Quick Guide: The Best Website Platform for Authors
So, you want a new author website, but don’t know where to start.
Here’s the quickest answer I can give you:
Go with Squarespace or Showit.
(I don’t like Wordpress. Many people will die on the Wordpress hill, and if that’s you, go for it, and also, feel free not to @ me all the reasons I’m wrong.)
Squarespace and Showit are both “no code” platforms, which means everything is drag-and-drop. If you can use a computer mouse and know how to type, you can build a professional-looking website. Yes, you.
So which one to go with? There are a lot of strong opinions out there. Showit die-hards will tell you Showit is better. Squarespace loyalists understandably will nudge you towards Squarespace.
I actually agree with both the articles above (except where Paige says Squarespace has better customer service, strong disagree on that). Both platforms are both incredible, but they have different strengths for different needs. They also have their respective weaknesses.
The question is not “which is the better platform?” but "which is the better platform for the kind of website I want?”
I’ve used both platforms extensively; I still use both extensively. This website you’re on now? Squarespace? My author website? Showit. My personal website? Squarespace again.
When I’m trying to decide which site to build on which platform, here are the two questions I ask myself:
Do I need a blog?
Do I need an e-commerce store?
If the answer to either is yes, I’m likely going with Squarespace. If I don’t need either? I’m probably headed to Showit.
To break it down a bit further:
You Should Go With Squarespace If…
You need an online shop.
Squarespace has integrated e-commerce, Showit does not. If you plan to sell merch or signed books on your website, Squarespace is the simplest option. With Showit, you’ll need to incorporate a separate shopping platform like Shopify.
You want to spend as little time building and maintaining your website as possible.
Squarespace has less of a learning curve than Showit, and while it’s more limited in design capabilities, that also means it’s harder to mess up. It also handles text blocks much better than Showit.
You want a blog.
That’s a bit of a hot take, because plenty of Showit loyalists love its blogging capabilities, but I hate blogging with Showit. I’ve gotten the hang of it, and it’s fine, but it's the only time I miss Squarespace. Though, it should be mentioned that of dozens of author websites we’ve built, and I think only two clients have even wanted a blog.
You Should Go With Showit If…
You want design flexibility.
Think of Showit like a blank canvas. If you can imagine it, you can make it happen. In Squarespace, it's less blank page, and more "coloring book." You'll need to color in their lines (literally…it’s built on a grid system, and everything “snaps” to those grid lines).
You care about how your site looks on mobile.
Nearly 70% of my author website traffic comes from mobile devices; with many of my author clients, it’s closer to 80%. And that's not just author sites; that's the reality of the Internet these days. It's time we start prioritizing how our website looks on a phone over the familiar desktop version.
Showit lets you design what your site looks like on mobile separate from how it looks on desktop. This means you can prioritize a vertical design for readers viewing your site on their phone, and a horizontal design for readers viewing your site on their computer. Squarespace, by contrast, has made some strides in their mobile editor, but it’s very limited.
You want support.
Showit’s customer service is the best I have ever worked with; not just in website/tech, but ever. If you want to know that real humans, with live chat, and funny gifs are there to help when you get stuck, you want Showit.
There’s plenty more to say, but I promised a quick guide, and that’s as quick as I can make it! Take each for a test drive if you’re not sure; both Squarespace & Showit have free trials.
→ Showit
