When you are choosing a company to build your website with, it is important to think about your needs in the future. What might work fine for you today, may not work for you in a few years. If you just want an online brochure type of website to promote your business, Wix might be a good option, however, if you want to start selling products, you should probably consider a site like Shopify. Another option could be a content management software like WordPress. There are a few more options, but I will focus on these three since they are among the most popular.
Who should choose Wix?
If you are a business owner, and you want to build your own website rather than hire a web designer, Wix can help you get started quickly. It has a lot of nice looking templates to choose from and an easy to use interface that allows you to drag and drop content on the page. The website is also mobile friendly which is important because many people search the web with their phone. If you decide to start selling products at a later time, Wix has the capability to do that, however, a site like Shopify may be better at that task than Wix. Also, if you choose to build your site with Wix, it is important to choose the best template at the beginning since changing your template at a later time would be very difficult. One other thing to note is you cannot take a Wix site to another host provider. If you want to change to a new host provider, you have to build a new website.
Who should choose Shopify?
If you want to sell products, Shopify is one of the best tools to do that with. It is purpose built for selling, and has many features built in to make that possible. It has also been designed so people who do not know how to code can still build a website. There are many templates available that are designed to make shopping as easy for the customer as possible. Shopify also has excellent tools to analyze sales and give you the information you need to maximize profits. However, if you decide to move to another host provider, you would have to do a lot of work to rebuild your store.
Who should choose WordPress?
If you want to have a brochure type of website to begin with and maybe add products later, you could go with WordPress. Like Wix, it is possible to do both, however, WordPress may not be as novice friendly as Wix. If you don’t know how to code, you could just pick a nice template and add your content without too much trouble. If you do know how to code, WordPress can be modified extensively because you have full access to the code behind it. Also, there are numerous plugins available to allow WordPress to do many different things. For people who are tech savvy, or willing to hire someone who is, and want absolute control of their website, WordPress is a good choice. Also, if you want to move your website to another host provider, it is possible to do that without too much trouble.
One thing to keep in mind if you decide to go with a self hosted WordPress website, is you would be responsible for your own security, backups, maintenance and updates, although some hosts may provide daily or weekly backups. Another factor to consider is you do not have the same kind of support as a company like Wix or Shopify. If your site breaks, you may have to find the solution yourself by reading WordPress forums. To summarize, WordPress is like the Swiss army knife of websites; it can do almost anything with all the plugins available, and can be modified to fit almost any situation. However, being a “Jack of all trades and master of none” may not always be the best solution.
What about Hostinger?
Hostinger hasn’t been around as long as the other options so far, but their introductory pricing is less expensive than most other options. Keep in mind, to get the best deal for pricing you would need to pay in advance for a 4 year term. However, the price goes up substantially when it comes time to renew, although it’s still lower than a lot of the competition. Hostinger gives you the option of hosting a WordPress site, or going with their own site builder. Many reviews I have seen have said that Hostinger’s website builder is easy to use, has a good selection of templates, and has most of the features you would need for a small business. You can also sell a limited amount of products using the Hostinger business plan. Also, while you have support via chat or e-mail, there is no phone support. While no service provider or builder is perfect, Hostinger has rapidly become a very popular platform for building a website.