STUDIO FIVE

Updated August 2024

Selecting the Right Content Management System is Crucial

In today’s digital landscape, selecting the right content management system (CMS) is crucial for small businesses aiming to enhance their online presence. With a myriad of options available, choosing the perfect small business CMS platform can be a daunting task. This decision impacts website functionality, overall business growth, and customer engagement. 

In this blog post, we will analyze critical factors to consider when evaluating small business CMS platforms, enabling you to make an informed choice that aligns with your business goals. Unlock your online business potential by understanding the essential features and capabilities that the ideal CMS should offer.

The Foundation of Your Small Business Website

We work with many small businesses, and this question frequently arises: “What platform should I use for my small business website?” Hundreds of website platforms and themes are out there, and it can be challenging to select the best option. To help you make that decision, we have chosen a few of the top small business CMS platforms.

Choosing a content management system (CMS) to build your website can be challenging for a small business. Depending on your budget, design specification, and long-term plans for your small business, one of these small business CMS platforms will be suited for your type of small business.

WordPress is currently the most widely used CMS, with 62.6% of the market share in 2024. 

W3 Tech

However, not all small business CMS platforms are created equal. Some may work well when you start your small business, but you will soon face limitations. Other small business CMS platforms are quite advanced and more suited for more extensive and established companies. We used our experience and client feedback to sort through some small business CMS platforms.

For the sake of this post, we limited ourselves to the eight most common and popular CMS platforms. The vast majority of small business websites use one of these. Many more options are available, and some may seem pretty cool. Overall, we recommend you stick with one of the following options.

Comparing Small Business CMS Platforms

Wix

Wix is the first of our small business CMS platforms. It is a free website builder incorporating AI (Artificial Intelligence), allowing even novice users to build reasonably sophisticated sites quickly. According to W3Techs, 4.2% of websites built on a Content Management System use Wix.

In 2024, 4.2% of all websites using a Content Management System (CMS) use Wix.

W3Techs

Wix is ideal for small businesses with a limited budget and little time to learn and use a more sophisticated content management system such as WordPress. Wix boasts a wide choice of well-designed templates and lets you quickly drag and drop content into your website.

Advantages of Wix

Cost-Effective

The free version gives you 500MB of storage, secure hosting, a custom domain name, and a wide array of templates and images to choose from when designing your website. For an additional monthly or yearly fee, you get unlimited bandwidth and a further 10GB of storage using your registered domain name. The reasonable prices make Wix a sensible choice for small businesses that require an essential, usable website. Wix is far more affordable than paying for a custom design.

Easy to Use

You can create an essential website within minutes, and the platform is simple to use—even for the technologically challenged. Wix is a practical tool for small businesses that want to manage their websites easily.

You can change your website without going into the platform’s back-end. A simple SEO application allows search engines to find your site for your keywords.

Disadvantages of Wix

Restrictions for Business Growth

Wix is ideal for getting your small businesses online. But it won’t be able to offer much more than that. It is the perfect short-term solution for those without a website. Still, for small businesses wanting to invest in a website that will adapt as the company grows, choosing another, more flexible platform would be sensible.

Squarespace

Squarespace has evolved into one of the more popular small business CMS platforms. It is perfect for companies that want a website that looks professional, expensive, and visually stunning but doesn’t exceed the budget. Designers, businesses, and people creating visually appealing portfolios use Squarespace.

In 2024, 3.1% of all websites using a Content Management System (CMS) use Squarespace.

W3Techs

Advantages of Squarespace

Beautiful Designer Templates

Squarespace offers clean, minimalistic, sophisticated templates with rich imagery and strong visual appeal. The templates are of high quality and in a different class from the free templates available on WordPress and Drupal.

Extensive Styling Options

Squarespace makes customizing your website’s design easy without editing the code. This CMS is the perfect option for those who aren’t coding experts. You can easily adjust fonts, colors, sidebar width, background images, padding, and just about anything else on a Squarespace website.

Disadvantages of Squarespace

Buggy Blocks

Adding, dragging, and dropping can be slightly buggy and irritating when placing image blocks. If you try to move a block to the bottom of the screen, the page won’t automatically scroll with you. Although this isn’t a significant issue, it can be unpleasant when updating several pages simultaneously, especially under a deadline.

Too Many Styling Options

Squarespace‘s Style Editor allows you to customize or style everything on the website without going into codes. But this can be overwhelming for those not overly familiar with web design.

It is a fantastic tool that allows you to design stunning websites without delving into complicated coding. Still, with so many styling options to choose from and alter, it can almost be a confusing experience for users new to the Squarespace CMS.

Shopify

Shopify is another popular small business CMS platform, especially for e-commerce. It is easy to set up, with a handy dashboard area for quickly adding products, customizing the look of your site, and more. Shopify even asks if you plan to move from another platform during sign-up. The system then provides a link for importing products from your previous store.

In 2024, 6.5% of all websites using a Content Management System (CMS) use Shopify.

W3Techs

Advantages of Shopify

Easy to Use

Whether you’re launching your first business or have a brick-and-mortar store and want to sell online, Shopify can help. Shopify is among the most liked e-commerce software among e-commerce small business owners.

Lots of Features

It has features to help you launch and manage your online store. It’s also super easy to use because it requires no tech skills. The platform offers basic and advanced capabilities, which grow as your business grows.

Cost-Effective

Of the e-commerce software we reviewed, Shopify offers the best and most affordable packages for small businesses. Shopify Basic costs $39 monthly / $29 annually (and 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction). The Shopify plan is $105 monthly / $79 annually (and 2.6% + 30¢ per transaction). Advanced Shopify is $399 monthly / $299 annually (and 2.4% + 30¢ per transaction). Shopify Plus pricing starts at $2000 monthly. Use Shopify Payments to avoid extra fees.

No Hidden Fees 

With Shopify, there are no hidden fees. There are no transaction fees if you use Shopify’s payment gateway. Note that this is separate from credit card processing fees, which range from 2.25 percent plus 30 cents per transaction to 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction, depending on your plan.

Disadvantages of Shopify

Hosted Solution 

Shopify is a hosted solution that only works on the Shopify server. While this may be a minor concern for most small business owners, it is worth considering.

Costly Templates

Shopify templates are more expensive than the average WordPress theme and much more costly than Squarespace or Wix. The additional cost may concern cost-sensitive small business owners just starting.

WordPress

According to data from W3Techs, WordPress is used by 43.4% of all websites on the internet in 2024. This is an increase from 39.5% in 2021. That means that two out of every five websites use WordPress. That makes it the most popular of all small business CMS platforms overall. If you are interested, here are some additional WordPress statistics that may (or may not) surprise you!

In 2024, 62.6% of all websites using a Content Management System (CMS) use WordPress.

W3Techs

Advantages of WordPress

Easy to Operate

You can easily make changes to your website without knowing web coding. Adding pages, blog posts, media, and products and changing WordPress content is straightforward. WordPress has helpful guides and support for each platform area if you find yourself stuck.

Affordable

WordPress offers a wide variety of themes. Using a ready-made template can cut costs and time spent manually building a website for your small business.

Almost Limitless Customization Options

WordPress offers more paid and unpaid themes and plugins than any other content management system. This flexibility means that if you want to add more features to your website, there’s a good chance a plugin is available to do this.

Suitable for Small Businesses of all Types

Some other website platforms have left clients with a website that offers limited ability to make changes and a system that can’t adapt to business changes. WordPress is so widely used that it inherently moves with changes and trends in the web design industry.

Regardless of who you use to manage your website, chances are they’re familiar with WordPress.

SEO Friendly

WordPress has many reliable SEO plugins available to download for help with website optimization. SEO can be a primary driver of traffic for many websites. Still, it can be difficult for small businesses with little time to understand or implement the principles.

WordPress makes it easy for users to optimize their websites for search. Yoast is a popular SEO tool, but there are alternatives, including Rank Math and All In One SEO.

Disadvantages of WordPress

Frequent Updates

WordPress requires frequent software updates to keep your website current with browsers and virus attacks. The frequent updates make it difficult for some plugins to adapt to the WordPress software changes, and they don’t tend to operate the way they should after updates.

It is advisable to take a backup copy of your website before updating your WordPress version in the event of any problems with the update that could affect it. If your web designer offers website maintenance plans, you should take advantage of that.

There is a Learning Curve

When making changes in the back-end of WordPress, they don’t always appear that way when looking at the actual web browser. This difference can be frustrating for those unfamiliar with web design or coding when trying to get text and images to appear how they want them to.

Changes Can Be Costly and Time-Consuming.

If your website uses a custom theme and you decide to make significant changes, modifications could be time-consuming and costly. Every theme is programmed differently, so it would take time for a developer to understand how it works.

If you know that you will make significant changes to the theme in the future, it may be best to consider building from scratch to meet your specific requirements. We recommend discussing your current and future vision for your website with your designer before getting started.

WooCommerce

If you have a WordPress website, WooCommerce is for you. It is ideal for selling your products and services, specifically on the WordPress website. It is a free WordPress plugin with free and paid extensions that provide additional features and functionality.

In 2024, 13.2% of all websites using a Content Management System (CMS) use WooCommerce.

W3Techs

Since WooCommerce is an Automattic product, you can rely on it. The WooCommerce plugin gives you complete control over your data and is accessible. It also supports mobile devices to satisfy your mobile audience with WooCommerce.

WooCommerce marked its existence in 2011, and since then, it has grown to be a popular platform. The success of WooCommerce lies in the hands of a robust team of developers that works continuously for its betterment. The main reason for its popularity is its open-source and customizable nature. You can download, use, and modify it for free and expand the basic functionality of WooCommerce. Even novices can use WooCommerce without learning to code.

Advantages of WooCommerce

Free to Use

WooCommerce is cost-effective, as it features a ‘freemium’ business model. The core software is free, but you may have to pay for new additions or features. If you plan to start your online business, use WooCommerce to manage your online store with little investment.

A Lot of Flexibility

With WooCommerce, you can add infinite product lists in various categories. Stores can be personalized and customized using prebuilt themes and layouts.

With WooCommerce, you can sell physical, virtual, and even downloadable products. It offers the ability to accept almost all sorts of payments. In addition to this, you can also use custom templates and designs for different categories.

Professional Look and Functionality

WooCommerce is a highly organized platform that reflects professionalism. The arrangement of tools and functionalities makes it look authentic and ready to use. From order tracking to checking delivery status, your customers find it easy to perform all required tasks.

Secure

It features an excellent, secure, and robust shopping cart. WooCommerce is regularly updated to remove all bugs and issues.

WordPress Website SEO

Using WordPress SEO plugins makes SEO straightforward. These plugins are fully compatible with WooCommerce and its extensions. They provide specific functionality. Also, they are secure and regularly updated to ensure maximum compatibility and usability.

Disadvantages of WooCommerce

Not a Stand-Alone E-Commerce Platform

Like any plugin or extension to WordPress, WooCommerce has some disadvantages. First and foremost, users should understand that this is not a whole e-commerce content management system but a WordPress plugin.

Can Require the Use of Paid Extensions

Although WooCommerce is an open-source and free-to-install plugin, users must pay for certain features. WooCommerce offers a wide range of paid themes and e-commerce features. Many of them are inexpensive and well worth the investment.

Frequent Updates

To keep your e-commerce store up to date, WooCommerce requires frequent software updates, which can be time-consuming for store owners.

Drupal

Drupal is almost beyond what we could call small business CMS platforms. It has developed into one of the most popular and complex open-source content management systems. While you don’t need programming experience for regular use, more advanced developers mostly use Drupal because of its sophisticated programming interface. Drupal is suitable for large corporations and is best in the hands of multiple professionals.

In 2024, 1.3% of all websites using a Content Management System (CMS) use Drupal.

W3Techs

With over one million users worldwide, Drupal is an open-source CMS platform that small-to-large organizations can use freely without fear of vendor lock-in. Its implementation costs are low due to enormous amounts of freely available community code, and its robust and flexible architecture is ready for the enterprise.

Drupal is a highly flexible platform for digital innovation, speed of implementation, and scalability. Its supporting open-source community is like none other, and it’s a wonderful thing to be a part of – you can, in fact, do good in the world by contributing back to open source software while you build with Drupal.

Drupal has a significant learning curve and is known more as a developing platform than a simple CMS tool. Thus, we consider Drupal more of an enterprise-level solution than a small-business CMS.

Advantages of Drupal

Functionality and Flexibility

Drupal allows users to create simple or advanced websites, blogs, discussion boards, social networking pages, and much more. The platform has many tools, including advanced menu management, poll management, a graphics modification tool, and user management. Drupal is flexible and can manage many content types, such as videos, polls, user management, podcasts, statistics, and texts.

Customization and Plugins

Drupal has thousands of plugins available. Since it’s an open-source platform, you can also create your plugins for your website. The script includes graphics management, allowing you to make simple and more complex page configurations.

Support

The Drupal homepage contains discussion boards, documentation, and mailing lists for added support when needed. It also contains lots of information concerning the modification and management of the script.

Disadvantages of Drupal

Installation and Modification

Drupal requires advanced knowledge of installation and modification. The user interface isn’t as simple to use as WordPress or Joomla!

Efficiency

Drupal falls behind other platforms like WordPress in terms of scalability and efficiency. Large websites generate a more significant server load. Still, you can reduce it by using plugins to load a website into the server’s cache.

Magento

Magento is another small business CMS platform focused on e-commerce. It is best known and widely used as an e-commerce content management system. Now owned by Adobe, roughly 0.6% of all e-commerce sites will use Magento as their chosen CMS in 2024. There are hundreds of extensions and the ability to add additional functionality. Plus, it is more SEO-friendly than other e-commerce platforms.

In 2024, 0.6% of all websites using a Content Management System (CMS) use Magento.

W3Techs

Advantages of Magento

Large User Community

Magento is powered by the community using the platform and can be edited by developers to tailor it to their store. The platform is a popular choice for e-commerce businesses, and help is readily available online from forums and support blogs when required.

Scalability

Magento can manage online stores of any size. Whether you’re selling one product or one million, it is far more scalable than other e-commerce platforms, such as WooCommerce, which would struggle to hold more than 1,000 products.

Magento comes with simple, configurable, bundled, grouped, digital, and virtual products. Businesses can sell anything from home appliances to digital downloads simultaneously without extensions.

Plugins

If you want to add a feature to your website but are unsure how to do it manually, there is a 90% chance that someone has already made a plugin for it on Magento. Most plugins are affordable and available for use on any e-commerce store.

Disadvantages of Magento

Complex to Learn 

CMS platforms such as Wix or WordPress are easy to use, even for those with basic knowledge of content management systems. However, Magento is far more complex, even for the best developers. It takes time to understand how the platform works.

It isn’t user-friendly and can be complex to manage and edit existing content. Due to its complexity, hiring an advanced developer to make changes for you is far more expensive than other platforms.

Joomla!

Joomla! was one of the first small business CMS platforms. This CMS is easy to use, robust, and almost a combination of WordPress and Drupal. It boasts some incredible benefits for small businesses that need a CMS they can rely on as their business grows.

In 2024, 2.4% of all websites using a Content Management System (CMS) use Joomla.

W3Techs

Joomla is suitable for companies with five or more employees. It is best when in the hands of an experienced professional. However, like any other platform, it still has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of Joomla!

Developed in PHP

Joomla!’s framework uses PHP entirely. Therefore, your pages should display well, and compatibility issues will be minimal. There is also a preview mode to check your website’s display.

Out-of-the-box CMS

Joomla! is ready to use right out of the box and only takes minutes to install. Anyone can download it from the Internet, install it, and use it. However, the installation process is significantly more difficult than that of WordPress.

Lots of Features

Joomla! can support more than two-level hierarchies using a more complex navigation pattern, available in recent platform versions. This feature provides more in-depth sites with additional pages and the ability to grow further as opposed to WordPress, which is not designed with hierarchies in mind.

Although Joomla! doesn’t have as many modules and templates as Drupal; it has significantly more plugins to allow you to modify your website in your way. WordPress is the CMS with the most plugins. However, there’s far more functionality built straight into Joomla!, meaning fewer plugins are required.

Simple URLs

Joomla!’s URLs are SEO crawler friendly. This benefit is essential when search engines use bots to crawl your website and quickly identify what the page is about when they read the URL.

Disadvantages of Joomla!

Beginner to Intermediate Usability

Joomla! was designed for simple websites and blogs for people with little knowledge of website building. But it isn’t the best option for those looking to build a truly custom website with complex infrastructures.

Use of Server Resources

Joomla! relies on significant server resources compared to other content management solutions, meaning that Joomla! can run a couple of sites successfully. However, you may experience slow loading times because of its use of server resources.

SEO Unfriendly 

Joomla! utilizes SEO-unfriendly URLs compared to other CMS platforms. It is less effective than WordPress and Magento when it comes to optimizing your site for search engines. Out-of-the-box Joomla! isn’t very SEO-friendly, but using the JoomSEF plugin can change that.

Selecting Your Small Business CMS Platform

Before deciding what CMS your small business should use, it is essential to determine your primary objective. Will you sell products online, frequently blog, create a forum for visitors to use, or create a custom design for your business?

Each CMS specializes in different areas. For example, while Squarespace is more for the design-conscious, WordPress is an all-rounder for most small businesses. Magento is an advanced platform for e-commerce businesses.

Before you decide what CMS to choose, it is crucial to consider the following:

• What is the purpose of your website? Is it to encourage sign-ups, make online sales, or increase blog views?
• Are you happy with a pre-made theme, and if not, do you have the budget for a custom design?
• Who will be using the CMS? If users with basic knowledge of HTML will be using the CMS, it may not be best to go with something as complicated as Magento.
• What are your future growth plans for the business website? If your business is purely e-commerce, how many products do you have to sell? Does your chosen CMS accommodate this amount of products?

Don’t Try This On Your Own

We know that many small business owners have limited funds. Therefore, the temptation to select small business CMS platforms and build small business websites is very strong. We applaud your sense of daring and adventure, but we don’t recommend it!

Choosing your CMS and building your small business website is crucial for creating a successful online presence. If you miss any steps or don’t know what you are doing, you can end up in serious trouble. Trust us on this one; we have seen the results when things go wrong too many times.

If you think hiring a professional is expensive, just wait until you hire an amateur or try to do it yourself!

Almost any small business owner can figure out the essentials to have on their business website. And many of you could start building your site. But there are many moving parts, some of which you don’t see until something breaks.

The big difference between the average small business owner and professionals like us is that we know what to do when things go (terribly) wrong! This comes from many years of breaking things and learning how to fix them! It is OK if you want to go through this yourself. But don’t you have better things to do?

Regardless of these small business CMS platforms you choose, there are things you need to do before you start developing your website. And it helps to avoid common website design flaws. Maybe the best way to do that is to get professional help.

Conclusion

In conclusion, selecting the right content management system (CMS) is a pivotal decision for small businesses looking to establish or enhance their online presence. With various platforms available, aligning your choice with your budget, design preferences, and long-term business goals is essential. 

By carefully evaluating your options, you can unlock your online business potential and create a website that effectively serves your needs. For more information on choosing the perfect CMS for your small business, please contact us.