How to choose the best platform for your website
When it comes to designing a website for your business, which platform should you choose? To keep it simple, I’ve narrowed it down to the three platforms I use most: Squarespace, Shopify and WordPress.
Most likely, you want a website that will promote your business, generate leads and ultimately sell your products or services. It might be tempting to only focus on what you want your website to look like — and aesthetics are indeed important to generate an emotional response. But your website ultimately needs to convert visitors into customers, and for this it needs to work well.
When it comes to designing a website for your business, which platform should you choose? To keep it simple, I’ve narrowed it down to the three platforms I use most: Squarespace, Shopify and WordPress.
Most likely, you want a website that will promote your business, generate leads and ultimately sell your products or services. It might be tempting to only focus on what you want your website to look like — and aesthetics are indeed important to generate an emotional response. But your website ultimately needs to convert visitors into customers, and for this it needs to work well.
What would you like people to do on your website?
Take some time to reflect on the following questions when you start planning your website:
What do you think potential customers need to see and read to start engaging with you?
What do you want them to do (such as buy something, sign up, make a booking, etc.)?
Is there anything you are likely to need in the future?
Once you work out what you need on your website, you will be better able to assess which platform will be most suitable, both in terms of design and functionality.
Squarespace website for Creative Women’s Circle, created by CWC board members
How tech savvy are you?
Assuming you will DIY your website, think about how comfortable you are online, especially when it comes to:
custom design
CMS (Content Management System) interface
customer support
All three platforms offer both free and paid ‘themes’ (or ‘templates’, as they’re called in Squarespace), which you can customise to a certain point using the CMS.
If you choose a Shopify or WordPress theme, make sure you do so from a reputable source. Read reviews and check the developers. The theme needs to be well coded and well supported; otherwise you might end up with a slow site and conflicting plugins.
As far as interface is concerned, WordPress has the steepest learning curve and, unless you have access to a developer, you are pretty much on your own! Being an open source platform, it requires you to take care of everything to build a website. There are lots of how-to resources out there, but think about how keen you are to learn and how much time you have.
Wordpress website for the Grace Files, created by Studio Manusha
Squarespace and Shopify, on the other hand, are ‘hosted’ platforms, which means that not only do they take care of the technical side of things, but they also provide customer support. This is part of your subscription fee, so make the most of it! There is a certain comfort in knowing you are not alone.
Note that with these hosted solutions, you need an active subscription to run your site and you cannot download a full copy of your site. If you decide later to leave Squarespace or Shopify, you will be able to download some of the content but you will need to rebuild your website. You cannot just switch to another host.
So, what do I recommend?
Squarespace is a great solution if you are just starting out, need an information or portfolio website and are on a tight budget.
Advantages:
Squarespace offers a good range of templates that you can customise with your branding.
All templates are responsive and work well on all devices.
There is enough functionality to set up beautiful pages, have a blog, build a mailing list and even run an online store.
The drag-and-drop interface will appeal to those who are not tech savvy, and you won’t need to worry about technical maintenance or updates, which are included in your subscription.
Limitations:
You have to work within their templates and functionality, which can be frustrating if you want something specific.
On the e-commerce side of things, it is not possible at the moment to display multiple currencies, which can be an issue if you sell internationally.
Despite these limitations, the initial investment (in time and money) is usually lower than with other platforms and you can achieve great results.
Shopify is best for retailers. Whether you already have a brick-and-mortar store or are just selling online, Shopify is a comprehensive e-commerce platform.
Advantages:
It is easy to navigate your way around.
There are lots of themes available to purchase and customise, and with so many apps to choose from (including free ones), you can really push your online store.
Unlike with Squarespace, you can access and modify code to design and develop custom layouts. You may need a pro for this but there are plenty of Shopify ‘experts’ available.
Limitations:
The focus is on the products and the homepage. Any other page apart from those can be bland and a bit difficult to manage, though there is the customization option noted above.
WordPress will suit you best if you want flexibility and are tech savvy.
Advantages:
You can essentially do anything!
Limitations:
The flexibility often requires more time and more expertise. However, you can always get help for the initial setup and then learn to manage the site yourself once it is up and running.
Emmanuelle Harrington has been a website producer for more than twenty years. Her focus is on helping small creative businesses find their voice and connect with audiences by creating beautiful websites and providing personalised training. Based in the Adelaide Hills, she works with clients all around Australia. Visit her at studiomanusha.com or follow her on Instagram (@studiomanusha).
Interview: Madeleine Burke, freelance web developer and designer
By Andrea McArthur
"I make websites." This is how Madeleine Burke would answer if asked the question "What do you do?". Yes she is a girl and yes she codes. From her own admission she loves computers and has made the transition to focus on web development full time with her own business based in Sydney, Australia.
"I love working with small to medium sized business as well as with other designers on both digital design and development projects including custom Wordpress, Shopify and SquareSpace development, SEO and Google AdWords and social media management."
What led you down your current path? I started learning about web design and development as a hobby when I was 13 and my parents first got dial-up internet. School went on and I started a degree in Psychology (don’t ask me why!). After a few years of, I admit, a pretty boring degree I decided to switch to a design degree and pursue my old after-school (and sometimes into the wee hours of the morning) hobby.
As far as working for myself goes I think thats largely been due to my upbringing. My parents have always had their own business – a nursery – when I was little and now my Mum has two restaurants, accommodation and wedding venues in the Hunter Valley and my Dad a landscaping company (no he isn’t the man behind Jim’s mowing!). For me, working for yourself, doing what you are passionate about has always seemed normal. I had a pretty great upbringing.
Where do you feel most inspired? I’d have to say something boring like on my couch in front of my laptop or iPad. I’m a tech junkie and I love the internet. I can always learn something new just by reading around a bit. I love learning, always have and the fact that there’s so much out there that is changing and evolving that I can learn about is what gets me up in the morning.
Who do you admire? I really admire strong, independent women that run successful, profitable businesses. I love Ita Buttrose. I really admire women that don’t let emotions step in the way of their success. That’s probably been the biggest learning curve for me in starting my own business and whenever I read a blog telling people to stop treating their business like a free clinic I really admire that strength.
What has been your most favourite project in recent years? Probably doing the branding for my Mum’s second restaurant. I was just finishing up my degree and they had just bought the property. I got to be involved in every aspect from soundboarding with Mum about the decor, the logo which was my first experience with trademarking, getting creative with packaging and branding, signage, menus and of course the website. Close second was developing my first responsive website. That was really cool!
What does a typical day at work involve for you? Depending on the day and whether my partner is going for an early morning bike ride I wake up somewhere between 5.30 - 7am. I usually start work shortly after, I’m more of a morning person and starting earlier usually means I can take a longer lunch break if I want to get out of the place for a while.
I usually start by answering any emails that have come in overnight (yes I get a lot of 2am emails from clients!), reconcile any accounts and get to work on that day’s projects. I always do a bit of work on my business every day whether that be social media work, adwords, SEO or some branding collateral or even a blog post. I think it’s important to put as much effort into your own business as you do into everyone else's.
Of course the day is broken up with other emails, Twitter (bit of an addiction to that as well!), quotes and phone calls but I try to tick off a few of my to-do’s every day to make sure I’m actually achieving something. The day usually finishes around 7pm so it’s a longer day than an average full-time job, but I love it.
5 Questions in 5 minutes – Getting Personal:
Studio Sounds, what’s playing? Always something cheerful. We just bought a record player so that’s getting a bit of a workout. The biggest on my Spotify are definitely “How Will I Know” Whitney Houston and “Lights” Ellie Goulding. Anything by Fleetwood Mac ranks pretty highly also!
What are you currently reading? “Work for Money, Design for Love” by David Airey. I love reading business or design books, they make me feel productive but I’m also breaking it up with Alkymisten, The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo in Norwegian.
What are you looking forward to? The weekend? Ha, um learning. I know I’ve said it before but learning, expanding my skillset, maybe teaching one day? I’d love to teach girls how to code, it’s something that I’m really passionate about.
Can you share your go to resource for inspiration? I get a lot of inspiration from my Twitter feed, blogs like mashable, siteinspire, good inc. and fast company. I also love getting out of the house, going to great restaurants, bars and shops.
What is your local areas best kept secret? We live in Erskineville in Sydney’s inner west. There’s so many great spots around here. Probably my favourite is Bloodwood on King St. They have great polenta chips and the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever had.
You can contact Madeleine through the following channels online: hello@madeleineburke.com madeleineburke.com.au Twitter: @minburke
Andrea McArthur has a passion for all things visual. Type is her true love and goes weak at the knees over beautiful design. Andrea works as a freelance graphic designer in Brisbane by day and lectures in graphic design by night. You will find her sharing design related goodness via @andyjane_mc www.andyjane.com