Due to the pandemic, businesses have realized the importance of a strong online presence. However, some are skeptical and assume having a website and app is a time-consuming and expensive affair, but it’s a myth. Because advancements in technology have left no stone untouched and come up with innovative solutions, you don’t need to start from scratch; you can also opt for clone or readymade solutions. But before that, you should know the difference between clone and custom solutions, and whether they will fulfill your business requirements or not.
A website builder can be an extremely worthy tool for anybody that wants to venture into e-commerce. With a reliable builder, you can build a successful business website from scratch in minutes. You don’t have to hire a professional who will charge you a lot of money to do the job for you, and promoting businesses like Baltimore County Tree Removal Crew will be way easier with the right website.
However, it’s worth noting that while there are very many website builders available, the reality is that not all builders are reliable. Some builders lack the capabilities to produce a customer-experience oriented website, even though they offer advanced solutions such as virtual voip systems. You may also need to add separate internal tools for processing customer claims, conforming refunds, performing KYC processes, and so on. Yet in e-commerce, customer experience(CX) is a key factor to achieve success. Therefore, if you would like to build a website from scratch with customer experience in mind, feel free to choose one of the following website builders.
1. WordPress
WordPress is a content management system and a website builder at the same time. The website builder aspect is facilitated by several themes that enable users to create a professional e-commerce website from scratch without any coding skills. These themes are split into two categories; paid themes and free themes with the former offering more features and customization options. Either way, all themes will help create a complete website in under 10 minutes. Plus using them is as simple as installing, previewing, and activating your favorite theme!
What’s more, WordPress offers incredible plugins that can be used to expand the functionalities or improve the performance of a website for greater results. Some essential plugins include social media integration, analytics, newsletter, and email list builders.
With that said, here is how to build a website from scratch with the default WordPress theme known as “Twenty Twenty” plus a few plugins here and there. It’s unbelievable that I did this despite having zero web development or coding skills. Other than the fact that the premium version is too costly, I’ve seen nothing else not to like about WordPress! The number one reason to use a WordPress guest blogging plugin is if you’re looking for increased exposure. These tools make it easy and quick to publish blogs from your site, which in turn increases traffic with minimal effort on behalf of the owner.
2. Network Solutions
Network Solutions specializes in many areas within the information technology realm. For example, besides offering a powerful DIY website builder, this domain name registration company also provides e-commerce, digital marketing strategy, and cybersecurity solutions.
The DIY website builder lets you build a CX(customer experience)-oriented website your visitors will enjoy browsing in minutes. This intuitive tool comes with a wide array of professional website designs from which to select. Additionally, it features a complete stock image library that allows you to choose from endless royalty-free images. Furthermore, it lets you select a personalized email address that matches the domain name of your business, reinforcing your brand further. Don’t forget that the company also gives you a free domain name for your business in case you don’t have one yet.
Though Website Planet has not mentioned it on its top 10 best website builders for 2020 list, Network Solutions is truly a worthy alternative. I’m saying that because it provides very dynamic online store templates, makes adding and managing products seamless processes, and comes handy with incredible marketing tools.
3. Wix
Though harder to use than WordPress, Wix is another feature-packed website builder that can help you create a nice eCommerce website that will ensure a great customer experience in minutes. This free software comes with five hundred pre-built templates the equivalent of themes(in WordPress). Of course, these themes are blank and fully customizable. Additionally, Wix features an intuitive drag n’ drop website editor, image editor, and dozens of other incredible features worth taking advantage of.
However, as this intuitive website builder says that you don’t need any coding skills to use it, I find it more suitable for people with at least basic coding skills. There are a few aspects of it that can be a little bit technical for a layman as suggested in this unbiased comparison between a few of them for 2020 by the above website.
With that in mind, if you have some coding background, consider it a great option. If you don’t, you might want to try another builder if not WordPress.
Source: Pixabay.com
4. Site 123
Site 123 was rolled out in 2015 by a company based in Israel. This website builder is free and very easy to use with incredible features that are sure to help you make a very beautiful and customer-experience-oriented website. That’s probably why there are tens of thousands of websites built upon it, in the US alone. The websites include decoratedgreen.com, zoomalo.com, and daytonhrt.com, which are all fun and exciting to browse with well-thought-out navigation.
Notably, Site 123 comes with an incredible range of professionally-matched color palettes and several page layouts from which to select for your website’s color scheme and page layouts, respectively. Some layouts have a menu others don’t. All in all, they are all very effective.
Notably, Site-123-powered websites all enjoy fast site load speeds, which can go a long way in ensuring fantastic customer experience. By the way, the average page load speed of a regular website is 10.3 seconds. But that of Wix-built websites is about 6 seconds.
5. Squarespace
Squarespace is another worthwhile alternative. This comprehensive website builder cum web hosting service has helped establish more than four million websites some of which are associated with very big brands and organizations out there. These websites include; podcasts.apple.com (Apple), planet.mozilla.org (Mozilla), apnews.com (AP News), americasvoice.org (Americas Voice). If that’s not enough, it takes pride in hosting more than one million websites.
When it comes to features, Squarespace boasts a wide range of robust features thoughtfully integrated into its fantastic template designs. Just in case you are wondering, this service has over 100 professional templates organized into several categories including online stores, blogs, business, and professional services. What’s more, it comes with a variety of drag and drop widgets, allowing you to add elements such as text and images to your website like a pro. Other important features include an in-built shopping cart, the ability to sell digital products, physical products, and services, as well as unlimited products and services. All these apply to the online stores category.
Unfortunately, Squarespace, unlike other website builders, is not free. It comes with a 14-day free trial though so you can try it first before paying.
Final Thoughts
If you would like to build an e-commerce website that your customers will enjoy and love browsing from scratch, choose one of these reliable website builders. Each builder has topnotch server performance – but you can go a step further and try to use headless CMS. What’s more, each builder lets you build a fully mobile-optimized website and SEO ranking factors. Remember that all websites are today going mobile-friendly to ensure a greater customer experience. By the way, did you know that mobile search now makes up to 69% of the internet search market share?
