website.
Custom websites built by a developer can be great, but the associated complexity and budget is often beyond what most people want or need. Enter the website providers: Squarespace, Wix and Wordpress. Of course, there’s many more providers out there, but these are the three we see being used the most. To help you make your choice, we’ve evaluated Squarespace, Wix and Wordpress on their ability to deliver for your needs.
Wordpress
Wordpress has been around since 2003, and is behind a large percentage of the websites online today. It’s a powerful, highly customisable tool, but we often find it lacks the user-friendliness our clients need. Many of Wordpress’ features rely on having reasonable coding ability and using external plugins, which affects its ability to be easily and quickly updated. Needing to use plugins can also compromise the security of the site, and we’ve seen this cause some issues in the past. For these reasons, we generally recommend either Wix or Squarespace for a worry-free and user-friendly site.
WIX
Wix has a very user-friendly interface. It features a good range of templates, and its unstructured, drag-and-drop editor means your site is easily customisable. This provides lots of freedom when it comes to designing and it makes updating your site very straightforward. On the flip side, it can mean a lot of manual adjustment to ensure your site appears consistent and professional. Wix also excels when it comes to tools and features, with built-in features for bookings, live chats, forums, orders and more - ensuring a smooth integration and greatly reducing the need for third party plugins. If you have a complex portfolio that you want to sort across areas of work, Wix has a highly powerful content management system to help implement this on your site.
Squarespace
Squarespace shines when it comes to clean design and great templates. Its structured editor means that elements – photos, text, graphics – will naturally line up with each other to give your website a refined and professional look and feel, which transfers easily to mobile. Squarespace’s templates are also second to none, delivering a broad range of ready-made site designs suitable for just about anyone. These aspects might make you think the outcome will be a cookie-cutter website, but Squarespace still delivers excellent design flexibility, allowing you to entirely tailor your site to your brand and needs. Further to that, the straightforward interface means making changes or additions to your site is a breeze.