How to Choose the Best Website Builder

7 Website Steps

Step 2: There’s no shortage of content management systems and hosted website builders out there, so it may be difficult to choose the best website builder. Our top pick for CMS or website builder is WordPress. We believe it to be the best around. Check out 8 Big Reasons Why We Use WordPress.

Recommended Website Builder Resources

WordPress

We recognize WordPress as the best open source Website builder.

WordPress is the tested, free software used by nearly a third of the web. It helps you prototype or build a web presence so quickly, that it’s our go-to tool for many business endeavors.

If you see a cost to use WordPress, you’re most likely looking at WordPress.com. The .com flavor is still really good as it’s more of a turnkey solution. After all, it’s brought to you by the same company – Automattic. You can download the WordPress software for free at WordPress.org. You can also see the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

If you go the free version route, you don’t even have to worry about downloading it anymore. Most web hosts these days include a 1-click installer.

Visit WordPress.org

Who Is WordPress.org For?

In a nutshell, WordPress is perfectly suited to anyone who feels competing web development services are either too limiting or too expensive.

However, you will need some technical proficiency if you’re going to hit the ground running when you make the switch.

If you’re willing to put in the effort and get hands-on with the technical side of site development.

You’ll be rewarded with complete and utter freedom, both during your initial project and any future expansions.

 Now let’s take a look at a few specific scenarios in which WordPress makes sense:

  • You operate within a saturated niche, and you need top-notch SEO features to stand out in the crowd.
  • You want a high-tech site with all the latest and greatest features, yet you’d still like the flexibility to make subtle code adjustments when necessary.
  • You want to manage data and present it to clients in a searchable database.
  • You want to split your site into free and premium zones with separate payment features.

WordPress Has Market Share For a Reason

Even if you don’t see it, there’s a reason why nearly a third of all websites are powered by the website builder WordPress.

Let’s make this even more relevant to you.

There’s a reason why most Shark Tank contestants, entrepreneurs, internet marketers, and the like favor WordPress.

There’s just something about the ease of use and extensibility of WordPress that is too attractive to pass up.

We’ve been using and testing WordPress for nearly two decades.

No matter how many CMSs we experiment with, we keep coming back to WordPress. We’ve tried Get Simple, Drupal, Joomla, ModX, Concrete5, TextPattern, TinyCMS, Contao, CMS Made Simple, SilverStripe, Wolf CMS, and the Jaws Project.

These CMSs have great qualities to them. We have enjoyed installing them and taking them out for a spin. But they didn’t quite have what we were looking for. We just kept comparing the features to the ease of use of WordPress.

One quick shoutout – Grav. This flat-file CMS looks pretty neat. We want to test it out but haven’t had the time to dedicate to it.

But what about comparing WordPress to other self-hosted CMSs? See how WordPress ranks among other website builders in about 4,000 words by going to our roundup of the top 5 best website builders.