Did you know that Tim Berners-Lee created the world’s first website at CERN in August 1991? It didn’t take long for people to catch up and gain access to the world at large. Suddenly, everyone wanted to have a website.
Almost 31 years after that momentous date, 1.169 billion websites came to dot the virtual world in January 2022, among those being 200 million active websites. These account for 17% of all the websites that people created, and individuals and groups are building a staggering 252,000 new websites every day.
The appeal of having a website makes sense, especially if it’s for selling goods or services. It is the same for small, medium, and large enterprises. After all, when consumers are researching a brand’s offerings, one of the places they check first is the website.
That is why it is important to have a compelling website. You need to make sure it follows the essential elements of a good website, too. These include focusing on the goal, making your website show your brand’s personality, and designing the website with the users in mind. The latter is especially critical since it takes only 50 milliseconds for a website to make an impression. This is based on research by Lindgaard.
But where do you start? If you have in-house designers and developers, that is all good. But if you do not have a team and a budget, what will you do? Fortunately, there are website builders that can help. Here are some of the best website builders and software solutions for small businesses that you can use to create your website.
7 Best Website Builders for Small Businesses in 2022
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is known for providing businesses with an ecommerce platform ready for a new era. It is ideal for old and new enterprises that want to reach a wider audience online. Users have noted that it has given them more features and improvements than other similar services. Most important among those is multi-currency support. Of course, it is critical for commercial ventures since it allows them to attract more outside-the-border customers.
When it comes to design, BigCommerce gives you full flexibility. You can brand your storefront and tweak elements as you see fit. The software already has the design tools on hand for you to use. Plus, it does not take a design genius to use those. What you need is a large dose of creativity to ensure that every picture and every box is in the right place.
In line with that, you can create multiple storefronts. This is helpful when you are expanding to new markets. You may want to provide exclusive offerings for one market and change it up in another. Businesses can also appreciate this if they are handling multiple brands. There is no need to create a new website or ecommerce site for different brands—you can simply build a new storefront. In that way, you can operate with efficiency.
Softr
If you want to build custom apps without the need to code for days, and pay 10x times less than you would pay for a team of developers we have the right tool for you: Softr.
Softr is the simplest no-code platform for creating custom web apps using Airtable as back-end. Softr helps transform Airtable data into responsive and visually engaging client portals, directories, online communities and even websites. Core features the platform offers are memberships, payments, and permissions, and more. You can upgrade the experience with dozens of useful integrations like Stripe, Zapier, Make, Crisp, and Google Analytics.
Wix
Wix is a well-known name among solopreneurs and small businesses. Its free package already provides a robust set of tools, but even its paid packages do not break the bank.
This website design solution is good for those with little to no design experience and for the ultra tech-savvy ones. It has an intuitive technology that gives you the freedom to design your website as you see fit. You have access to ready-to-go templates that you can tweak to fit your brand. But if you want, you can also build a website from scratch.
This could easily be an online store. You can have a professional ecommerce space where you can showcase and sell products. The platform lets you handle key e-commerce processes easily: add products, connect a payment processing system, set up a shipping provider, choose the best custom domain name, and launch your online store.
Zoho Sites
Creating a website does not have to be akin to climbing Mt. Everest. Zoho Sites makes it easy because of its selection of templates. You can use them as is or customize them to reflect your branding. Whichever the case, the process lets you wrap up website building quickly. And as soon as you make changes, you can see how they go with the rest of the page, thanks to the visual editor.
On top of that, the website building platform has a feature called sections. These are predesigned layouts that allow you to make any content stand out. Want a certain photo or block of text to be the center of attention? Sections can help you achieve that. You can also go above and beyond by customizing HTML & CSS so that you can attain the look you really want.
But as a small business, you would want your website to be your storefront as well. You can accomplish this by integrating Zoho Commerce or another e-commerce platform.
SITE123
SITE123 is one of the easiest website-building platforms around. Similar to other solutions, it presents you with templates that allow you to unleash your creativity. It is intuitive and does not require any coding. So even if you go at it alone, you can find your way around the interface.
With this platform, you do not have to worry about your website being mobile-friendly either. SITE123 ensures that every page you create renders well on smartphones and tablets. Plus, you have access to SEO tools that can assist you in reaching a larger audience.
If your main aim for making a website is to reach a global audience, you can do that here, too. SITE123 has an online store function that lets you create a storefront. You can upload your products and configure everything else in a jiffy. Thus, you can start reaching consumers in different corners of the world immediately.
Shopify
In 2021, 29% of small businesses did not have a website. One of the reasons is that they do not see the value of having one. But that is not true. Having a site is beneficial as 47% of consumers conduct research at company websites before purchasing.
Shopify is one of the many platforms that can aid you in taking advantage of such benefits. It can be an ecommerce and point-of-sale platform for your business. The solution offers more than 70 themes. You can customize these to fit your brand’s aesthetics. The platform has a drag-and-drop builder so there is no need for coding knowledge. Plus, every theme is responsive! This means your customers can have a good browsing and purchasing experience on PC or mobile.
Shopify can even serve as your POS. Yes, you can use it to sell in-store. You do not need a fancy device to use it since it can run on any Android or iOS device. Thus, you can sell both online and offline with extreme ease.
Weebly
Weebly is a website builder that comes with an integrated ecommerce platform. With it, you can build a professional website even if you have no prior experience. As with other website-building solutions, it has themes you can choose from. You can expect that these themes are responsive so you do not have to worry about ensuring your site visitors and customers have a smooth experience.
As well, you can expect to have access to smart marketing tools. For example, Weebly offers customizable email templates. You can utilize these for sending welcome emails and abandoned cart emails. Additionally, you can check your site’s performance using analytics tools. In this way, you can find ways to optimize your overall marketing strategy to attract more visitors to your site.
Squarespace
Squarespace used to be a blog hosting service. But it has since evolved into a versatile platform that lets you build websites from beautiful templates. On top of that, it offers a range of Squarespace plugins which enhance its capabilities.
But first, it starts with templates that you can change up to match your brand’s personality. It is easy to change colors, add elements, and include new pages. From there, you can start adding products and selling to customers in a wider geographical scope. And you can make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for with product categories.
Like many other solutions, Squarespace has digital marketing tools. With it, you can conduct email campaigns and create rich customer segments. Additionally, the platform has integrations with various social media sites. Thus, you can share updates with other platforms with ease.
Leverage the Web
Even a small business can benefit from having a website. After all, it is one of the first places that consumers visit for research. Without it, you could possibly be losing potential business.
You might think you do not need it because you have your Facebook page. However, those are not as versatile as websites. You cannot tweak the design to reflect your branding. And while you can showcase your products on it, you still need to lead them to an ecommerce site anyway.
So why not hit two birds with one stone? With a website builder such as BigCommerce, you can showcase products and sell them at the same time. Plus, you have tools for growth that allow your brand to flourish outside of its current borders.
Still baffled about building a website? Read about how to make a website step-by-step so you can get started and launch your own site immediately.
