I have been building websites for a long time and I want to share with you what my experience has been like working with different website building software.
The best all-around website building software is Elementor for WordPress. This is because Elementor is easy to use, no coding necessary. This website building software is a beginner-friendly tool that helps you create a professional-looking website easily on WordPress.
Elementor may not be the best for anyone who is anyone who has a lot of experience building websites. While there are a lot of different options to choose from there are only a few that are good.
These are the best website building software:
- Elementor: All around best for beginners
- Oxygen: All around best for experienced website designers
- Acabado: Blog
- Shopify: eCommerce
This website building software all have strengths and weaknesses. Choosing the right one for your website will translate into more traffic and revenue. 4 out of the 5 website builders require WordPress.
Further down we will review the following topics:
- What is a WordPress website building software?
- Website building software review: Elementor
- Website building software review: Oxygen
- Website building software review: Acabado
- Website building software review: Shopify
- Hosting for my website
- How much does a small business website cost?
- Best website design company for a small business
- Free website design
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What is a WordPress website building software?
There are 455 million WordPress websites and that is 30%-35% of the internet. WordPress is an open-source content management system. It was created for people to be able to create websites for free and not have to code. On WordPress, you use plugins and widgets to build your website. source
With WordPress, you can choose from thousands of themes and plugins to customize your website. Your options are truly endless with WordPress because it is open source and anyone can create a theme or plugin for you to use.
To illustrate the comparison of what WordPress is to your website let us imagine that your website is a piece of art.
Illustration of the different parts of a website:
- The paint on the canvas is your website and how it looks.
- The canvas is WordPress, it holds everything together so people can look at your masterpiece.
- The paintbrushes are the website building software.
- The art gallery is your website hosting service.
When you use a typical website builder you are limited to what they approve. With WordPress, you have what seems to be a limitless supply of options.
Once you have WordPress (your canvas for your masterpiece) downloaded you will need a theme or website builder (Paintbrushes).
The website builders will give you the tools you need to create the masterpiece on your canvas.
After you have your website builder you can create your work of art and host it on a hosting service. Once it is hosted you can have millions of people come and look at your masterpiece.
I use BlueHost as my hosting option. They work seamlessly with WordPress because you download BlueHost and it automatically downloads WordPress onto your website.
A new tab will open taking you to their discount page
WordPress is FREE but Bluehost is $3.95 a month for their lowest plan.
Now that we have an idea of how WordPress works, let us look at the best website builders.
Website building software review: Elementor
Elementor is by far the easiest website building software that I have used. It is perfect for a small business type of website. Elementor is easy to use and is a drag and drop type of builder. This means that no coding is necessary when you build your website.
This is my go-to website builder and it is because it is easy to use and it can make a website that looks professional. You can add graphics to your website.
For example, you can have your text scroll in or move around or bounce to get the visitor’s attention. You can add forms so you can collect contact information. Adding a background picture and text over top is as easy as clicking a few dropdowns.
Elementor is perfect for anyone who is new to building websites and does not know how to code but wants to create a professional-looking website. For a complete review of Elementor click here.
A new tab will open taking you to their price list
Website building software review: Oxygen
Oxygen is bar far the best website building software for an experienced website developer. It has a big learning curve but its worth it. I like it but I find that it has a big learning curve.
Oxygen makes a clean professional looking website. The best part of building a website with Oxygen is that it has no bloat at all and the website will load faster than any other website with bloat.
I tried to put this website on Oxygen but since I have a lot of blog content on this website I would have to paste my old posts and edit them each. It put all the tests in one long block.
It would have taken me hours upon hours to do this. This website is on Elementor but I do recommend for anyone up to the challenge and is starting a new website to try Oxygen.
Website building software review: Acabado
Acabado on WordPress is the best WordPress theme for bloggers. This is because it is a simple theme and very little coding to load. This makes it a fast loading theme and this is important because it is a ranking factor.
With Acabado you do not get any special graphics or any crazy customization options but for a blog, this is what you want. People are visiting your website to consume content.
If you are a local business this is not the theme for you. Elementor is what you want for a local business but for ranking nationally with blog content you want a simple fast loading website.
Acabaado has all that you could ask for. It was created by Income School, and all they do is create niche websites. They created a theme that was specifically designed for bloggers because that is how they make their money.
A new tab will open taking you to the Income School pricing page for Acabado
Website building software review: Shopify
Shopify is not a WordPress website building software but they are the best. The best WordPress eCommerce website builder is WooCommerce but as much as I like WooCommerce I have to say that Shopify is the best.
I have built huge eCommerce websites on Shopify and it handles it like a champ. Easy to use and no coding necessary. Yes, you are limited to Shopify plugins but this is not an issue. I never once needed a feature that was not available on Shopify.
With Shopify, you will be able to scale up to a million-dollar eCommerce business. You will be able to integrate an app to your Shopify website.
When it comes to eCommerce Shopify can not be beaten.
Click here for Shopify home page
Hosting for my website
The best hosting service for your website is Bluehost. They offer affordable plans that are perfect for anyone who is creating their first website. If you are building a website and do not have plans to build anymore Bluehost is a great option because the server speeds are above average.
Page load speed is a ranking factor and now needs to be something that you need to consider when choosing your website hosting provider.
Bluehost is not the fastest but they are above average and yet their cost is below average. For the investment, you are getting a great hosting providing service for the cost.
Once a website is around 150k visitors a month I would move it to another hosting provider but until that point, you will enjoy a fast and reliable hosting service.
For my complete review of Bluehost click here.
The reason why page load is important is that Google has said that they want to give ranking preference to websites that load faster. This is to improve the user experience.
In an effort to improve user experience Google wants to rank fast websites. This is why creating an AMP friendly version of your website is also important.
AMP is a version of your website that Google can load faster. This specifically is to help page load speeds on mobile.
Page load speed also is important in converting your internet traffic into clients or customers.
Let us look at this infographic about what relation does page load speed play toward a website’s conversion rate.
As you can see from this infographic that every second after the first two seconds your website’s conversion rate drops.
By having a slow website you literally are losing money every day. Do not ignore this part of your website.
After a website gets 150k visitors a month I change hosting services from Bluehost to WPX.
To see what WPX has to offer click here.
A new tab will open taking you to the WPX price list
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