Now that you know more about self-hosted vs fully hosted Website Builder platforms, I would like to dive into your options of Website Builder platform. 

What to look for when choosing a Website Builder platform. 

1. Write down all the items and sections you would like to have in your website and make the Website Builder platform you choose has those capabilities. 
2. Growth opportunities: Think about the items you would like to have in the future when your business grows, and make sure that it is possible with the platform you choose 
3. Designs and available templates: Think about the design you would like to have and the page set up and make sure there is an available template.
4. Option for unique domain: If you would like a specific domain for your website and you would like to use the fully hosted platform, check the price of purchasing a domain. Be careful about using GoDaddy to check the availability of a domain as they will often purchase domains searched on their platform so they can charge a higher price later.
5. Self-hosted or fully hosted. Fully hosted platforms are hassle-free and easy to set up, but more expensive for the long term and usually have limited options. 

The most popular Website Builder Platform

#1 WordPress 

WordPress is a FREE Website Builder platform you can use to create your website. It is simple, user-friendly and provides many options for free plugins.
With thousands of free templates, you can choose the right template that works for you and personalize it with your own designs, images, and colours. 

WordPress is the most popular website builder today and for many good reasons. One of the most important ones is the superiority of WordPress when it comes to SEO. 
By using WordPress, your website will be ranked higher on Google search results, for this reason, it is the most common platform for Bloggers.

One more benefit of using WordPress is the massive growth opportunities. With a WordPress website you are able to operate an online store, blog, members-only site, and much more.

Although WordPress is a free and open-source there is a major difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. You can read about that in my next blog post. 

WordPress is a self website builder and no coding is needed. It will take you some time to learn and understand the platform completely. Consider it like using PowerPoint for the first time. It’s easy, but it takes some time to learn it and understand all the different functions. If you are using an expert to set it up, you can save lots of time and have a nice website in only a few hours.  

For this reason, many business owners decide to hire a WordPress expert to set up the initial website and the very first pages. Once everything is set up and live, adding more pages and blog posts is fairly easy if you have good computer skills.

To use the full version of WordPress.org you will need to purchase hosting and a domain.  
There is also a limited version of fully hosted websites on WordPress.com. You can read more about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org in this blog post.

#2 Wix 

Wix is a popular fully hosted Free Website Builder platform. With Wix, you can build a beautiful website in just a few hours. The platform offers user-friendly drag and drop page builders that are perfect for any level of experience.

The main benefit of Wix is that it’s completely free at the beginning, as long as you are using Wix’s Subdomain. The subdomain will look like Wix.com/yourwebsitename. 
Once you want to upgrade your website to your own domain, add hosting space, or upgrade to one of the pro features you would need to pay extra. Wix’s premium services start from $9.99 a month. 

If you are looking to have a basic website (a few tabs only) meant to simply provide additional information about your small business, Wix can be a great solution for you.  

#3 Squarespace

Squarespace is another popular fully hosted Website Builder platform. The platform offers user-friendly drag and drops page builders and hundreds of beautiful templates to use. 
It isn’t free however and pricing starts at $12 a month for a basic package.  

When you choose Squarespace to build your first website, you won’t need to deal with purchasing hosting and domain. Squarespace will provide you all for the same price. 

#4 Shopify

Shopify is the most popular eCommerce Builder platform for Online Stores. There are more than 500K online stores that use the Shopify platform.

If your business needs an online store, and you would like to build one as soon as possible, Shopify is the right solution for you. Shopify makes it easy to have an online store with inventory management, digital marketing solutions, and an integrated payment processor.

All these goodies come at a price. Basic packages start at $29 per month and can cost up to $299 per month for the advanced package. However, if your online store is your main source of income, it is totally worth it. 

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