TFC #37 - Best DIY Website Builders For Cabinetmakers

Building a website can seem like a daunting task.

But it doesn’t have to be.

You can hire someone to build a website for you to save time, but many tools available today make building a website a piece of cake.

In this article, I will list several website builders I have personally used over the last several years to help you better understand which one you want to try if you opt to go the DIY route.

Some of you might be asking the question, why do I need a website, rather than what platform I should use?

The huge majority of potential customers will look you up online before working with you.

Here’s a short story to illustrate that answer.

Once upon a time, in a charming suburban neighborhood, a homeowner named Sarah found herself in the midst of a significant kitchen renovation. She had entrusted her project to a skilled general contractor who had assured her that two reputable cabinetmakers were perfect for the job. After a long day of overseeing the renovation, she returned home to mull over the important decision.

Eager to make an informed choice, Sarah settled on her cozy couch, picked up her smartphone, and embarked on her quest to learn more about her potential cabinetmakers.

First, Sarah Googled the name of the first cabinet shop. To her amazement, the name appeared immediately at the top of the search results. She clicked on it and discovered a treasure trove of information. This cabinetmaker had over 100 glowing reviews from satisfied customers, each praising their craftsmanship, attention to detail, and commitment to excellence. The website was modern and updated, featuring an impressive portfolio of job pictures showcasing stunning kitchen transformations. Sarah's confidence in the first cabinetmaker grew with each click, and she couldn't help but be impressed.

Then, Sarah turned her attention to the second cabinetmaker. She entered the name into the search bar with equal anticipation. However, as she scanned the first page of the search results, nothing seemed to match her query. Undeterred, she scrolled down to the bottom of the page, hoping to find a link to the cabinetmaker's website or some mention of their work. Yet, as she reached the end of the page, she found nothing. Disheartened and pressed for time, Sarah decided not to dig deeper and gave up her search for the elusive second cabinetmaker.

In the end, it was clear who would win Sarah's business. The first cabinetmaker, with their impressive online presence and numerous positive reviews, earned her trust and made it easy for her to access the information she needed. Sarah knew she had found a cabinetmaker who would transform her kitchen and provide the peace of mind that comes with an established online reputation.

Without a helpful website, you lose that opportunity to showcase your work, provide your contact information, and build trust and credibility.

Okay, moving on to the website builders. Let’s look at some of the options that are available.

WordPress

WordPress was used on 45.8% of all websites on the internet in 2023. This is an increase from 43.2% in 2022.

That means that 2 out of every 5 websites use WordPress.

WordPress is my favorite in this list and is what I have used to build over 30 websites.

Pros:

• Customization

  WordPress provides unparalleled flexibility. You can find a plugin for anything you need to accomplish. You also have the option to custom code a solution, but so far, I have been able to accomplish everything I have tried to accomplish without getting into custom coding.

• Free and Open Source

  WordPress itself is free. Most hosting accounts provide a WordPress installation tool to quickly get up and running. Be aware, though, that a lot of the nice plugins are paid options. So, although WordPress is free, you can still get into quite a lot of cost if you are choosing a lot of the nice plugins.

• SEO Friendly

  WordPress allows you to structure your website and control how Google showcases your pages. It doesn’t happen on its own, but it gives you the tools you need to rank higher. SEO is a mysterious topic for most people and your website structure is only a small part of what goes into it, but it is important to get that right to give you a good foundation for Google to reward.

Cons

• Learning Curve

  While I think WordPress is easy to use now, there is still a learning curve for beginners. Understanding themes, plugins, and overall site management can be a bit confusing. I found that things got a whole lot simpler when I started using Elementor as a page builder.

• Maintenance and Security

  WordPress is a target for hackers because it is so widely used. It’s important to keep your plugins and themes up to date. Third-party plugins can also cause problems because it is up to each plugin developer to build a secure plugin. A good illustration of how the plugins work is to think of them like the Android app store compared to the Apple app store. There is no review process, so you could potentially install a dangerous plugin, although I haven’t had any issues with this.

• Speed

  Many people experience very slow load times with a WordPress website. I’ve spent many hours trying to figure out how to make my website load faster. Once you learn some of the tricks to manage it, you can build really fast websites, but it’s something to be aware of.

Who Should Use WordPress?

WordPress is a great option if you want a highly customizable and feature-rich website.

It’s a wonderful thing not to feel limited by your website platform.

Here’s a cliche quote to give you the full picture.

“If you can dream it, you can build it”

If you’re looking for a plug-and-play solution that isn’t going to require much of your time or brainpower, you better keep reading and look at some of the simpler options.

Feel free to reach out to me if you’re thinking of using WordPress and are curious about which themes and plugins I typically use. I may even give you licenses to some of my paid plugins for free as I have agency accounts with a high number of allowed activations.

Wix

I would consider Wix to be a good balance of user-friendliness and features.

It doesn’t get much easier than their drag-and-drop page builder. Plus, they also have a lot of great features that can easily be added to your site such as event tickets and an online store.

Pros

• Drag and Drop Page Builder

  Wix is tremendously easy to use. You don’t have to worry about themes, margins, padding, or other nonsense. You just add a widget and drag it around.

• App Market

  Like WordPress, Wix has an app market that you can use to add specific functionality to your website. It obviously doesn’t have nearly as many plugins as WordPress but it’s cool to see them allowing third-party developers. I imagine there will be more and more functionality in Wix as time passes.

• Management Dashboard

  Wix has a great backend website management dashboard. Wix is a tightly integrated all-in-one system rather than a lot of separate pieces, so the settings are well-structured and easy to find.

Cons

• Design Limitations

  Wix has a broad template and widget selection, however, there are limitations for deep customization. I find myself wanting to do more than just the few design options they give me for a certain widget.

• Mobile Responsiveness Challenges

  Although Wix gives you a mobile editor, you might find yourself making additional adjustments to ensure a seamless mobile experience.

Who Should Use Wix?

If you’re looking to build a website on your own without a steep learning curve, Wix could be the one for you.

While some might think it is not scalable and lacks features, the ease if its drag-and-drop builder is worth a lot.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a great option for want a polished and aesthetically pleasing website. I’ve never built a live website using Squarespace but I have toyed around with a few demo websites.

I found that it was easier to get a nice looking website with Squarespace than with Wix, but it also lacked features compared to other options.

Pros

• Visually Stunning Templates

  Squarespace is definitely known for being visually appealing. It is commonly used for portfolio websites. If you mainly want to put a gallery of your work online, this could be a quick and easy option for you.

• Drag and Drop

  Like Wix, you’ll have no trouble building your website with their drag-and-drop editor.

• Responsive Design

  Squarespace works great on mobile because the templates are professionally designed and you can’t really stray outside of the templates.

Cons

• Lack of Flexibility

  While Squarespace has stunning templates, you won’t be able to make many changes to the design of it.

• Limited Third-Party Apps

  Squarespace is a closed ecosystem compared to other platforms. Similar to Apple, they keep their customizations inhouse.

Who should use Squarespace?

If you consider yourself a creative person and a modern and visually pleasing website is important to you, Squarespace could be the perfect fit for you.

You won't find a better option if you mainly want a simple website that features a couple of pages and a gallery of your work.

Some people have been able to use it for more complex projects but I believe there are better tools available once you need more complex features.

GoDaddy

Yes, GoDaddy does more than just domain names. They offer a super simple website builder tool.

I would only recommend this if you don’t currently have a website and want to get a simple website live as soon as possible.

Pros

• Super Easy

  While Wix and Squarespace are marketed as easy to use, GoDaddy is even more so. There are only a few options available so there is not much to learn.

• Mobile Optimization

  GoDaddy uses templates to ensure your website will always look good on mobile

Cons

• Limited Design

  You will be able to match the website to your branding, but don’t expect major customization.

• Scaling Challenges

  While GoDaddy is great for getting a website live quickly, you will quickly reach its maximum when you try to start adding things to your wbesite.

Special Mentions

There are two other website builders that are very intriguing to me that I want to mention here.

Bubble and Webflow.

They probably won’t be a good fit for most cabinet shops because they will be more difficult to use for a typical business website. However, if you like being in control of every button click on your website and need very advanced functionality, these two platforms are incredible.

Basically, you can build your own complex automation without using code.

Let’s say you want to build your own job tracking portal so your customers can see where their job is. With these platforms, it’s easy to create a database and build the logic to control what happens.

Would I recommend building something like this from scratch? Probably not, but it sounds fun and it is so doable.

If you’re looking for a fun side project and have a cool web app idea, try these platforms.

Conclusion

For most of us, we can’t solely be craftsmen in wood.

We also need to be artisans of our own digital presence.

A website is one piece of your overall online presence.

Whatever platform you choose, choose a platform that allows you to showcase your craftsmanship and expertise.

Let your website be the always-open storefront that enables customers to find you and build trust in you.

Happy building!

Thanks for reading,
Myron