How-to-Choose-a-Site-Builder-for-Your-Ecwid-Store-

How to Choose the Best Site Builder for Your Ecwid Online Store

17 min read

Have you ever heard that saying, “Don’t reinvent the wheel?”

When it comes to building a selling website for your online store, that phrase is an important one to keep in mind. There are countless options that make building your website fast, easy, and affordable — without having to hire a web designer.

There are many ways to sell online with Ecwid, such as:

creating a store on Facebook
launching a free one-page Ecwid Instant Site
selling with your own mobile app
and, of course, adding a store to your existing website.

Ecwid store can be seamlessly added to any website. That’s great, but if you haven’t got one yet, you might wonder how to choose the right site builder for your goals?

In this post, we’ll look at four popular site builders that integrate with Ecwid so you can get your professional-looking online business quickly up and running.

Why Use Site Builders

Before we jump into the different options, let’s take a moment to talk about the advantages of using site builders as opposed to hiring a web designer or agency to create your website from scratch.

Ready-made templates

Pre-designed templates for websites act as a framework that you can then customize to fit your branding.

They take the legwork out of layout and web design so that you can quickly build off a pre-established format. Without a template, building a website can be a large time investment with a hefty price tag.

Mobile-friendly

Site builders also work well because they offer mobile-friendly designs that accommodate the growing number of mobile users.

Data from comScore shows that mobile usage outpaced desktop usage back in 2014 – and it continues to do so.

With this in mind, it’s important to approach web design with a mobile-first mentality in order to cater to the online preferences of your audience.

Hosting

Most site builders offer hosting as part of their packages — which means your website is securely hosted by the site builders’ servers and you can purchase a custom domain.

The beauty of this is that you can often manage your website hosting right within the site builder — no need to go through an external channel that adds another step to the process.

Search engine optimization

If search engine optimization (SEO) is a priority for you, some site builders offer templates that have been created with this objective in mind.

Choosing an SEO-friendly template makes it simple for you to optimize your site content and copy to help you achieve your optimization goals. Again — you get this benefit without having to hire external developers.

Affordability

Site builders are an affordable option for e-commerce retailers because they are typically offer different pricing packages based on the size and needs of the business.

This allows the business owner to select the pricing plan that best fits their budget and allows them to select only the features they need.

It also creates an opportunity to scale the services of the site builder up or down as the business evolves over time.

While some online retailers may decide to hire a designer to help with elements of a website created through one of these platforms (like customizing a template, graphic elements, etc.), using a site builder can help make the process faster and more affordable as opposed to starting with a custom-made website from scratch.

Next, let’s compare some of the popular site builders to see how they stack up against each other.

Looking for a way to add an online store to your WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal website? Read How To Add an Online Store to Your Existing Website

Overview of 9 Most Popular Site Builders that Have Ecwid Integration

There are many different options for site builders, but we’re going to focus on some of the more popular platforms that we see websites and stores being built with on a regular basis.

Some of the commonly used site builders that integrate with Ecwid are:

To help you decide, let’s take a more in-depth look at these site builders.

Wix

Wix is a site builder that prides itself on simple website development. Using drag and drop tools, you can easily create a website that’s mobile-friendly and that hosts your online store. Other features include:

Unlimited pages
Supports video and audio files
Social integrations
Stock images
Free and reliable hosting

Here’s an example of an online store/website built on Wix:

Fortunate

With a clean, simple layout and easy navigation tools, you can create a website and online store using Wix that wows your customers.

Integrating Wix with Ecwid is as simple as adding the app from the Wix App Market to your site.

Weebly

Weebly boasts more than 40 million users, and is a site builder beloved for it’s no frills approach to website design.

In minutes, you can create a mobile-responsive site from the templates they have available, and you can study your progress with their back-end metrics. Other features include:

SEO tools
Custom domain hosting
Video embedding
Fast load times

Take a look at this example of an online store/website built on Weebly:

OnlineBikiniShop

Notice how in this example bold images are front and center and the top navigation makes it easy for shoppers to browse by category. Using Weebly, you can put a store like this one together and go live within a day.

Weebly sites integrate with Ecwid when you drop in the appropriate html text.

WordPress

More than 25% of the entire web runs on WordPress, and because of its open source platform, many integrations, tools, and developer-friendly resources, it’s come to be a favorite for e-commerce websites, too.

With flexible pricing and endless templates, you can use this site builder to create a customized website that’s completely unique and professional-looking. Other features include:

Various plugins
Advanced site metrics
Free themes

Here’s an example of what a WordPress e-commerce site looks like:

Sheakardel

WordPress sites are often more customizable than other site builders because there are so many existing resources for this particular platform — from templates to integrations and beyond.

You can integrate any WordPress site with Ecwid by adding a simple plugin.

Squarespace

Squarespace is another easy to use tool with many different templates that allow you to build and launch a customized online store and website in minutes.

With hosting and custom domains available for purchase within this platform, you can take care of all of your website needs without ever leaving this one site. Other features include:

Award-winning designs and templates
Analytics and tools for inventory tracking, shipping, customized emails and more
SEO resources
Social media integrations

Here’s an example Squarespace site:

Adirondak

If you’re looking for a site builder that’s ultra-easy and prides itself on design, this option might be ideal for you. You can launch a professional-looking store that makes your offerings look great in no time at all.

You can tie together your Squarespace website and Ecwid accounts with a piece of html code.

Drupal

Drupal is a lot like WordPress — a free, open-source content management system.

Drupal is popular with developers thanks to its free, open-source approach. These developers have built thousands of extensions (called “modules”) and themes for it (both free and paid). There is little you can’t make Drupal do, provided you have the technical skills for it.

The developer-focus means that user-friendliness takes a backseat. Nor do you get hosting or priority support. Be prepared to read a lot of documentation should you decide to use Drupal.

Drupal strengths:

Free; you only pay for your hosting costs.
Thousands of extensions and themes (almost 50,000).
Can be modified to fit virtually any need.
Rock solid and stable; won’t crash.

Drupal weaknesses:

Difficult to use. You will need external help if you’re not technical.
Plain vanilla Drupal isn’t very useful. You will need to buy/download extensions.
No hosting or support.

Best for: businesses with in-house IT teams or access to developers.

Ecwid integration: Follow the instructions here to learn how to integrate Ecwid with Drupal.

Here’s a very high profile site using Drupal — Weather.com:

Drupal

Joomla

Joomla was spun-off from Drupal in 2005. As such, it boasts largely the same values and architecture as Drupal — free and open-source with extensive modularity.

Where Joomla stands out from Drupal is in its user-friendliness and stability at scale. If you’re going to have hundreds of thousands of articles, Joomla would be a good option.

Joomla has the same downsides as Drupal or any other open-source software: a steep learning curve, poor support and a DIY-ethos. This might be great for the technically inclined, but if you just want to get a site up, you’ll find it a challenge to use.

Joomla strengths:

More user-friendly than Drupal.
Great at handling large amounts of content (1000+ pages).
Thousands of extensions and themes available.

Joomla weaknesses:

Not as customizable as Drupal.
Hard to use compared to paid alternatives.
No hosting or support.

Best for: Businesses that expect to host a large number of pages such as media companies.

Ecwid integration: Joomla has an official Ecwid integration that you can find here.

Here’s an example of a high-profile Joomla website: MichaelPhelps.com.

Joomla

Strikingly

Strikingly isn’t a full-featured site builder. Instead, it helps you make “one-page” websites.

As the name implies, these are sites with a single, scrolling page. One-page websites have gained currency among small businesses of late who just want a single page to give basic information to their customers.

Where Strikingly stands out is in its ease of use and beautiful templates. Instead of building a site from scratch, you can quickly click and customize existing templates. This makes getting online incredibly fast and easy.

On the downside, this one-page format severely limits your freedom. You can only use the built-in templates and you can’t add any additional pages.

If you are an Ecwid seller, you can also consider using a free Ecwid Instant Site instead of a one-page site. Instant Sites are simple sites that merchants can use to start selling online. You won’t get the bells and whistles of some of the other tools on this list, but it is perfect for anyone looking to establish an online presence.

You can learn more about Ecwid Instant Sites for ecommerce websites here. You can also view inspiring sites built with Ecwid.

Strikingly strengths:

Beautiful templates out of the box.
Extremely easy to use.
One-page format is convenient for many small businesses.

Strikingly weaknesses:

Extremely limiting format; can’t add pages or change templates.
Limited templates.
Need to purchase pro plan to use a custom domain.

Best for: Small businesses that need a placeholder site that links to their online store.

Ecwid integration: The Ecwid app is available in the Strikingly app store. You can access it here.

Here’s an example of a Strikingly site: TribeWanted.com

Strikingly

DudaOne

Duda is the “responsive website builder” from Duda. It complements DudaMobile, which is Duda’s mobile website builder. This can be confusing for most businesses.

Setting aside naming confusions, Duda offers a simple, drag-and-drop editor for building business websites. You can make simple one-page sites, landing pages and complete small business home pages.

One big strength of Duda over its competitors is that it gives you access to the underlying code. If you know your HTML/CSS, you can customize any template extensively.

Duda strengths:

Offers a free option with limited, but usable features.
Drag and drop builder is easy to use.
Supports a number of integrations such as OpenTable reservations, Yelp reviews, etc.

Duda weaknesses:

Doesn’t support blogs.
Can’t change web hosts.
Some stability issues.
Limited templates.

Best for: Small businesses who want a quick and cheap site for establishing a web presence.

Ecwid integration: Duda supports Ecwid out of the box.

Here’s an example of a site built on a Duda template: ChefAdoni.com.

DudaOne

Weld

Weld is a relatively new player among site builders. Weld helps you build any kind of site with its flexible, mobile-friendly site builder tool.

Weld’s ease of use and flexibility are its two biggest strengths. The site builder uses smart objects and content blocks to help you create interactive, dynamic websites. You aren’t limited by the number of pages or pre-existing template designs. You can even use it entirely for free provided you keep the “Made in Weld” watermark.

On the downside, Weld’s built-in templates leave a lot to be desired. There is little documentation available and you will have to figure out a lot of things on your own.

Weld strengths:

Highly customizable templates.
Drag and drop “smart objects” and “content blocks”.
Free to use.

Weld weaknesses:

Pre-built templates are somewhat basic.
Little documentation or support.
Need customization to get the most out of Weld.

Best for: Businesses who want a free site builder and are willing to figure things out on their own.

Ecwid integration: You can add Ecwid to your Weld site using the Ecwid app in the Weld library.

Here’s an example of a site built on Weld: Framtidskoll.nu.

Weldio

Site Builders: Fantastic Resources

If you do not have a website, check out Bookmark, a free website builder. Bookmark allows you to instantly integrate your Facebook page with a click of a button using their A.I powered website builder which creates your website in 30 seconds or less.

Now that you know some of the best-loved tools that integrate with Ecwid, it’s time for you to pick one and create a website and online store that wows your customers.

Tip: site builders are great for creating a website with multiple pages, a blog, or a picture gallery. If you need a one-page website to tell your customers who you are and to quickly start selling, consider free Ecwid Instant Site. Use customizable blocks to tell your business story, to show customer reviews, contact info and the store itself.

Happy building!