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
Why To 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
They take the legwork out of layout and web design so that you can quickly build off a
Mobile-friendly
Site builders also work well because they offer
Data from comScore shows that mobile usage outpaced desktop usage back in 2014
With this in mind, it’s important to approach web design with a
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.
Read also: How to Create an Online Store Without a Website
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
Affordability
Site builders are an affordable option for
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
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 Droopal website? Read How To Add an Online Store to Your Existing Website
Overview of Popular Site Builders
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:
Each has different strengths, price points, and resources for users, so let’s see how they compare to each other.
| Free trial | Paid plan | Custom domain | Templates | Images base | Support types | Ecwid integration | |
| Wix | Yes | Paid plan | 500+ | 10000+ free | Email, live chat, forums | App | |
| Weebly | Yes | Paid plan | 100+ | 1000+ free & paid | Email, phone, forums | Html code | |
| WordPress | Yes | free | n/a | 2000+ | 1000+ | Forums, articles | Plugin |
| Squarespace | No | Paid plan | 100+ | 1000+ paid | Forums, articles, Live chat, phone | html code |
As you can see, different site builders are going to be ideal for different online retailers based on their individual needs.
Some might prefer to experiment with a free trial first, while others may need a site builder with extensive support resources. Choosing the option that’s best for you will depend on what you need most.
To help you decide, let’s take a more
Details on Site Builders & Example Stores
Each of these four site builders has different strengths, features, and benefits. And now that you have a better feel for how they compare to each other, we can explore each one in greater detail and see what some example stores look like.
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
- 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
- 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
With flexible pricing and endless templates, you can use this site builder to create a customized website that’s completely unique and
- Various plugins
- Advanced site metrics
- Free themes
Here’s an example of what a WordPress
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.
Related: 25
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
You can tie together your Squarespace website and Ecwid accounts with a piece of html code.
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
Tip: site builders are great for creating a website with multiple pages, a blog, or a picture gallery. If you need a
Happy building!
