How to Choose the Right Website Builder

Different builders excel at different things. Portfolio or personal site? Focus on design flexibility. Blog or content site? Prioritize SEO and content management. E-commerce store? Need robust commerce features. Business site? Look for forms, scheduling, and integrations. Landing pages? Speed and conversion optimization matter most. One builder won't be best at everything.

Design capabilities vary dramatically. Template-based builders like Squarespace offer beautiful designs but limited customization. Flexible builders like Webflow give complete control but steeper learning curves. Somewhere in between are tools like Wix with AI design assistance. Be honest about your design skills and how unique you need your site to look.

Marketing materials all claim to be 'easy to use' but experiences vary. During your trial: build an actual page, not just browse templates, try adding and formatting content, test on mobile editing, make common changes like swapping images and updating text. The editor you'll use daily should feel intuitive, not frustrating.

Your beautiful site is worthless if nobody can find it. Essential SEO features: custom page titles and meta descriptions, clean URL structures, fast page load speeds, mobile responsiveness, blog functionality with categories and tags, and sitemap generation. Some builders handle technical SEO automatically; others require more manual work.

Monthly fees are just the start. Factor in: domain costs (included or extra?), email addresses, premium themes, apps and plugins, transaction fees for e-commerce, storage and bandwidth limits, and annual vs monthly billing discounts. A $12/month plan with $300 in required add-ons isn't actually cheap.

After building test sites on each: Squarespace delivers the most consistently beautiful designs with minimal effort. Wix offers maximum flexibility and features for non-technical users. Webflow gives professional designers complete control. Shopify dominates e-commerce with unmatched features. Carrd is perfect for simple landing pages at an unbeatable price. Framer excels at modern, animation-rich sites.