My DIY website
It is likely that your start-up will need a website and if so, you have a few options. You could do it yourself or use a web designer.
If you do it yourself using a template from a website builder such as Wix, Squarespace or Weebly, and spend time learning the skills you need, you will have saved yourself the cost of a web designer and gained valuable skills. If you decide to use a web designer, you will have more time to focus on your startup, but please read the advice in Section 10: Defining Your Brand, before proceeding. I have met too many businesses that were disappointed with their costly and ineffective website because they chose the wrong designer or didn’t communicate their needs adequately.
I opted for a DIY site because unless you pay a hefty sum, your web designer will probably use a template anyway. I also had the time and the curiosity to learn so it seemed right for me. But the next question was, which template to use? I wish I had read a post like this before choosing, because I didn’t know what I didn’t know! I just believed what I read on one or two popular sites. So, here are a few pointers which may help you choose.
Don’t believe everything you read
I visited six website builder review sites with recently published reviews. The first thing I noticed was that the reviewers didn’t agree with each other. Which one should I believe? For example, Squarespace, the website builder I chose, came first on Site Builder Report but only sixth on Website Setup . I investigated further by exploring each site and found that they all receive commissions from the website builders they review, based on visitor click-throughs to the website builders’ sites.
The final site I visited was Website Tool Tester. In the FAQ section, the answer to “How do I know I can trust you?” is quite revealing: “Several website builders have offered us significant increases in commission if we agree to “re-arrange” our rankings. As we put our readers’ interests first and want to focus on the bigger picture and long-term goals, we cannot and will not agree to any such deal.” Everything about Website Tool Tester seems genuine and their reviews seem quite thorough. Their top 10 recommended website builders are:
Wix 2. Weebly 3. Jimdo 4.1&1 Ionos 5. Duda 6. Squarespace 7. Webnode 8. One.com 9. Site123 10. Strikingly
I do recommend that you read this article in full. The site also helps you decide which site is best for small businesses, blogging, photography, and ecommerce. But…
Startups need support
Start-up owners are busy people who need good and responsive support. None of the review sites above covered this crucial aspect adequately. I decided to check out Trustpilot’s consumer reviews of Wix. Most of the reviews between 1 January 2019 and a few minutes ago were one star and reviewers were seething about the lack of customer support, amongst other issues.
For balance I then checked out Trustpilot consumer reviews of Squarespace with the same results, although there were a few positive ones. For both website builders, the average rating was one star or ‘Bad’. On the other hand, Site 123 averaged 5 stars! Also, 1+1 Ionos had some pretty good reviews as well (9,215 reviews here) and the company takes the time to respond to negative reviews. Neither Wix nor Squarespace bother to do this.
My experience so far with Squarespace
Update: on 21st February I finally found a way to solve the problem I describe below.
On the right hand side of my home page , below the search button, you will see the statement: FOR SMARTPHONE USERS PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR TOPIC LINKS. This is because the topic thumbnails which should take any visitor to a topic that interests them don’t work properly on mobile phones and about 50-60% of people visiting this site do so via smartphone! Squarespace did not warn me about this issue when I signed up (although they did allude to a slight problem with the template I am using in response to my complaint). I don’t know when this malfunction will be sorted out (if ever). I have to say that the support I have received from Squarespace is consistent with the comments made by reviewers on TrustPilot.
Can you trust TrustPilot?
I’m not sure, but that’s for another blog post!
Best wishes
Viv