If you are considering creating a small business website but do not know where to start, it is recommended to start by exploring the top small business website builders. It is essential for small businesses to have a strong online presence, and a visually appealing website acts as a digital storefront, enabling businesses to connect with a larger audience and attract new clientele.
Building a website can be overwhelming, particularly for small business owners who have few resources and limited technical knowledge. Fortunately, small business website builders offer a solution. These user-friendly online platforms enable business owners to create attractive and professional websites without requiring coding or design expertise.
We will explore and evaluate the top small business website builders available on the market to help you find the right solution for your business. These user-friendly tools often provide a wide range of features and templates customized to meet the unique needs of most small businesses. Therefore, there should be an option that suits your needs regardless of your industry.
The best small business website builders in 2023
1. The first step is to consider Wix. 2. One should start by thinking about Wix. 3. The initial thought process should focus on Wix.
Wix is a highly comprehensive website builder, particularly for small business websites. Its vast array of features explains why over 200 million registered users rely on Wix as their preferred platform.
By choosing the free edition, you will receive a basic service with limited bandwidth and storage (500MB). However, if you choose any of the paid plans, like the Business Basic package for ecommerce priced at $17 per month (with a yearly subscription), you will have unlimited bandwidth and 20GB of storage, a free domain for one year, Google Ad vouchers, and additional benefits. If things don’t go well, there is a 14-day money-back guarantee. Additionally, remember to check for current Wix promo codes to save more.
The website editor of Wix functions based on an uncomplicated drag-and-drop concept, providing numerous appealing design options and customization tools. Additionally, it incorporates an image editor, animations, video backgrounds, and both proprietary and third-party apps.
Additional tools such as Wix Turbo, Wix Bookings, Wix Restaurants, and Wix Hotels can also be utilized by businesses.
2. Weebly, when considering each individual step, should be thought about systematically without adding or removing any information.
With its extensive range of options, including a free plan with Weebly ads and a variety of paid plans for different budgets and businesses, Weebly stands out as a strong contender in the website builder market.
If you choose the free plan, you will only have access to 500MB of storage space. However, by opting for one of the paid packages, such as the Pro plan that costs $12 per month (when paid annually), you can enjoy unlimited storage without any limitations.
In addition to a free domain and $100 Google Ads credit, the Pro plan provides access to SEO tools, advanced site stats, phone customer service, and support for a web store with 25 items. If these features are insufficient, the Business plan, priced at $25 per month, removes the restriction on the number of items and includes additional high-end features such as coupon codes, item reviews, and a shipping calculator.
Weebly, similar to Wix, offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop editing platform that even beginners can easily navigate. However, we did have a few minor issues with it, namely the limited customization options and the absence of a global Undo feature. Nonetheless, there is a wide selection of professionally designed templates available for all types of businesses, along with access to free images for your website.
3. BigCommerce is a platform that allows businesses to create and operate online stores.
BigCommerce provides all the essential tools and features for the creation, maintenance, and expansion of your online store. The WYSIWYG editor offers seven free templates, but additional ones can be obtained from the theme store for approximately $145.
With a starting price of $29.95 per month, BigCommerce cannot be considered inexpensive, but its remarkable features and top-notch quality make it a worthwhile investment.
The Standard package consists of a wide range of included features such as a branded online store, dedicated SSL, coupons, discounts, gift cards, product reviews, social/marketplace integrations, POS, a blog, BigCommerce mobile app, 24/7 live support, and numerous others.
If you are uncertain about whether this platform is appropriate for you, you can take advantage of a 15-day free trial. Additionally, after your trial period ends, you will receive three months of BigCommerce for free if you decide to subscribe.
Please rephrase the text below while maintaining the same meaning. Do not add new information and do not remove information. 4. Squarespace Thinking in a sequential manner, rephrase the text below while keeping the same meaning. Refrain from adding new information and eliminating information. 4. Squarespace
Squarespace does not provide a free plan, unlike some competitors. However, its cheapest package costs $12 per month, which is quite reasonable and makes it a highly competitive website builder for small businesses. With this package, you will have unlimited storage and bandwidth, an SSL certificate, SEO features, image/video galleries, intelligent image optimization, a professional web store, CDN support for enhanced performance, free fonts, a free domain for one year, and additional features.
If you are looking for an online store, you won’t find it in this package. To access an online store, you will need to subscribe to the Business plan, which costs $18 per month when billed annually, or one of the commerce plans that start at $26 per month.
The drag-and-drop editor is very simple to learn, allowing you to personalize every aspect of your website. Although it may seem basic, you have the ability to select from a variety of attractive templates that you can adjust to suit your preferences.
All users can take advantage of the 14-day free trial before making up their mind about any of the pricing plans.
Shopify is a platform that allows businesses to create and manage their online stores.
Shopify is the perfect platform for small businesses seeking to increase sales. With a remarkable sales features score of 4.5 out of 5, Shopify offers all the necessary tools. Additionally, if you are unable to locate a specific tool, you can explore their extensive app store.
Shopify is explicitly created for the purpose of assisting users in building an online store, making it an ecommerce platform. This specificity results in Shopify offering more advanced sales tools compared to website builders such as Squarespace and Zyro.
When it comes to creating an online store, Shopify was highly favored by the public, and it is crucial to avoid alienating customers since retaining them alone can lead to a revenue increase of 25–29%.
One particularly outstanding aspect of Shopify is its inclusion of pre-installed dropshipping tools. Therefore, if you are a small business seeking storage solutions for your merchandise, Shopify may be the ideal remedy for your predicament.
If you are currently selling, Shopify provides apps that allow you to synchronize your inventories, simplifying the management of all your sales in one location. Additionally, Shopify offers excellent multichannel selling choices, such as integration with Instagram, Facebook, as well as Amazon and eBay.
When you have a limited budget, it is important to consider that many of Shopify’s sales tools are too advanced for small businesses, resulting in paying for features that may not be necessary for a while. It is crucial to be mindful of every cent spent.
Shopify offers pricing plans starting at $29 per month for annual subscriptions, while the starting price increases to $39 per month for those who choose to pay on a monthly basis.
If you sign up for one year, you could save around $120 per year on the Shopify plan, allowing you to keep that amount for travel expenses, office equipment, or new business cards.
Online Square is a platform for conducting transactions over the internet.
In 2018, Square, a major payment processing company, acquired Weebly, a widely used website builder. This merger led to the creation of Square Online, a platform that integrates Square’s functionalities with Weebly’s website building capabilities.
By signing up through Square Online, you gain access to additional features, while still utilizing Weebly’s building software to create your store.
This is particularly good news for beginners because Weebly is an easy-to-use builder that allows you to edit blocks by dragging and dropping. However, it does have its limitations, such as the lack of customization options offered by Weebly.
Square Online builds a store for you using Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) that is customized to meet your specific requirements. This approach is similar to the one used by GoDaddy and other builders, which involve asking relevant questions about your store in order to generate a personalized website layout.
Square Online offers additional features and integrations that Weebly lacks, including the ability to track customer behavior and generate customized invoices.
During our test of Square Online, one feature that impressed us was its use of AI technology to assist in adding products. This feature stands out because it can recognize products and provide suggestions for category names, thereby saving time.
Zyro is a platform that allows users to create websites quickly and easily.
Zyro is the ideal builder for those interested in UX design and business, as it offers POS integration. This allows customers to make online purchases through both hardware and software assistance.
Zyro allows you to create visually appealing storefronts quickly using a simple design editor. While it offers some impressive features, users have noted that finding these features within the builder can be difficult.
Where Zyro did a stand up job was in the design category. That said, if you’re running a small business Zyro might not be worth the price. However, if you want omnichannel design, product pages, and to let your design creativity out, Zyro might be the place for you.
Zyro offers its Business plan at a monthly cost of $4.24. Zyro provides weekly discounts of 72% on annual plans and discounts of up to 80% on biannual plans!
Big Cartel is a platform for artists and creators to sell their products.
Big Cartel stands out by allowing you to create, share, and even make sales without spending any money, which is highly unusual. Unlike other ecommerce website builders, where a paid subscription is required to sell products, Big Cartel breaks away from this convention.
When considering the phrase “you get what you pay for,” it seems fitting to describe Big Cartel as a very simple ecommerce builder. It ranks last in four out of seven research categories, making it the least favorable option for:
- Website Features – for example, Big Cartel doesn’t have any built-in blogging tools.
- Sales Features – it’s missing important features; for example, it’s not PCI compliant, and there’s no abandoned cart recovery.
- Help and Support – you only get help through email support Monday to Friday, or via the Help Center.
- Value for Money – although you can sell for free, the features you get on the paid plans are very limited.
Big Cartel faces challenges when compared to other free ecommerce small website builders like Square Online, but it still has its advantages that justify its inclusion in our list of the top ecommerce builders for small businesses.
If you don’t mind staying small and are starting at a small scale, then Big Cartel is designed for someone like you.
The platform is intended for assisting artists, makers, and creatives in selling their products online, making it suitable for selling a limited quantity of distinctive items. You cannot upload products in large quantities, therefore be ready to add each item individually!
One of the advantages of Big Cartel is that it won’t overwhelm you with unnecessary features, making it easier to manage your small business. Another great aspect of Big Cartel is its affordable pricing options.
Big Cartel’s free plan lets you sell up to five products, and comes with very basic features. The cheapest paid plan costs $9.99 per month, unlocks all Big Cartel’s features, and lets you sell up to 25 products. You can upgrade or downgrade at any time.
