Which website builder is the best?

Web Design
#1

Hello community!

So I’m a graphic designer with no experience whatsoever in coding. In February this year I opened my own business, the branding is done and all is left is the website. I’ve been “procrastinating” about it due to tight schedule and other payment method issues.

I’ve been looking around and to be honest, WIX and Webflow are looking sexy af! however I’m still skeptical to decide and I want to have your opinion on this. I actually started playing around with WIX and it looks very close to what I want, although I’m limited in options as I want to add some other cool features. I’ve attached screenshots.

Also the payment is kind of important because the policies in my country here Tunisia is very outdated and pretty much the main obstacle in my career so far. I recently got a credit card which felt like applying to NASA like holy shit, but I’m limited to spend 1000tnd a year (~350usd) and I’m not sure if it’s eligible for monthly subscriptions or not.

Let me know what you guys think and what option you see is the best for me!

Thanks in advance!

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#2

Just a few editorial tweaks

“We exapand ideas into works of art”

I am a freelance Graphic Designer based somewhere ‘on’ this interesting floating rock.

(technically we are not floating in Space but rather we’re falling towards the Sun)… anyway, I can let that technicality slide.

What ‘is’ so exciting …

But what’s better is that
There are always new things to learn, something new to discover, and to always reach for the next challenge.

Curiosity guides me, let us take a step forward together.

====
According to Ephin Apparels - the brand was created in 2002 - how did the branding only get done in 2019.

If you’re 19/20 years old now, you’d have been 16/17 years of age in Tunisia, building a brand for a clothing company based in Canada?

With a revenue of $4million …

I did a bit of research and seems like they do some crowdsourcing.

If I contacted Ephin Apparels - would they say they know you?
These are questions that clients (spending big money) would want to be answered and they do their research.

Be very careful about what you claim to be a part of.

I cannot find any of those designs on the Ephin website or using Wayback Machine.

I think a WIX site is fine for now - but you should really partner with someone who knows WordPress really well and see if there’s a skills trade you can do with someone to get a better website.

But for now, it will be enough to get you off the ground (pun intended).

I don’t think you have enough projects really.
What do you specialise in - what is the big item you want to push.

Is it branding - is it clothing apparel?

Can you showcase more?

I’d be inclined to have a submenu under the main headings listing different items like:
Branding - Clothing - Logos - Posters - etc.

Whatever is you need to get people into you and understand you and what you do.

The overall look is nice and clean - easy to follow.

Just needs more direction for the user when they land on your site.

What do you offer? (branding, logos, apparel, posters, book covers etc)
Why choose you? (testimonials)
How to get in touch (call to action)

These are 3 things that should be jumping off the page.

Look at this site - https://www.wakeuppueblo.com/
It immediately prompts you to get in touch. Fill in a few simple details.

It’s a bit too in my face for my liking - but it prompts the user to drop in their details.

You can then start building up a database of people who contacted you, why they contacted you, and what they are looking for.

Straightaway you see why to choose them
16 innovative thinkers- 10x mindsets - 1 creative hub

You’re not a million miles off.
But really think about what this website can do for you - not what you can do as a website.

1 Like
#3

Honestly, having your own domain is best. Wix used to be totally Flash based so for the longest time I was unable to view it, which pretty much made anyone’s resume there useless. That is no longer the case but has always left a bad taste in my mouth with them. And I don’t know webflow. Behance is fairly popular (probably because it is bundled with Adobe products.) Others may have opinions on which of those to use, or maybe there are other options to consider.

So hopefully you aren’t developing websites for clients, right?

I realize you didn’t ask for a critique.

Your design decision to left-right justify text to leave rivers and bad breaks would be a deal killer for hiring you as a designer.

The enigmatic reference to your location (or lack thereof) draws attention to the fact that you are hiding your location. Or it could be perceived that way. Another strike.

And I realize English may not be your native language but if you are going to aim at English-speaking clients you really need a proofreader. So many grammatical errors… That’s a bad look for a Graphic Designer looking for paying clients.

2 Likes
#4

This has been pointed out in other posts that the OP wanted critique on - especially the Heart Agency branding - it was one thing that was heavily critiqued.

#5

Oh. Let’s just say, I no longer read every post that goes up here.

4 Likes
#6

Have a look at Sparkle. It is entirely WYSIWYG. Obviously it is not as transparent and flexible as hand-coding. However, although you can use their templates, it is not template-based and works in a way you’ll br fairly familiar with. As they grew, they are adding more capability for dynamic content (shopping carts, etc). It is good for fairly simple, static sites. Definitely worth a look.

1 Like
#7

  • Thanks a lot for the tweaks! yes I got a lot of errors there but surely would fix them when finalizing the whole thing! Maybe even change/improve the paragraphs but try to not keep them static.

  • I think you got the idea wrong. I didn’t do the branding, or even claim the whole brand itself lol I wish. It was a project for them that I did way back in 2019, and it’s basically a “branded” apparel collection. The idea was to create a set of 10 different apparel designs.
    A little bit of context: at that time they freshly started with their “Stompdown” branding, which later kicked off pretty well and they kept it running and expanding to this day. So Dave contacted me to do something similar but it didn’t turn out as a huge success like Stompdown so they shut it down after couple of months. I’m actually surprised how small their team is and how well they’re managing their wide brand.
    And yes absolutely I still got their contact until this day, even EngageInd, they just signed a contract with UFC couple of months ago!

  • No actually I do have more projects than are shown in my Behance profile. And that’s one of main reason why I need to build my site asap, so I can put my biggest projects and fill all the categories, while making the whole portfolio clean and well adjusted (not like behance).
    But the thing is, I’d always love to make a special kind of presentation for each project as I love to, sort of, deliver that project message through the showcase. That is a burden itself but I think it’s a very much powerful tool for my name, that’s why I need my own space.
    But yeah I do have a lot more to show, and currently 3 finished projects are on hold to be posted, let alone the previous ones.

  • Thanks for the idea! I noted that! I’ll try to sub-categorize the services in the menu. But mainly, I’m taking the niche of Brand Identity Designer and Apparel Artist. These two are basically my main specialties, but still yet a lot to improve.

  • Noted that! I’ll make sure I’ll spam those 3 on my website like a 5$ website from india lol xD. But yeah you’re definitely right about that! Maybe change that “learn more” to “contact us” or make it right after? Let’s see how I’ll do that!

  • Thanks for the reference and the tips! Highly appreciated. I’d love to showcase the final result here before kicking off!

1 Like
#8

Oh of course not! I can’t provide a service that I’m not specialized at! However I do have couple of freelancers with me (good friends that I gathered in my way) that will work with me on projects that require tasks over my abilities (Maybe considering adding their names in the about us section). Just like this very recent huge project (my biggest deal so far) “Adventour”. But the thing is, I’m tight in time and personally, I just like to make my own website and then maybe improve it by hiring a proper web designer from my network.
Basically the negotiation part is very huge to determine the final tasks for certain projects, and depending on that I go my way to collect a small team for it.

Thanks for the points you made! you’re right! I’ll, of course, pay so much time in the finalizing stage to correct every error or even improve some stuff, like the texts.

#9

Will do, thanks a lot!

#10

Thanks for clarifying the situation around Elphin - maybe just reword it slightly to explain your role in that particular campaign.

Even a testimonial from Dave, whoever that is, to give you more credibility.

Not really sure those are niches, but of course you’re welcome to try get into those spaces.

1 Like
#11

Oh yeah absolutely! I’m pretty much lucky enough to get around such big names like Ash the owner of Engage, and couple of other big businesses owners. I’ll hunt them down for some testimonials in the near future lol.

Brand identity is where the most money at I believe and apparel designs is dear to my heart as it’s the first thing that got me into this beautiful hot mess.

#12

Wix is easy, and it’s probably the fasted way to get a website up and running if you want to do it yourself and have no interest in website design beyond your own portfolio site. However, as a graphic designer, using it to display your portfolio might cut into your credibility.

Much depends on you, though, and what you want from a career. The ability to design websites and being able to offer design services catering to clients needing websites is a huge part of today’s graphic design. Not every designer has a need to offer web design capabilities, but as I said, it depends on you and what you want to do.

WordPress is the usual route most graphic designers take for building websites for clients, so if you’re at all interested in that kind of thing, I’d consider it. If you don’t want to bother with any coding, there are plenty of off-the-shelf templates to use that don’t come with the stigma attached to Wix.

In addition, WordPress enables you to ease into website design in a way that provides endless options going forward as your abilities in web design grow. Wix, on the other hand, is something of a dead-end platform with no opportunity to grow as a website designer.

If you are interested in a step up from Wix, there’s a learning curve with WordPress that isn’t there with Wix. You might use WordPress and combine it with Divi, which is a popular template / page builder that many graphic designers use. You won’t need to learn to code to use it, but the opportunity is there if you want to learn.

1 Like
#13

Website building is not really my thing, but when I tried looking for a builder for a project all the waaaay back in high school, Wix was the easiest. It does everything for you. A plug and pick. Definitely recommend that if you’re doing it just for a portfolio and are not aiming for searchability.

But if you want to be really extra, you can come up with a web design from scratch (i.e. create one on photoshop) on how you want your website to look like and hire/collaborate with a web programmer/developer. I sometimes offer this a gig for a few clients as well as a package (e.g. I design their entire website for them). it’s tedious, but the ROI is high.

I usually hire from cheap-ish countries that have the top developers/programmers in the world like Taiwan and the Philippines (reference). Even with a small/medium budget, you can find a good person on Reddit. I don’t hire off of F*verr anymore because with a previous experience lol.

#15

I would always vote for Wix because of the add-ons and drag and drop features BUT and this is a big BUT…customer service is not there AND there will be times when items move on you for no reason even though you did not touch them. It is frustrating because it is SO EASY to use and then BAM there it goes…not predictable. I would say it is stable 95% of the time.

#17

I would say WIX, squarespace or bigcommerce.
Each has its weaknesses. Wix’ minus is a support service. Others might be difficult to use in the beginning.
It is better to have professionals working out the website and adapting it for your needs. To hire the agency, I would recommend reading the article about the requirements the agency should satisfy before it would be hired_https://www. eleken. co/blog-posts/ux-design-requirements_

#18

I have just done a project for a client with a WIX developer. I designed the site in XD and gave it to her to build and add the backend stuff into it. It was a nightmare from start to finish. More to do with the developer than WIX. However, wix put is fair share of obstacles in the way and, as you say, it kept moving things of its own volition. I would never have used it in the first place, but it was at the client’s insistence. Never again.

#19

I steer clear of the drag-and-drop website builders, but I suppose they get the job done for those who aren’t fussy and don’t want to spend much money.

Hiring a designer to build a Wix site seems analogous to hiring a fashion designer to help pick out clothes at Walmart.

2 Likes
#20

I feel your pain. It sucks because they have so many options and add-ons. Why would it be so unpredictable? I used to have to keep checking my main site (paid for) at least once a week on different browsers. My (very dated and free) portfolio never screws up…figure that…

#23

Closing as this has become enticing to spammers.

#24