Your 1st Web Site Absolutely Should be a WIX site!

IF you are in the early stages and you have time we have an excellent series on How To Plan Out Your Web Site. It has in depth details of ideology of what makes a great web site and what you should consider in yours.

However times have changed radically since we posted that article. Businesses are shutting their brick and mortor doors, they have employees with time on their hands, they need a tool to be an online hub of communication with their customes while social distancing is the norm. They need to take action now and worry about the details in a couple of months. So with that we encourage local small business to strongly consider one of the free web builders we will mention below to get online now.

 Let’s start off with the elephant on the web. Wix has been a leader in the DIY online platform for nearly a decade and a half. They have all the tools to get you started with a web site quickly, just add content. They are responsive in nature, meaning the web site will adjust its format depending on if you bring it up on a desktop, mobile, or tablet device. They do have some premium features to add extra bells and whistles. The one thing I greatly admire about Wix is that they practice what they preach. Their main site is proudly built on their own platform and they updated it regularly with all the new advancements.

Next DIY service we will talk about is SquareSpace.  They are a subscription based service that offers a free trial for setup. They focus on allowing creative individuals make more design impact on their new web creation. Their tools tend to focus on unique branding experiences through a rapidly changing series of templates. They have a wealth of information in education about the totality that their platform offeres from marketing tools, domains scheduling and more. If you want to have a little more control over your brands image and all that entails this may be the best service for you.

Do you need to get online and sell immidately? Shopify has you covered. This online web platform was built specificly to aid the online selling community. They have tools and methods to show you how to get an e-commerce web site set up and running, how to get a larger online presence, and assist a little with your branding. They help with the processing of credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay) and has tools to assist in manging payments and shipping as well. They also are a subscription service that offerse a free trial to get you started on the path of your own web site. One interesting thing is that they also have a tool so that you can use their platform as an in store Point of Sale (POS), if you are looking to change your brick and morter cash register to an online connected termimal, this maybe something to consider in your evaluation.

Finally the platform we will present is closest to our hearts. WordPress is an open-source content managament solution that powers 36% of the internet today (really that’s what it says on their web site)! This is their free commercial solution hosted on their servers. It has some limitations, but at it’s core it’s the same tool that we use for the majority of the web sites we build for our clients. They have a Free plan with pricing going up from there. If you are looking to get something started quickly and then have a local expert assist you to scale it up once you have a few extra dollars in your pocket we would suggest starting with WordPress. 

One of the best elements about using any of the tools above is that the client has full control over their web site. This could be beneficial, it could also lead to a new passion! After spending, 20, 30, 60, 100 hours working on your web site, to get all the details just right, the SEO (search engine optimization) in place, the facebook ads or google ad words configured to help drive trafic to the site, the structuring of pilar content, and creating original elements and content maybe consider a career switch?

If you spend over 100 hours on your own web site maybe it would be best if you come and work with Imaginary Friends and make it your new profession!