Web Design: WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace & more
The platform you choose for your website is super important. Web design is more than how colors, fonts, and elements are placed on a web page. It defines how visitors will interact with and perceive your brand. Good web design gives a positive image of your brand and boosts your business. It also results in a better user experience and brings more traffic to your website. Poor web design does exactly the opposite; it drives your potential customers away.
For designing your website, you can choose one of the many website builders. Choose a website builder that provides you better control over web design as well as convenient to manage. But that’s not all. You may also need low maintenance, minimal code, good website speed, and a super low budget.
Most of the website builder reviews boil down to 3 major platforms i.e. WordPress, Wix, and SquareSpace. We will review each of these platforms to highlight their pros and cons. To do a fair comparison, we will focus on the following aspects of the web design of each of the platforms.
- Ease of use
- Design
- Features and Versatility
- Marketing and Search Engine Optimization
- Customer support
- Website management
- Cost
By reading this article, you will be able to make a fast track decision on which builder is the best for you and your business.
WordPress Web Design
WordPress is the most convenient and flexible platform for building a website. More than 35% of the web is powered by WordPress. From simple blogs to custom websites, to complex portals and enterprise websites, everything can be built with WordPress.
It is a popular choice because it provides complete access to the platform and has enabled designers and developers to create tools specifically for this platform. There are two types of wordpress websites i.e. wordpress.com and wordpress.org. WordPress.com is a free blogging platform and website builder that we strongly advise AGAINST using whereas for using wordpress.org, you need to buy a web hosting service but is far superior in every aspect of the website.
Features and Benefits of Using WordPress
The following section highlights the features of WordPress web design.
1. Easy to Customize with Themes
WordPress is different from other website builders because it provides tremendous control over your website design. There are hundreds of themes available for every type of website. Whether you want to start a blog, a business website, or an e-commerce store, you are covered. Each theme comes with its options for changing the color, background, or creating sliders. If your budget doesn’t allow you to hire a website developer, you can easily use a free or a premium theme to develop your website.
2. E-Commerce Functionality
WordPress has a variety of e-commerce plugins that allow you to sell on your website. We recommend WooCommerce.
3. Plugins
Plugins allow you to add plenty of features to your WordPress website. Ranging from free to premium, there are hundreds of plugins available for WordPress website. Some of the good WordPress plug-ins allow you to add custom functionality through features like Analytics, Contact forms, and Membership Area, with perfect ease.
4. SEO Friendly
WordPress is written using high-quality code and produces semantic markup. By design, it is quite SEO friendly. You can add H2 and H3 tags in your content with perfect ease. Want to use your keywords in URLs? Or want to install plug-ins like SEO Ultimate or All in One SEO Pack? You are covered.
Furthermore, you can easily create XML sitemaps which makes it easy for the Google bots to crawl your website. These and many more features can turn a WordPress website into a marketing powerhouse.
If you’re looking for someone to handle all of the SEO for you, we have many SEO services that we provide. We even do a la carte, so that you only pay for what you need.
5. Regular Updates
WordPress comes with a built-in updates management system. It stays up-to-date with the latest technology. It means that CMS stays relevant, and new features keep adding up to your website. This is included in our website maintenance package.
6. Safe and Secure
WordPress is considered a very secure platform to build and run a website. You can choose from a range of security plug-ins to protect your WordPress website. Plugins like Sucuri can protect your website against threats like brute force attacks and malware.
7. Handles Different Types of Media
Besides writing text, WordPress comes with a built-in media uploader to add images, audio, and video files. You can easily embed YouTube videos, SoundCloud audios, Instagram posts, or Tweets.
8. Open Source Software
Another great advantage of WordPress website is that it is open-source software. It means that you can tweak with the code or modify it to create a unique web presence.
Why You SHOULD NOT Use WordPress
If you’re determined to do it yourself, WordPress might not be the best tool for you as building is more difficult than with drag-and-drop builders. We offer affordable rates on our WordPress web design packages in order to make it a viable option for even the smallest businesses.
Wix Web Design
Wix is often promoted as a free, one-page website builder. For a starter, it is a good option. However, it lacks the comprehensive features of WordPress or Squarespace.
Features and Benefits of Using Wix
The following are some of the features and benefits of a Wix web design.
1. Drag and Drop Editor
Wix is an ideal choice for non-tech savvy people. Drag and drop your elements on to the website with perfect ease. Wix promises a great user experience. You can change any element with a click.
2. Themes
Wix platform offers over 500 themes that you can choose from. Using plenty of presets, you can make any type of website from scratch in minutes.
3. Galleries
Retouch your photos in Wix before adding them to one of the templates.
4. Reliable Hosting
Wix allows you to create a beautiful website as well as choose the domain names for free. Their reliable hosting service lets you create a search engine optimized website quite conveniently. If you are looking to have some one take care of the hosting and maitenance of your website for you, we offer a great package for that.
5. Wix ADI
The Wix platform offers an easy way to get started. Using the Wix ADI or the artificial intelligence system of the website asks you numerous questions before presenting to you your website. If you prefer, you can switch to the manual editor instead of ADI and create your dream website.
6. E-Commerce Store
You can set up an e-commerce store by purchasing a paid plan. The paid plan is quite inexpensive and starts at $23.
7. Podcast Player
Wix offers a podcast player but it doesn’t syndicate podcasts. If you want to submit your podcasts to Apple or Spotify, you need an advanced website builder like Squarespace.
8. Search Engine Optimized Content
Wix website allows you to post Search Engine Optimized content which makes you more visible to the Search Engines. You can also purchase the Search Engine Functionality widget for better control over the features.
9. Customer Support
Wix provides excellent customer support. Their efficient team readily answers any questions or queries.
Why You SHOULD NOT Use Wix
1. Non Responsive Websites
Some of the Wix templates are not fully responsive. This means that you need to tweak them to make them mobile-friendly. Wix websites, only if built correctly, are mobile-friendly and responsive. Mobile readiness is vital to SEO (search engine optimization) and overall user experience.
2. Unchangeable Template
Once you hit live, you cannot change the template of your Wix website. You can change the color and fonts but beyond that, you are pretty much locked in.
3. Poor Performance
It is very difficult to improve the performance (and ranking) of a Wix site due to the heavy bloat of unnecessary files that come along with the drag and drop builder.
Again, as with many website builders (drag and drop), there is a lot of unnecessary files and scripts involved which causes poor performance (a major factor in SEO). Also, when building your drag and drop site, it’s very likely that the structure of the site (the code in the back-end) isn’t written properly. This is yet another hinderance to your SEO, as it’s a major factor in determining where Google ranks you.
SquareSpace Web Design
Like Wix, SquareSpace is another good option for building a website. It is an ideal choice to make an e-commerce website, a business website, or a design and art portfolio. However, it requires a little bit of more technical knowledge than Wix. SquareSpace enables you to create good designs with perfect ease. They also have a very reliable support team.
Features and Benefits of Using SquareSpace
1. Hosting
Squarespace hosts all of their websites themselves. You do not have to buy separate hosting. The website is designed and run by its in-house team. Even analytics are integrated by their team. If something goes wrong, their team can restore and have back up of all your data.
2. Drag and Drop Editor
Squarespace has a drag and drops editor which does not require you to have any prior knowledge of CSS or HTML. The visual editor reflects how your website would look like in the end.
3. Themes
Squarespace has around 40 templates that are simple, clean, and modern. Each of the designs is customizable and can change drastically once you insert your media. Fonts and colors are easily adjustable too.
4. Mobile Ready
Each theme is optimized for mobiles too. Use the editor to customize it if necessary and make your website look the way you want.
5. Pictures
Squarespace’s templates are minimalist with a minimum text to give maximum exposure to pictures and videos. If you do not have a plan for large resolution images, you might need to switch to another platform. The in-platform image editor allows you to make small adjustments easy.
6. Blogging
Squarespace integrates with third-party apps to make blogging fun and easy. Some of the most common apps that are compatible with the Squarespace interface are Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Gmail.
7. Advanced Theme Editor
If you have advanced knowledge of CSS, you can customize the theme of your website. This gives you more freedom to experiment with the visual aspect of your site.
8. E-Commerce
E-commerce is fully integrated and allows you to add unlimited products. When you choose a shop template, you can zoom in to see product details and Quick View to see product specifications. Like Wix, Squarespace has integrated several e-commerce features. However, some of the Squarespace features are unique and do not exist in the Wix platform. These are gift cards, back in stock notifications, and low stock notifications.
9. Marketing
The Marketing features of Squarespace are very basic. The platform allows some basic SEO. There is an availability of social share buttons and integration with MailChimp. Unlike WordPress, you cannot add a lot of marketing plug-ins.Digital marketing is an important part of your overall marketing campaign. While the different platforms offer their versions of marketing integration, it’s usually a “one size fits all” approach. This might not be good for your business, and often hiring a professional digital marketing agency is your best bet.
Why You Should NOT Use Squarespace
Again, as with many website builders (drag and drop), there is a lot of unnecessary files and scripts involved which causes poor performance (a major factor in SEO). Also, when building your drag and drop site, it’s very likely that the structure of the site (the code in the back-end) isn’t written properly. This is yet another hindrance to your SEO, as it’s a major factor in determining where Google ranks you.
The Verdict
So which of the three platforms, is a winner? Let’s see:
Wix stands out because of its ease of use, website management, and cost. If you are dead set on doing it yourself, Wix is a good choice. With a little effort, you can learn the basic content management system of the Wix website.
Squarespace wins because of its design, customer support, and website management system. If you expect little traffic and your budget is slim too, then Square space allows you to have a beautiful website on a low budget.Like with Wix, if you’re determined to build your own site, Squarespace is a good option.
WordPress wins in terms of customization, features, marketing, scalability, professionalism, reliability, and safety. If you are building a business that allows you to make a difference, WordPress can go a long way to help you to do that. You can add or remove plug-ins and customize your website according to your needs. WordPress is used by a majority of businesses for a reason.
Do you need a WordPress Website?
Let’s use an analogy to answer this question.
If you want to bake a Pizza, you have two options. You can either buy dough from the bakers or you can get all the ingredients, make your dough, choose your favorite toppings, and finally bake a pizza. It is, of course, convenient to get ready made dough but it limits your freedom to experiment and execute your special recipe.
Building your website with Wix or Squarespace is just like buying ready made dough. If you want to unlock your full potential then choose WordPress for building your website.
WordPress gives you the perfect freedom to establish your online presence. You can set all the rules and decide what’s good and what’s not, for your website.
There is a huge community of WordPress users. Almost one-third of all websites are powered by WordPress. If there is a problem or an issue, you can find a solution through the communities of hundreds of WordPress users. With its advanced technology and huge market share, WordPress is going to be here tomorrow as well.
WordPress is quite inexpensive. You only have to pay for hosting (which is built in to Wix/Squarespace/Etc’s packages). Self hosting allows you to own your own files, and you aren’t locked in to any one hosting provider. We have a maintenance package that allows you to run your business while we take care of your site.
Professionalism is associated with WordPress too. When you run your website on WordPress, you decide that your online presence is going to be credible and professional.
Lastly, it allows you to scale your website. If your business grows after a year and you need to add some additional features to your website, you are covered. In short, WordPress is the best website builder available in the market.
Ready to get started?
We build on all platforms, even from scratch coding. Learn more about our web design here. We will go further in depth on each platform in the coming weeks. Be sure to subscribe to get notified when they post!
