Website builders are the tools that allow you to build a website without any coding or programming skills. We understand that learning a programing language is not your thing. You want to build your website and have it running as fast as possible. These carefully selected best small business website builders will allow you to build a website for your small business using drag-and-drop functions. You don’t need to invest time or money into building a website. In this article, we promise to give you our honest reviews of the best small business website builders in 2022.
What are the Best eCommerce Website Builders for Small Businesses?
The best website builder for online stores is Shopify. This is because it has more advanced features for eCommerce stores than others.
Which Website Builder is Easy to Use?
The easiest website builder is Wix. Wix is easy to use and is great for start-ups.
Top 7 Best Small Business Website Builders in 2022
Let’s see the 7 best small business website builders in 2022 that you can start using.
- Wix
- Squarespace
- GoDaddy
- Hostgator
- Weebly/Square
- Shopify
- WordPress
1. Wix: – Easy to use Small Business Website Builder
If you are starting out with your small business and looking at what website builder to use, we recommend you try out Wix. There are several reasons why we have made Wix top the list of the best small business website builders in 2022. Let’s look at the features of the best website builder for small businesses that Wix possesses:
Pros/ Features of Wix Website Builder
- The Wix website builder has many templates that you can choose from to give your website good aesthetics. Build your customized website from scratch with the hundreds of templates available.
- Wix has an easy drag and drop interface, so you can use it even if you have no prior knowledge of building a website
- With Wix website builder paid plan, your website is ad-free, giving visitors an awesome experience.
- Wix is among the best website builder for start-ups because it is easy to use. You do not need to try to understand website building technicalities such as how to code.
- The free version of this best small business website builder has a wide range of templates and design options.
- Wix form builders come with add-ons.
- Although expensive when compared to other competitors, the complete package of business tools, including the best SEO tools for small businesses, allows you to optimally utilize your website performance, multiple currencies, drop shipping options, advanced shipping, and sales of subscriptions.
- The paid plan version of this best website software builder permits you to add access to more apps and videos.
- Your local-based visitors can interact with your website as Wix permits you to translate your website into different websites.
Cons:
- The Wix eCommerce choice is expensive; hence, we don’t recommend Wix as the best website builder for online stores.
- It is not suitable for an eCommerce website that requires optimal speed.
- The free plan comes with annoying ads that can reduce the user’s experience
- The free plan also has a too long URL. For example, (example.wixsite.com/siteaddress).
- It has a slow load time.
- The mobile responsiveness and backend navigation is poor.
- Websites designed using Wix do not always adjust to different screens.
- An upgrade to other website builders is always difficult.
Wix Pricing Plan: Wix pricing plan features the free plan and paid plan. The paid plan is categorized into:
- Website plan: $14 to $39/ month
- Basic Business and eCommerce plan: $23 to $49/ month
- Enterprise Plan: Tailored to meet your specific need.
Helpful Resources:
- Learn more about Wix Pricing Plan
- Do you want to try out Wix? Learn about how to start using Wix.
2. Squarespace: – Best Small Business Website Builder with Great Aesthetics
Squarespace website builder is known for helping small business owners create stylish websites; hence, it is one of the best website builders for small businesses such as marketing and advertising, designs and visual arts and photographers. Squarespace features the latest stylish templates you can choose. Not just that, Squarespace is also among the best eCommerce website builders for small businesses.
Pros/ Features:
- Unlike Wix, Squarespace can be used for online stores and blogging, and domain hosting.
- The domain of Squarespace is transferable if the owner wants to change to a different platform.
- It features SEO tools for website optimization.
- You can easily design a Squarespace website using the drag and drop feature.
- Squarespace is one of the best eCommerce website builders for small businesses as it allows features such as the announcement bar for new product displays.
- This best website builder software has more than 100 executive-designed templates which can be used for many industries ranging from local business to real estate.
- The various templates available are professionally designed and require no knowledge of coding.
- Squarespace permits you to personalize your website by stamping your mark when you customize our designs, including fonts, colors, background images, and sidebar width.
- It is easy to redesign your website later as all the templates share the same elements.
- Squarespace is hosted, so your website is updated.
- It features the Squarespace support for assistance.
Cons
- It offers no free plan
- Bit of a learning curve
- It is not easy to use compared to Wix, as it offers advanced design tools that need to be learned.
- Elements such as event countdowns cannot be added without the custom code which is only available with the business plan.
- The functionalities are sometimes hidden by tabs and sidebar menu.
- Its eCommerce function cannot compare with other website builders that offer plugins.
Spacesquare Pricing Plan:
- Free 14 days trial
- Basic Business Package for eCommerce: $18/ month, which allows you to set up a 20-page website. We recommend the Squarespace $18 per month plan for the best website builders for online stores.
- Advanced eCommerce plans: $26 and $40 a month
- Learn how to design your website like a pro using Squarespace
- Learn more about the Squarespace Pricing plan
- Learn about using Squarespace for eCommerce
3. GoDaddy: Best known for Quick Load Time:
GoDaddy is one of the best small business website builders in 2022 you should consider getting. Do you know of the GoDaddy Insight? It is the tool that allows you to get insights and suggestions according to the data from several users. GoDaddy gives you the Insight Score that leaves your small business website competing with your competitors. Moreover, if you own an eCommerce website, you can give your customers the best user experience with the best eCommerce website builders for small businesses as your customers would experience a fast and efficient load time. We recommend GoDaddy for any business that is looking to get online quickly.
Pros/ Features
- Godaddy offers you better flexibility when compared to the Wix website builder, so you can switch your template when you are considering a redesign
- A GoDaddy design suite and an eCommerce suite.
- GoDaddy is one of the best website builders as it is known to be very fast
- It is one of the best website builders for beginners
- GoDaddy website builder features a free version.
- The editor is simple and easy to use and understand.
- GoDaddy has an unmetered bandwidth and storage; hence it is not just the best small business website builder in 2022; it is also great for large businesses
- This best free website features the drag-and-drop editor for customization.
- GoDaddy allows you to add features like contact forms, social media links, videos, and some marketing tools like SEO and email marketing functions.
Cons:
- This best website builder for start-ups has too simple and basic templates making it difficult to build a business website, especially with no prior knowledge.
- There is very limited design to choose from
- GoDaddy website builder offers no access to advanced tools making personalization of websites difficult.
- It is not one of the best website builder software for content-rich websites. GoDaddy is better for building a website with few pages.
- Moving the GoDaddy website to a different platform will be difficult.
GoDaddy Pricing Plan:
- The best website builder for small businesses should have a free plan which you can use to test it. GoDaddy has a free plan.
- It also has four subscription plans ranging between $6.99 and 17.49. It increases to $9.99 and $24.99 one month after renewal.
- GoDaddy has a Standard, Premium, and eCommerce pricing plan great for small businesses; hence, it is one of the best website builders for start-ups and for eCommerce businesses. Learn how to create your own GoDaddy website.
4. Hostgator:
Another website builder that made the list of the best small business website builders in 2022 is the Hostgator website builder. Are you looking for a very simple website builder? Gator is your answer. It has all the basic things a small business will need.
Pros:
- Hostgator is a fully hosted website, so you don’t have to worry about hosting.
- It features over 200 professional website templates.
- The editor is easy to use
- Gator is among the best cheapest website builders for small businesses as the pricing plan is very affordable.
- We have also listed Gator as among the best eCommerce website builders for small businesses because of its uniqueness that allows you to sell online with any plan.
- Marketing tools such as Emails are included in this website builder.
- It features free access to a built-in stock photo library.
Cons:
- Hostgator is not the best website builder for online stores
- It does not offer trial or free versions or plans.
- The renewal rate of Gator website builder can be expensive for a small business owner
- The low and mid-price plan for eCommerce comes with an added transaction.
- The lowest price plan has no appointment booking features
See HostGator Pricing Plan here
Gator has three pricing plans: the Express Start, Express Site, and the Express Store.
Note:
We promised you honest reviews, so, at this point, we would say this. Although Gator is one of the best website builders for start-ups because of its simplicity, we would not recommend it for building an eCommerce website because it lacks advanced features. Do you want to know what features your eCommerce websites should have? Check out our post here for full detail of the 25 must-have features of a good eCommerce website.
5. Weebly/ Square:
Square website builder, formally known as Weebly, is a website builder known for simple editing. It made it to the list because of its affordability for small businesses. This is one website builder you will find among the best cheapest website builders for small businesses and the best website builder for start-ups.
Square combines Weebly’s drag-and-drop editor for website building with its eCommerce capacity allowing users to create websites for their small businesses with ease or choose to build an eCommerce store with Square’s function.
Like Shopify, Square is also a website for online stores, although it is not as developed as Shopify. Industries that use Square include marketing and advertising, education, and Industrial technology.
Let’s go into the pros and cons of Square website building
Pros:
- Square Website builder is cheap
- It is easy to use but not when compared to Wix.
- Square has many templates you can choose from industry-based to just anyone you link, giving your website a professional look.
- It features a free version for small businesses
- This website builder can permit changing the template without uploading your content again. This feature of Square makes it stands out.
- Beginners can use this website builder with the drag and drop features. However, unlike Wix, you cannot move the elements freely to certain places on the websites.
- The SEO functionalities are limited
- The bandwidth and storage are unmetered.
- Square features email and social media marketing tools.
- It performs greatly with SEO
- You get the best value for your money.
- The premium payment plan is affordable for small business owners
Cons:
- There is a limitation in how you customize your website.
- Although easy, it is not likely to get improved in the coming years
- Free plan available
- Paid plan for eCommerce stores for as low as $12/mo.
6. Shopify:
Shopify is one of the largest eCommerce marketing platforms used today. According to statistics, there are about 1.7M marketers using Shopify. Shopify is specifically used for online sales, so it has more advanced features suited to that purpose than other website builders mentioned earlier. Hence it is more expensive, so it cannot be classified as one of the best cheapest website builders for small businesses.
Shopify is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses. Industries that use Shopify include fashion and Apparel, Retail, Marketing, and Advertising.
Pros:
- Shopify website builder provides SSL for security
- It features categories like sales, email marketing,
- It is great for dropshipping
- Shopify is a great eCommerce website builder for small businesses experiencing growth
- It has great eCommerce features that help you sell online.
- Shopify offers a discount on transaction fees on the premium plans.
- Shopify also has a point of sales (POS) system that allows you to sell items using stock management and payment features.
- It has built-in and third-party features
- Reliable customer support.
Cons:
- It is expensive for small businesses
- It features very few themes- nine- so customization is limited.
- The editor isn’t a true drag-and-drop editor but point-and-click navigation. This may take time to learn, but you soon get used to it.
See Shopify Pricing Plan here.
7. WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a website builder for small businesses and a Content Management System (CMS). With this website builder, you can create websites, blogs, forums, membership sites, etc.
Pros:
- WordPress offers a free plan
- There are many themes and plugins to download and use without learning how to code.
- It has enough drag-and-drop features for your designs
- The SEO features are top-notched.
- WordPress is self-customized
- Built-in blogging tools
- You get great value for the money.
- It is affordable for small businesses
Cons:
- WordPress is easily breakable if you don’t know how to go about it
- It is a bit of a learning curve, but your work can be saved as a draft until you are ready to continue
- WordPress sometimes is not compatible with some plugins.
- Free plan users may not be able to use some plugins unless they upgrade to the payment plan.
See WordPress Pricing Plan here.
Factors to Consider when Choosing the Best Small Business Website Builders in 2022
1. Pricing
Pricing is the most important factor to consider when choosing the suitable or the best small business website builders in 2022. Many website builders offer free plans, while some do not. Depending on your profit or ROI, there are different pricing plans you can opt for to build your website. However, we suggest that you don’t base your choice on this factor alone because some website builders, although cheap, will not allow you to upgrade or switch to other builders when your business grows, limiting you. You don’t want to get stuck with limited functions for your websites.
2. Type of Small Business and Need
The type of website builder you choose to adopt depends on your type of small business and its specific needs. Different website builders have different features that suit your business needs.
3. Ease of Implementation
The best website builder for small businesses should be easy to set up and use.
4. Variety of Templates, Themes, and Designs
The availability of many templates, designs, and themes affords you the flexibility to switch from one template to another, giving your website different looks. However, be careful not to overuse these features.
5. Fast Load Time:
A fast load time encourages your web users to visit your pages as often as possible. You risk visitors switching to your competitors’ websites when your website loads slowly.
6. Customer Support:
Your website builder provider should provide you with the best customer support in your website building process.
Conclusion
Thinking of building a website for your small business yourself? Having gone through the pros and cons of these carefully selected website builders, we believe you are in a good position to choose the best small business website builders in 2022.
Iconic Digital World also has enough resources for you to get your small business website running. You can get tips for gathering content for your website in 5 easy steps using our resources and the 14 things You Wished You Knew earlier Before Owning a Website
Would you rather employ a professional website builder or developer? Iconic Digital world got you covered. We deliver interactive web pages to your website visitors in the most attractive, creative, and professional way that keeps them coming to you.
