How To Choose The Right Website Platform For Your Startup

Choosing the right website platform to launch your new online presence is a big decision. There are a lot of different options available depending on the needs of your business.

Making the right choice at the start will prevent you having to replace or significantly rework your site later on – which saves you time and money.

So, how do you know which platform is the best?

Let’s look into that in greater detail now...

What To Consider

The type of business you are starting will help to decide the type of website platform you use. If you do not want to sell anything online, you can use a basic platform to build a simple homepage and contact page. However, if you are operating an eCommerce store, you need a web platform that will support the complexities of an online business such as product listings, carts, checkouts, and payments and billing.
Your technical abilities will also inform the decision you make. If you only need a basic website and are confident in your abilities to maintain it, then you can choose something straightforward. If you are after a more complex site, the platform could be a bit more complicated too, especially if you need some custom coding added. If this is the case, you might consider getting a professional web designer (like us!) to help.
Your desired layout and design. Many website platforms have pre-designed templates and themes for you to choose from. Be sure to check them out to make sure the layouts will work for you and your business. For example, if you will be using a lot of imagery or video on your website.
The cost and what you get for it. When you sign up for a plan on your chosen platform, you will have different levels of subscription at different costs. Compare the prices and benefits across different platforms before you sign up to make sure you are getting the best deal with the most suitable features for your business.

The Top Platforms

Shopify is the best option for many eCommerce businesses. Shopify is designed for the online shopping experience and has a huge variety of add-on applications to enhance different aspects of customer service. Fully hosted and cloud based - it is intuitive and easy to use for beginners. Shopify has over half a million active online stores running, and they have collectively made over $40 billion in sales.

Shopify can also work very well for general website builds, especially catalog style sites and even service based businesses!

Want to know more? Contact Creative Web Designs today to find out more about options for your website. We are specialists in affordable Shopify websites for small business.