Stick with WordPress or go to Wix or SquareSpace?
I'm a freelance consumer packaging and branding designer and I have my own portfolio website along with a blog site. I can't decide whether to stick it out with WordPress or go to something easier like Wix or SquareSpace. I'm self taught with WordPress and have put some time and energy into it but I desperately want to revamp and reorganize both sites and constantly feel lost in WordPress's dashboard. It's just not as intuitive as I'd hoped.
I don't need anything super fancy for either site, just a place to showcase my work, a platform for an education blog (maybe a store front in the future) and the ability to create special landing pages and such. Since I am a designer, I do need some freedom to create and change things so it can't be too cut and paste.
Any advice and personal experience would be greatly appreciated!
Answers (1-10)
I always recommend Wordpress for smaller companies due to its versatility. It's built to be mostly SEO friendly right out of the box, plugins help those who aren't code-oriented to add options they may not otherwise have access to in other platforms.
I know a lot of people wanting a more customizable experience without knowing code resort to a plugin called DIV (or maybe Divy) that allows them to move content blocks around easily to help with design.
I think you'll be better served with Wordpress with your goals. Don't be afraid to create a mirror version of your site (with indexing turned off so Google can't find it while you're developing it) and make a playground of it to make it how you want. When you're satisfied, replace your current site with it.
And definitely take advantage of free tutorials online for Wordpress. There are tons of Youtube Videos and tutorials out there that can help you find ways to get what you want with your Wordpress install.
I use all three. All create beautiful sites. As a designer your site will be great no matter which one you choose. I dont think I would go from WordPress to Squarespace since I don't think Sqaurespace is any easier to use. All, including Wix, have good SEO capabilities. Wix wasn't always that way but is up to speed now. I have turned a couple of non-creatives on to Wix because the interface is so easy (drag and drop) and they take you through the SEO process step by step when you are ready. I would suggest, since it wont cost anything except a couple of hours of your time, set up a little site to get a feel for it.
Stick with WordPress. Forget Wix, bad customer service and they own your website. You want to own your website! I am not familiar with SquareSpace. Are you local in Phoenix Metro Area? I have resources that can help train you in WordPress if needed.
WordPress is your best option. You have far more flexibility and options. It is well established and used by a very large community that will help. It also helps with you SEO with many plugins.
Depending on your criteria, you have many choices. I had similar questions as well and am looking at Wix and SquareSpace as their templates seem more aligned with our small non-profit business simplicity. I do like Wordpress though feel that it is not as user friendly and template offerings are limited than Wix and/or SquareSpace. Another criteria to consider is the time frame criteria so I will not have to change platforms and the level of marketing capacity over the next 3 years. Best of luck in finding simplicity and images that represent your business venture!
I've tried them all. Word Press is a good stepping stone. Square space is pic-upload friendly. WIX, I have noticed is more SEO (Search Engine Optimal) and relatively easy to modify; except when it comes to photos. Figuring out which size photos will be accepted, per their templates is like playing a "pick a number between 1-50" guessing game. No fun. There is a way though, and I still think WIX is the best out of these. I wish any of them would have an easy RSS feed format and easy upload-ability feature, though. Then, rather than having to edit the site's content/pic's, itself, you can just have all of your social networking platforms do it for you. Reviews and Before and after shot updates would then be a breeze! Right now; not so much.
Hi Rachel. Ive been using squarespace for my site and love it. It's clean and modern visually and any template is super easy to update or customize at any time. Wordpress is powerful and has it's benefits for certain businesses, but I found the dashboard cumbersome to work with at best.
The portfolio capabilities are unmatched. I continuously get compliments on my site, even in times when I'm in transition lately.
I have encouraged many of my clients to convert simply for the ease of use and collaboration. We'll work through the initial site and then hand it off to them to maintain. Anyone can get in and begin to understand the interface fairly quickly.
Wix has come a long way visually lately, but still lacks credible SEO - which isn't my expertise, but is important even if you don't initially maximize your site.
Happy to answer any further questions. <3 SP
SquareSpace in a landslide.
I started out using Squarespace and moved to WordPress. I have found that WordPress is the best way to go for me as I can easily update by website and create SEO optimized blog posts. Plus you can schedule a free meeting with a WordPress SME to get all your questions answered and they will continue to support you.
I use squarespace and I I use squarespace and I love it