Wix vs. Squarespace vs. WordPress — which is best for you and your business? With so many platforms available, it can be difficult to determine which website builder would be the right place for your site to call home. Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress are all popular web builders, and each offer their own unique set of features that may or may not fit your needs.
The short version is this:
- Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder with plenty of templates to choose from, allowing for more customization;
- Squarespace is a bit more of an all-in-one solution, making it ideal for those who don’t want to spend time tinkering around with the design;
- and WordPress is renowned as the go-to for businesses — an incredibly powerful platform with lots of features and customization options, but one that does require a bit more technical know-how.
We’re here to compare these three platforms in terms of ease of use, affordability, customization options, blogging features, and search engine optimization (SEO) capabilities, so that businesses can make an informed decision on which builder will work best for them.
What is better: Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress?
It all depends on the needs of your business and marketing strategy. At the end of the day, the best website builder is the one that meets your needs and helps you build the best possible website for your business.
Here is how these three website platforms measure up:
Ease of use
When it comes to ease of use, website builders like Wix stand out as the simplest option because they allow users to quickly create a website with minimal effort. Squarespace is slightly more complex, but requires less technical knowledge than WordPress, which is the obvious choice for businesses looking for a platform that offers maximum customization and control.
Although WordPress has a bit more of a learning curve, it still ranks pretty high for ease of use because of its powerful plugin system. The plugin system allows for easier integration of advanced features such as contact forms, shopping carts, and payment systems that many sites require to function. With website in a box platforms like Wix and Squarespace, these features must be added manually.
Affordability
In terms of affordability, all three platforms offer competitive paid plans, e-commerce plans, and discounts for annual subscriptions, making them all viable options for businesses on a budget. Both Wix and WordPress offer a free version with limited capabilities, which can be used to test out the platform before committing to a paid plan, but if you want a professionally designed website with all the bells and whistles, you’ll need to upgrade.
Most website platforms will incur additional costs associated with hosting and domain names — something that should always be considered during the decision-making process.
The Winner: WordPress/Wix (Tie)
Customizations
Customizations are where these platforms really come into their own.
Wix & Squarespace
Wix is the easiest to pick up and run with, Wix offers plenty of options to help you tweak the look of your website’s design, but it is severely limited in terms of scalability and custom code. You will end up making many concessions related to your website’s look, feel, and functionality, but it will be easy for just about anyone to get it up and running.
While it is slightly more complex to use than Wix, Squarespace is another great option for smaller or newer businesses who want to quickly create a functional website, as it provides templates and widgets for a bit more customization. And, unlike Wix, you can completely change your template and update your site at any time.
WordPress
WordPress however, takes gold in the customizations category, as it gives users total control over their design by providing a platform with essentially no limitations. With WordPress, it is possible to customize almost anything you could imagine — particularly with the help of a website development company in Houston — all on a platform that end users can update and manage themselves. Do you need a weekly blog that will keep your business relevant on the search engines? A slick e-commerce store to make sure that people can always access your essential product? WordPress can do that, along with affiliate marketing platforms, video lesson portals, members-only sites, and so much more. It can bring any company’s vision to life.
The Winner: WordPress
Blogging features
As you’ve probably noticed, ease of use can have an inverse correlation with customization options. You’ll see a similar relationship between ease of use and what is possible for blogging on Wix vs. Squarespace vs. WordPress.
Wix is a strong option for businesses just getting started in blogging. It’s easy to set up and offers helpful features such as comment moderation, tagging, and post-scheduling.
Squarespace’s blog is a small step up from Wix, providing some additional but essential features such as multiple blogging categories and tagging options.
However, for those who intend on having a more robust, competitive blog or, or need a content-forward site, WordPress is clearly the best option. With WordPress, you’ll have access to more customization options and features like post formats, blog stats, automated social media integration, and more. Companies with more involved content marketing strategies — whether your brand is focused on content marketing in Houston or on the national stage — will undoubtedly find WordPress and its deep roster of plugins and features indispensable.
The Winner: WordPress
SEO capabilities
SEO capabilities are arguably one of the most important factors to consider when shopping for a website platform. Simply put, without good SEO, your site is going to have a harder time being seen by the users you’re after.
Fortunately, when it comes to SEO capabilities, all three platforms are well-equipped to handle the basics — but WordPress has a clear advantage when it comes to advanced customization options that allow you to optimize your website for search engine ranking and avoid bad SEO. Because of this advanced customization, WordPress is widely regarded as the most SEO-friendly platform of the three choices.
With WordPress, businesses have more control over their website’s technical aspects such as titles, meta data, and URL structure — all of which are crucial for your website’s ranking in search engine results.
With WordPress and SEO, customization doesn’t always mean added complexity; WordPress has a wide range of plugins, SEO tools, and add-ons that make optimizing your website for SEO much, much easier.
The Winner: WordPress
Should you build a website by yourself?
Building your own website can be a great way to save time and money, especially for those that have the ability to code or design, but for most businesses, it’s a smart idea to use a website design company in Houston. Why?
Professional digital marketing agencies can help you build a website that not only looks great, but functions at a high level because it is optimized for both conversions and SEO. Working with a web design company can ensure that your site is aligned with website design best practices, is secure and up-to-date, and is as competitive as it can be, for as long as it can be.
Digital marketing agencies also offer ongoing website management, so that you can stay focused on running a successful business instead of worrying about your website. Your website is more than just an investment in the long-term success of your business, it is often the first impression, the judge, and the jury for a massive amount of your prospective customers.
Looking for a custom, creative website for your business? Let’s connect.
Whether you decide to go with Wix vs. Squarespace vs. WordPress, you will inevitably end up with a website. But building a website isn’t just about a URL that leads to some pictures and a phone number — it’s about being impressive and persuasive, being secure, up-to-date, and optimized, and making sure that once you land users, you convert them. You’ll want to consider the long-term flexibility of the platform you choose and think about not just what you need right now, but what you’ll need in the future.
There’s only one platform that can meet all of these demands, and that’s WordPress (with the help of a top digital marketing firm, preferably).
If you’re looking for a site that runs as well as it looks and performs even better on Google, you might want to leave the website building to the professional web development team at Baal & Spots. We offer a multi-disciplinary team of digital marketing miracle workers. Together, our designers, developers, content writers, and SEO guys (and girls) can work with you to bring the visions you have for your business to life.
To learn more about what we do, schedule a conversation with us today.
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