Websites are an essential asset for the majority of businesses. They are the digital face of your brand and have the ability to reach more people, increase sales and leads and connect with your target audience and the world.
Selecting the right website platform will set the foundation for your online success. However, it can be quite overwhelming to figure out exactly which platform is best for your business, without being able to make an informed decision. Your choice should reflect your brand’s goals, the nature of your business, and the resources you have for the project and ongoing site management.
So where do you start? Our team has put together a guide to summarise a few well known website platforms and to help you better understand what you need to know before you make a decision.
A highly flexible, open-source platform perfect for businesses that need that flexible customisation. It offers thousands of plugins and themes to suit different business needs. Ideal for content-heavy websites like blogs, portfolios, or companies that want full control over SEO features and design.
If you’re already using WordPress, WooCommerce is an excellent eCommerce plugin that transforms your site into a fully functional online store. It’s highly customisable, allowing you to integrate eCommerce features into an existing WordPress site seamlessly.
If you’re primarily a product-based business focused on eCommerce, Shopify is a powerful, user-friendly platform. It offers seamless integration with payment gateways, inventory management, and shipping tools. It also comes with built-in SEO features and a variety of customisable templates.
An open-source platform designed for larger, product-based businesses seeking a highly customisable eCommerce solution. PrestaShop offers advanced features for managing inventory, orders, and customer accounts. It provides full control over your e-commerce setup, from product catalogues to payment gateways.
Before you jump straight into a decision, there are some very important considerations that you should establish first. Some of the questions you can ask yourself that will help you to determine your requirements are as follows:
You need to be very clear about what it is that you are trying to achieve with a website. A great website isn’t just for the user, you need to think about what it will do for your business as well.
Is it for lead generation or do you need it to be an eCommerce online shop? Perhaps there are multiple facets to your business and you need it to have both functions. Answering this question early will help you to eliminate a certain type of platform almost immediately. You should think about your audiences too - will they be able to do what you need them to do through your choice of platform.
Scalability is something you might also wish to consider with a platform. Think about your business plan and what your targets are. Some platforms can be a little restrictive in functionality and size but choosing a platform from the beginning that will allow you to grow as your business grows is a wise decision.
Financial resource and investment is a big consideration for the platform you choose. There will be an initial cost for setting up your website, especially if you require a more custom solution and you’ll need to register your domain. Some platforms use plugins or modules for additional functionality which can have recurring costs.
You’ll also need to think about your hosting package to ensure it’s big enough to handle large spikes of visitors from your offline activities and, as you acquire more website visitors over time.
When you consider this aspect, you may find yourself with more questions. If a certain platform is not economically viable for you at this time - is there further investment available from stakeholders? Can there be compromise in non-negotiable requirements and nice to haves?
Consider all general integrations like analytics, Google Ads and social media platforms. You might also want to be able to integrate your CRM for more efficiency. Mapping out everything that you will need before you start will help you determine which platform is best for you.
A common misconception for businesses that haven’t had a website before, is the idea that once a website has been developed, the work stops there. Your website is like a plant that will need watering and nurturing in order to grow and prosper.
This one sometimes gets overlooked. The right platform for you might require some internal staff training on how to use it but a complicated back office could be quite frustrating for you to operate in house, costing you both time, money and patience. Finding a fit for your team as well as your customers is essential.
In some scenarios, it might be that your website needs and your ability to grow on a more technical level, force the necessity of upskilling your internal team - just make sure you have a support plan in place for this.
If you’re starting out with a brand new website on a new domain, it will need time to build some authority (amongst other things) in order to start ranking well for keywords related to your business and website pages. There are actions that can be taken to support your new website whilst it’s in the early stages of launch.
It all comes down to budget and purpose. If you’ve got a website with the intention of it just being somewhere you can direct your existing customers and contacts to; then you probably won’t need to consider this. If, however, you’ve chosen a website because you want to generate more leads, more revenue and reach more people, then some SEO support and/or paid ad campaign assistance might be worth thinking about.
It’s also a good idea to have a discussion about development support and maintenance packages. To ensure the website is secure from cyber threats, there may be security updates and bug fixes that are required from time to time - sort of like your mobile phone but ones that require a developer; so that your website doesn’t break from any conflicts.
Choosing the right website platform might seem quite difficult if you’re starting out but by asking yourself the right questions and knowing what it is that you’re wanting to achieve; you’ll have a much better idea of what platform is right for you.