As a business owner, one of the most important decisions you’ll make in the early stages is choosing the right platform for your website. The digital landscape is filled with options, each offering unique features and benefits. But if SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is on your radar (and it should be), how do you know which platform will work best for you?

In this blog, we’ll break down the pros and cons of four popular website builders: Showit, WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix. We’ll discuss where each platform excels, especially when it comes to SEO and design—two crucial elements that will help your business show up online and attract the right audience.

What Is SEO and Why Does It Matter?

Before we dive into the details of each platform, let’s quickly go over SEO. In simple terms, SEO is the practice of optimizing your website so that when someone searches for terms related to your business on Google (or any other search engine), your website appears on the first page. Google and other search engines look at numerous factors to determine the rankings of websites, such as the quality of content, page speed, keyword usage, and mobile responsiveness.

Having a beautiful website is great, but if it’s not optimized for search engines, people won’t find it. SEO and design need to go hand in hand to ensure your website works as hard as you do.

Let’s break down how each platform fares when it comes to both.

1. Showit: Beautiful Design with Basic SEO Features

Pros for SEO:

• Visually Stunning Templates: Showit excels in design, offering beautiful, customizable templates that make it easy to create an aesthetically pleasing site.
• Mobile Responsiveness: The platform automatically makes your site mobile-friendly, which is a must for SEO in today’s mobile-first world.

Cons for SEO:

• Limited Built-In SEO Features: Showit lacks advanced SEO tools directly within the platform. While you can edit basic metadata, it doesn’t offer the depth needed for in-depth optimization, such as schema markup or detailed keyword analysis.
• Blogging Limitations: Although Showit does have a blogging feature, it’s not as robust as what you get with WordPress. Showit requires integration with WordPress or another external system for better blogging functionality and SEO benefits. Without a blog, it’s harder to build content that drives traffic.

Who is Showit Good For?

• Small Businesses in Need of Stunning Design: If you prioritize beautiful, ready-made templates and your SEO needs are minimal, Showit could be a good choice. However, if SEO is a top priority for you, it might not be the best long-term solution.

2. WordPress: The SEO Powerhouse

Pros for SEO:

• Full SEO Control: WordPress is the clear winner when it comes to SEO. The platform offers full customization with SEO plugins like Yoast SEO and RankMath, which help optimize everything from your metadata to sitemaps and keyword targeting.
• Unlimited Plugins: WordPress offers thousands of plugins, so you can extend the functionality of your website, including advanced SEO tools, speed optimizers, and custom content management options.
• Blogging Advantage: WordPress started as a blogging platform, which is perfect for SEO. Creating content-rich blog posts will help you rank higher in search engines.

Cons for SEO:

• Learning Curve: WordPress can be overwhelming for beginners. There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to managing plugins, themes, and updates.
• Ongoing Maintenance: WordPress requires regular updates for plugins and themes. Neglecting maintenance can lead to site crashes or security vulnerabilities, which can negatively impact SEO.

Who is WordPress Good For?

• Business Owners Who Want Full Control Over SEO: If you’re looking for a platform with robust SEO capabilities that will grow with your business, WordPress is the best option. It’s ideal for businesses that plan to scale and require detailed customization.

3. Squarespace: Simple, All-in-One Platform with Basic SEO Tools

Pros for SEO:

• User-Friendly: Squarespace is a drag-and-drop platform, which makes it perfect for entrepreneurs who want to create their own site without technical skills.
• Mobile Optimization: Just like Showit, Squarespace automatically adjusts your site for mobile devices.
• Basic SEO Features: Squarespace allows you to add meta tags, alt text, and descriptions, making it easier to manage some aspects of SEO without third-party tools.

Cons for SEO:

• Limited Customization: While Squarespace offers some SEO tools, it doesn’t give you much control over advanced features like schema markup or detailed analytics.
• No Plugin Options: Unlike WordPress, you can’t install plugins or apps to extend your website’s functionality. If you need more advanced SEO features, you’ll be limited.

Who is Squarespace Good For?

• Small Businesses or Solopreneurs with Simple Needs: If you’re looking for an easy, all-in-one website solution and don’t require in-depth SEO, Squarespace is a great choice. It’s ideal for those who just need a simple website with basic SEO.

4. Wix: Affordable and Beginner-Friendly, But Limited in SEO

Pros for SEO:

• Easy to Use: Wix’s drag-and-drop interface is perfect for beginners. It’s straightforward and quick to set up.
• Affordable: Wix offers a cost-effective entry point for new businesses, making it ideal for those on a tight budget.

Cons for SEO:

• Limited Control Over Technical SEO: Like Showit, Wix offers basic SEO tools, but it doesn’t allow for deep customization. There’s no access to schema markup or advanced on-page SEO features.
• Site Speed Issues: Wix websites are sometimes slower than WordPress, which can negatively impact your SEO rankings. Search engines prioritize site speed, so this can be a significant downside.

Who is Wix Good For?

• Beginner Entrepreneurs on a Budget: If you’re just starting and need an affordable, beginner-friendly platform, Wix is a good option. However, if you’re serious about scaling and SEO long-term, consider a more flexible platform like WordPress.

Which Platform is Best for SEO?

If you’re a small business owner in Knoxville or beyond, choosing the right platform for your website is about balancing design and SEO. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Best for SEO Control: WordPress is the clear winner for SEO. It offers full control over on-page optimization, plugins, and content marketing through blogging.
• Best for Design: Showit shines in design, making it the top choice for entrepreneurs who want a visually stunning website. However, for serious SEO, you’ll need to pair it with WordPress for blogging and content marketing.
• Best for Simplicity: If you’re looking for simplicity and don’t want to worry about advanced SEO, Squarespace or Wix might be your best bet. Both platforms are user-friendly, with basic SEO tools.

Need Help Creating a Website that Ranks?

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with all the options or simply don’t have the time or expertise to build a website that not only looks great but also ranks well on Google, we can help.

At CarbonSilk, we specialize in creating beautiful websites that are also SEO-friendly, so you don’t have to choose between design and optimization. Whether you’re in Knoxville or anywhere else, we can help you build a website that works for your business, both visually and functionally.

Visit carbonsilk.digital today and let us help you design a website that’s just as beautiful as it is functional. We even offer a Website in a Day service to get your site up and running quickly.

Want to be a guest? Apply here. 

Transcript: 

[00:00:01.920] 

Hey there. Welcome to today’s episode. If you are a business owner who’s ready to take the next step into building or maybe updating your website, but you’re overwhelmed by all the options that are out there, well, you’re in the right place. It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out or if you’re looking to improve your digital presence, choosing the right platform for your website is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. And if SEO, which is search engine optimization, is at the top of your list of priorities, and it should be, then this episode is for you. I’m going to break down the pros and cons of four of the most popular website builders: Showit, WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix. And we’re going to talk about where each of those platforms truly excels when it comes to design as well as SEO. And by the end of the episode, you’re going to have a much clearer idea of which platform will give you the best foundation for success without being overwhelmed. All right, guys, are you ready? Well, let’s get started.

[00:01:21.480] 

Hey there, I’m Deanna Hinsz, entrepreneur, digital marketing strategist, and your guide to building the business and life you’ve always dreamed of. Years ago, as a newly single mom with two little boys and a big dream, I made the leap into entrepreneurship. I needed more than a career. I wanted freedom, the chance to be present for my family, and a way to make a difference. It wasn’t always easy, but each challenge brought me closer to creating a life that I love and a business that fuels my purpose. On She is Unstoppable, I bring you weekly episodes filled with inspiring stories, honest advice, advice and practical, actionable steps that can take you right away to build a business that aligns with your vision and values. Some weeks, I’ll be sharing my insights directly with you, and other times, I’ll be sitting down with brilliant guests who have their own incredible journeys and strategies to share. My mission: to help you grow your business, find your freedom, and build a life that is unapologetically yours. So if you’re ready to turn your vision into reality and become truly unstoppable, Let’s dive in.

[00:02:32.050] 

Okay, okay. So many entrepreneurs are overwhelmed when it comes to choosing the right website platform. Now, SEO is a major factor in that decision, and you should consider it when you’re making that decision and you’re going through this process. So I want to explain a little bit about what SEO is because I’m going to talk about it a lot. And I’ll make it as simple as I can. Seo is search engine optimization, which basically is how you optimize your website so that if I go to Google, I don’t know that your business even exist. I don’t know that you exist, but I type in certain keywords, well, you want to show up on that Google search. And I’m saying Google because it’s the most popular search engine, but it works for all of them. You want to come up on that first page because most of us don’t to the second page. So the work that goes on the back-end and the front-end of designing your website is what makes that happen and brings your website up first. Because let me just tell you, having a website that looks really pretty and is esthetically pleasing is great.

[00:03:51.640] 

But if people can’t find it unless they know your business exists, well, it’s defeating the purpose of having that website website even up. It just becomes this digital brochure that you have to direct people to. But you also want a website that is visually appealing, right? Because you want your end user, you want your ideal client to feel welcome there to be able to understand what your brand is about and that you get them. So both components are super, super important. But when most people are going and they’re looking at website builders, they’re mainly looking at design. Maybe they’re looking at how easy is it to do because they want to build it themselves or they’re going to end up managing it themselves. But it’s so overwhelming because there are so many great platforms out there. And let me just tell you, all four that I’m mentioning are really good in their own way. And it’s up to you to decide which one works best for you. So all right, let me break this down. I want to start with show it. So So showit is fairly new, at least to me it is. I don’t know how long it’s been around.

[00:05:04.620] 

And I’m talking about showit without connecting it to WordPress, because you can connect it to WordPress for the blog component. But I’m not talking about that. I am just talking about the actual platform showit. So I played around with showit and I’ve designed just some test sites to get an idea of what it’s like and to look at the back-end. And let me tell you, Showit has absolutely beautiful designs. I think that’s where it really excels is that these templates that they provide are beautiful, and it takes a lot of that guesswork away. It’s really easy to drag and drop it into place. That’s all you really do is you’re on the back-end, you select a template that you want, and then you fill in the pieces. Or if you want to add another component, you can just drag that element or that component over into the website and make it really easy. You don’t have to worry about making sure it’s mobile friendly because the platform does that for you. Personally, Showit is probably my favorite when it comes to the template designs because they are beautiful. They’re really, really pretty. Now, the of Showit, and the things that I really, I would say, really not impressed with, and it only came to their SEO.

[00:06:39.420] 

When I looked at the back-end, you don’t have a lot of flexibility when it comes to adding as much of the SEO features that you need. They’ve got limited SEO features built into the back-end. So if you wanted to optimize your website, let’s just say, for example, adding a blog, right? When you add a blog to your website, that is content-rich and keyword-rich. So having a blog actually helps you be optimized for search engines, and having a blog actually helps you come up early in a Google search. Well, showit does have a blog feature, but it’s not very good. Really, you’ve got to connect to a third-party blog system for that. And usually WordPress. That’s what they’re talking about on their website is connecting it to WordPress. And when you do that, you get a little bit more of those SEO features. But out of the box, you don’t have a lot of technical SEO options. Very, very limited built-in. But the good thing about it is that the templates are beautiful and it’s super easy to use. You can create your own website pretty quickly right out of the box. It doesn’t take a whole lot of work.

[00:08:02.160] 

So now I want to talk about Squarespace because Squarespace has been around for a long time. And if, usually, I’m a WordPress fan, so I’m going to save that for the end. But I am not a fan of most drag and drops, but I’m okay with Squarespace. I like it. I think it has a lot of really good features. The thing is, it’s super easy to use, right? And it’s an all-in-one platform platform, which means you’ve got a lot of tools that you need right inside of Squarespace. And when it comes to search engine optimization, which you already can tell that I’m huge when it comes to SEO, it does give you some basic SEO tools like meta tags or alt tags or alt text. Like Showit, it’s mobile responsive right out of the box. You don’t have to do a whole lot. It’s a dragon It’s a drag and drop platform, very much like Showit. It has beautiful templates as well. And it’s a great website for small businesses that don’t need a lot of functionality. Their website is probably less complex. They’re not doing a lot of unique things where you have to build in that functionality.

[00:09:24.380] 

So it is a great platform for that. So if you’re a small business and you’re like, I just really I need somewhere to create my own website, I want it to be pretty simple. I don’t need all these bells and whistles, but I want it to look good and I want a little bit of SEO, then Squarespace might be the place for you. Now, some of the cons is, like Showit, you really have limited control over those advanced SEO features. And there’s nothing to do. You can’t add plugins or add apps like you can in Shopify to add these advanced SEO features. What you see is what you get. So if you need a lot of SEO or if you want customization for SEO, you’re not going to really get that with Squarespace. So that’s something to keep in mind. Now, the third one I’m going to talk about is Wix. Wix is super easy platform. This is beginner friendly. It is easy to use and it does have SEO tools. It’s called SEO Whiz. Like the other two, it’s mobile responsive and it’s super affordable. So if you are somebody who you realize you need a website and you really don’t have the budget to hire somebody, but you have no idea how to design a website, you are, let’s just say tech challenged when it comes to that.

[00:11:09.160] 

And that’s okay because a lot of people are tech challenged. It’s fine. You didn’t sign up into your business to actually design websites, right? You just know now that you need one because you are a business. Well, this one is super beginner friendly, so it takes a lot of that overwhelm away. When When it comes to some of the cons with Wix, again, I feel like I’m saying the same thing over and over, but that’s okay. When it comes to technical SEO control, you’re very limited. It does give you some SEO control, but not technical, right? And the speed of the site is, in some cases, slower. So let me explain that. There are There are hundreds of things that the search engines look at when they’re evaluating websites to decide what’s optimized and what’s not. So you can do a number of different things. The content, I talked about having a blog, The content on the front end of your website, that’s what people see. And the keywords that you use, that plays into SEO. That’s something that on all the platforms that I’m talking about, you have control over. You can make sure that You’ve got keyword-rich content, and a lot of content, not just one paragraph and a bunch of pictures.

[00:12:37.370] 

That doesn’t help with your SEO. Really think about your content. Make sure that it’s quality, that it’s keyword-rich, but that you’re talking to the end user and not the search engines. Now, another component that is looked at is how fast your website is. And a lot of times with the naked eye, you can’t really tell if a website is fast or not fast. Sometimes you can, and if you can, well, that’s definitely not that great. But a lot of times you really can’t tell. So you can always do a speed test and put the URL in and it will tell you how fast your website is, along with some other things. Well, when it comes to Wix, the speed is sometimes a little bit slower than the other two platforms that we talked about. And that’s something to keep in mind because that does impact your SEO to some degree. And you have less advanced features than you have in WordPress, which I’m going to talk about next. So if you’re at the beginner level and you just need that entry point website, Wix might be something that you consider. It will probably do the job for you.

[00:13:51.640] 

Okay, so the last one I’m going to talk about. This is my favorite. And if you know me, you work with me, you know this is my favorite website. It’s WordPress, right? And the reason that I love WordPress, and I explain it this way, is imagine you bought a castle, and this castle has more rooms in there that you can count. Well, when you work with maybe a drag and drop, maybe one of the three that we talked about, you might get the keys to some of the rooms. And you can go in there and you might be totally content, right? But with WordPress, you get the keys to all of the rooms in the castle. So let me explain that a little bit more. You see, you can build a really basic website on WordPress, and there are thousands and thousands of templates that you can use. Some of those templates are free, and some of those templates are paid for, very much like the other platforms. I know Showit has their whole other upgrade designs, but you can pick exactly what you want. Now, what WordPress has is something called plugins, right? And these are third-party software companies that create plugins or apps, pieces of software that you can install onto the back end of your website, and it improves that website.

[00:15:31.570] 

So for example, when it comes to SEO, out of the box, you might have very limited SEO with WordPress, but you can download a plugin that’s super powerful, like Yoast SEO, And it adds, it just turns that website into something so much more when it comes to SEO, right? And it optimizes it. So this is the only platform out of the ones that I talked about that you actually get a lot more control over your search engine optimization than the other ones. Now, WordPress actually started as a blogging platform. So when it comes to blogs, which helps your search engine optimization, WordPress is it. If you’re thinking of doing a blog, WordPress was created originally for that. But it’s not like that anymore. In fact, now WordPress is the most popular platform platform that’s used for companies that are small and just starting out or very large. And so it’s a really good platform, right? It gives you full access to schema, markup, and all the technical SEO components that the other three platforms don’t. Now, might sound like, okay, Deanna, you’re going on and on about WordPress and how great it is when it comes to SEO.

[00:16:57.800] 

We know you love WordPress. We understand why, but what are the cons? Because you gave the cons on all the other ones. So what are the cons with WordPress? So even though I love WordPress, I’m still going to tell you what’s not so great about WordPress. If you are a beginner, it can be really overwhelming. There’s a learning curve with anything that you do, but with WordPress, it’s a little bit bigger. And it can be overwhelming, and it can be complex for somebody who’s never designed a website before to jump to WordPress and start designing. It has some, a very few templates out of the box, but the good ones you’ve got to search for, and there’s so many. And again, There’s free ones and there’s paid ones that you can use and to make it a little bit easier. But some of the cons, it requires ongoing maintenance. So let me explain that. I talked to you about the plugins that you can use and you should use with WordPress to make it optimize or to add features like contact forms or maybe a layout, a grid layout with photos or improved gallery, something unique, right?

[00:18:13.960] 

Something that It just isn’t in that template out of the box, but you know what you want and you don’t know how to design it. There’s probably a plugin for that. And you’ve got these plugins and you have a theme, whatever template, which is called a theme in WordPress that you chose. And you need to make sure that you are going in there all the time onto the back-end and you are updating these. Because if you ignore that and you don’t update these plugins and you don’t update your theme. One day, you can go to your website and it’s going to be just down. It’s going to be broken. And that’s because you didn’t do ongoing maintenance with it. So here’s what happens, which It can sometimes get a little frustrating. Let’s just say you designed your site today and it was absolutely perfect. It was everything you want. You optimized every single page. It’s killer, right? And then you come in a month later and you update a plugin. All of a sudden, that plugin doesn’t work with that theme that you have. And now you have to either find another plugin or remove it.

[00:19:31.120] 

Or those are really the two options, because it’s not playing nice in the sandbox anymore with a theme that it did before or another plugin. Now, that doesn’t happen all the time. I don’t want to scare you, but it does happen. I’ve seen it happen several times where a plugin goes through an update and all of a sudden it’s conflicting with another plugin or conflicting with a theme, and you have to find a different solution. So if you do get a WordPress website, if you are ready to tackle that, make sure that you’re going on into that back-end on a regular basis and updating those plugins and updating those themes and making sure that they work. All right, so I’m going to go over a quick recap of what I think. Now, if you are overwhelmed by technology and you’re just like, I don’t know what to do, I would say Wix and Squarespace are the most simplest platforms that you can use. So I would look at Wix or Squarespace. If you’re looking for something that has a great design, you’re like, I want something that is just beautiful and that’s it. Limited SEO, I’m cool with that.

[00:20:58.980] 

I would go to show it because, like I said, I think their design is just incredible out of the box without doing extra stuff. I think it’s just really beautiful designs. But if you’re looking for something long term and you want that flexibility that you can add different components as your business grows, because more times than not, as your business grows, so do the needs of your website, and you start adding things. If you want more control over your website, then WordPress is it. So here’s what I did when I first started out in this industry, and this was before I designed websites. I had a different business, and I started on Wix, and I learned Wix And it wasn’t that hard. I got it done. I outgrew my business. And then I went to BigCommerce, which is something we didn’t talk about, but it’s similar to Shopify. It’s probably Shopify’s competitor, but you hear more about Shopify. And I learned that. And then I went to WordPress from that. And I’ll be really honest, there were a lot of tears shed and a lot of YouTube videos watched teaching myself on how to design a website.

[00:22:12.980] 

But then once I had it, I it, and I started helping other people designing theirs, which is exactly how I ended up here. Now, I love WordPress because it’s the best choice for SEO-heavy websites. And while Showit offers super great designs and flexibility, it really lacks that SEO optimization, which long term is super, super important. And I wish more people understood that it’s not just a beautiful site. Seo, what you can see, is equally important. Those two components together need to be part of your strategy when designing a website, not just one without the other. So if you’re looking at pricing and thinking about your budget, Wix and Squarespace and even Showit are probably the most cost-effective. Now, maybe not, though. I’m going to back that up for a second. WordPress actually is the most cost-effective because you’re not paying a monthly fee. You’re just paying a monthly fee to host your website on a server, which is not much. But But you’re not paying that monthly fee to this to WordPress, where you are paying a higher monthly fee for Wix, for Squarespace, and for showing. But if you have somebody design your website for you.

[00:23:45.660] 

And I guess there’s designers that are charging top dollar to design a site on Wix and show it in Squarespace. So all three of those or all four of those platforms could actually end up costing you about the same if you’re working with a designer as well. But out of the box, WordPress is probably your most cost effective. And that’s something obviously that you want to keep in mind. So here’s my thought. If you’re in the beginning stages, you’ve got a limited budget, Squarespace or Wix is probably the easiest platform to get started on. If you’re looking to scale and you want a strong SEO, then I would go with WordPress. If you are thinking of something, a beautiful site, and you don’t care so much about SEO, then do show it all the way. All right, so there you have it. Each platform has its own unique strengths, And the right one for you depends on your business needs, and it depends on your goal and the level of control you want over your SEO. So if you are prioritizing design or ease of use or SEO power, there’s a platform out there that can meet your needs.

[00:25:04.760] 

And if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed about choosing the right platform, or you need help creating a website that not only looks amazing, but also ranks well on Google, well, that’s where we come in. Carbon Silk, we can help you design a website that balances great design with SEO best practices. So you don’t have to choose between the two. And if you’re ready to start building a website that works for your business, visit us at carbonsilk. Digital today and let us create a site that’s just as beautiful as it is functional. We even have a website in a day product. So if you want something quick, we’ve got that for you. We can design a website for you in one day. So head on over to carbonsolke. Digital. Check it out. All right, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I will see you in the next episode.