Companies once had to rely on high priced marketing and web design firms to create complicated sites to perform the functions they needed. The days of exorbitant programming rates, set-up and maintenance fees that made even a small revision costly are finally over.

Thanks to website builders like Squarespace  you now have direct access to the content management system tools needed to bring you websites in-house and integrate it into your overall marketing strategy.

Bad Website CMS Tools are like…

When it comes to selecting a website builder, the companies out there are a lot like pizza. Being frequently on the road, I consider pizza to be an important food group. Through my experience, I’ve learned not all pizza is created equal.

At the low end, we have the chains like Domino's. Sure, it’s okay for a Saturday night if nothing else is available, but you’ll wake up on Sunday with a mean case of heartburn. On the other end of the scale, you have Peppe’s in New Haven, Conn. Peppe’s specializes in a delicate clam pizza, made with hand-tossed dough, and cooked in a blazing hot oven for that crispy on the outside, soft on the inside crust. This is pizza that will leave you speechless, and it’s only a few dollars more than those national chain pies.

The same is true for cheap website builders. Some offer customers the chance to build a low-cost website, but like that chain store pizza, you can end up with a bad case of heartburn.

Low-cost outfits like Go Daddy or 1&1 might at first glance seem like a bargain, but if you do a little research, you’ll find that these “bargain” sites anything but. Forbes.com ran a piece in September of 2011 exposing Go Daddy’s practice of buying domain names that customer’s had searched for then inflating the prices when people wanted to buy them. A recent review of 1&1 on Site Builder Report found that 1&1 is not user-friendly, offers limited templates and few options to customize them. That means on 1&1 you can create a website that looks like hundreds of others on the web. Not the kinds of companies you’d want to trust with something as important as your website.

Website Builders ARE NOT Created Equal 

Companies like Squarespace and Hubspot are bringing state of the art design, hosting and content management to businesses everywhere.

Squarespace offers users sleek designs, a host of business options and great customer service. Unlike the options above, they provide fully customizable, beautifully designed templates to make your website stand out. They include social media integration, SEO features, a responsive design, and in-depth analytics to help better target leads. Their top-of-the-line product is $24 per month and includes unlimited bandwidth, storage and a range of online retail tools.

Hubspot gives you a state-of-the-art content management system without the security holes and constant updating called the Content Optimization System. COS offers social media integration, excellent analytic tools, and the ability to customize the user experience using built-in responsive design tools. Hubspot’s COS takes the content management system to a higher level with advanced marketing features and contextual content management but it takes time to master and can be a bit costly for most of our clients.

You don’t have just to settle for lousy pizza. It’s far too risky to put your company’s reputation into the hands of a sketchy organization. There are affordable content management system options out there. Think of it like this, if you’re going to invest the time, resources and money into your website, do you want the perfect crust or a bad case of heartburn?

About Michael Conway

I'm the owner and strategist at Means-of-Production. My firm builds Squarespace websites, Houzz profiles, and content marketing and advertising solutions for architects, interior designers, design-build contractors and landscape design firms. Our all-in-one marketing tactics attract the right clients with exceptional architectural photography and brand messaging that sets you apart from the competition.