Wordpress - I personally don’t like using Wordpress. But it’s the most used site builder and has countless “plugins,” which are tools you can easily connect to your site. Any time you link a lot of software together, however, you can run into problems, including security issues, but many plugins are well established. To be clear, though, you can connect countless resources to any website without plugins with an easy “copy and paste” of code. (You can also use Wordpress.org for a “self hosted” version.)
Wix - I already have accounts with another website builder. But if I were starting a site today without those, I would probably use Wix for its simplicity and its many features. It is another one of the most used platforms out there. Includes the ability to build an online store, run a mailing list, take appointments, manage clients, and more. Squarespace - another popular platform that’s been around a long time. I don’t love its own website, so I’m not confident about the sites it can build. But it again has a lot of built-in features including the ability to sell products and services, take appointments, send emails, and even build courses and memberships. Shopify - this is another platform I don’t like working in, but I can’t ignore its huge role in websites and e-commerce today. It does not have the number of features offered by those above, but seems robust for e-commerce. Weebly - honorable mention here, as I’ve used it for years but no longer recommend it so I’m not linking to it. It’s arguably the easiest one to use, and was used to build this site, whose needs are pretty basic. They’re owned by Square (payment processor), but seemed to have stopped developing features years ago, which means they’re falling behind. I don’t recommended getting tied into that situation. Substack and Ghost are both interesting options for content creators who want to monetize their content. |