Now that we’ve talked through each of the three biggest content management systems out there, it’s time to talk about the elephants in the room: Wix and Squarespace.
To be clear, Wix and Squarespace aren’t CMSs. Instead, they are websites and they are businesses. When you go to Wix.Com or Squarespace.Com, they are trying to get you to buy their product. That’s as opposed to when you go to the websites for the CMSs where they’re just trying to give you the code that you can use for free.
And I’ll be upfront with you: I’m not a big fan of Wix and Squarespace really. They do have a place in the ecosystem, as you’ll see, but I don’t think they really work for serious business websites.
Still, let’s talk about what they are, what they do, some of the downsides and maybe see if it will work for your business.
What are Wix and Squarespace?
So to put it simply, Wix and Squarespace are website builders. You can sign up for a website with a domain, build it and do it pretty cheaply and quickly, especially compared to going out and getting a web designer and/or developer.
You can use different templates that they have to really build that website out in, you know, maybe half an hour. While the actual page editors of the two are pretty different, obviously, they both make it pretty for people to create pages on your website quickly without any technical knowledge, which you know, as you can figure out would make them pretty popular. And they both also offer ecommerce solutions, if you’re into that.
Simply put, they’re basically the standard out there for website builders.
What are they good for?
The top thing these website builders are good for is creating websites quickly and super cheaply. You can probably build a website yourself for around 100 bucks or so, and that can be a massive help if you’re just starting out or can’t raise the funds for a more full-fledged out website.
And because you’re building a website yourself, you build it out on your own timeline. You don’t have to wait to hire a developer, then wait on their timeline and then wait for them to build and launch your website. You can do it yourself. You can build this new website in a day if you have that time. It can feel kind of empowering.
But sometimes that power can be a bad thing.
What is the bad side?
There are a few downsides to using a website builder. For one, you don’t have total control over your website. You’re still at the whims of Wix and Squarespace. You can’t easily take that website and move it to another web host if you want. Also, if Wix or Squarespace goes under at some point, well, you’re out of luck.
Plus, you are limited in what you can do on Wix and Squarespace. While they do allow you to do some customizations on the front end, good luck trying to do anything in the underlying code. You won’t have the same abilities to changes your website and to make it your own like you do with WordPress, Drupal or Joomla.
Finally, you know, going back to that video earlier where we talked about if you should build a website yourself or not, again you’re not a web designer and/or developer. You might not know what really works. It really might be worth going out and getting a web designer and/or developer to build out this website for you so that it’s nice and easy for other people to read and use. And that extra cost might be worth the risk.
So there are somethings that you should really be thinking about when you’re deciding whether to use Wix and Squarespace or not.
Should you use Wix and Squarespace?
So, should you use Wix or Squarespace for your business’ website? Well, the answer, like a lot of things, just depends.
If you’re just starting out or you just don’t have the funds for a fully-fledged website, then maybe it is worth looking at Wix and Squarespace. While I, obviously, am not a fan of them, I do realize that they do have a place in this ecosystem. And that is their place.
But if you want to be more established, if you want to have control over your website, you want to be able to customize it and change to make it look like your business, then it’s worth going with one of the CMSs and going out and getting your own web hosting and your own domain.
At the end of the day, if you want complete control over your website, it’s worth moving past Wix and Squarespace.
Up next
So that wraps up our look into Wix, Squarespace and really website builders in general. I know this was a quick overview, but I’ve put links in the description down below to help you do more research and figure out what’s best for you.
If you have any questions or comments on website builders, be sure to leave them down in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Next time we’ll try to figure out what content management system will work for your business and your website. But until then I wish you and your business the best of luck.
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