1. Podbean

Podcasts are on the rise. In 2020 consumption of podcasts reached 332.2 million internet users, and this number grew to 383.7 in 2021. And it is increasing steadily – with the number of listeners slated to reach about 509.4 in 2024.

Podcasts have moved from a niche market of discussants in their parent’s basements to being spread across the globe into everyone’s earsets.

However, it’s more complex than just creating a decent show and uploading it. First, your website needs to be able to handle the traffic, lest you want your listeners attempting to sign up for your newsletter on a frisbee. But where does one start?

And that’s where podcast hosting sites come into the picture!

You need a podcast hosting service to publish your podcast episodes online and make them available to your audience. Podcasts are called interactive audio content for a reason. Your podcast listeners can get in touch with you through the comments section, emailing you their feedback, sharing your episodes on social media, and more.

It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to become a mega-star or want to solidify your brand; knowing which podcast hosting platform to use is essential to the podcasting process.

In today’s article, we have covered the 15 best podcasting sites. So whether you are looking for free or paid podcast hosting sites, we have covered everything in detail.

1. Podbean

Podbean is a podcast hosting and monetizing platform that lets you publish your podcasts in minutes. Just set up some basic information about your podcast – and you are set to publish your first episode on Podbean. With Podbean’s intuitive user interface, getting started with the service is as easy as pie!

In the above image, you can see how Podbean will ask you to set up your podcast. Podbean makes it easy to create a professional-looking site from title and description to category and podcast logo. Once you upload your episode, you can also pick a theme for your site.

As you see in the below image, you can customize its fonts and colors and test the audio and appearance before it launches.

Podcasts can also be listened to on Apple, Google, Shopify, and other podcast apps. If you want to embed your podcast on your website or blogs, Podbeans Embeddable Players will make that easy for you. The Embeddable player is also customizable and lets you add branded elements, making the design professional.

You can even connect your social media handle with your Podbean account to directly share podcasts on your social pages.

It doesn’t skimp on statistics, either. Podbean statistics will give you all the insights you need to know about your podcast’s audience, including the top 10 episodes, how many downloads there are at a particular time, where your customers come from, and user retention data.

All in all, it’s a great option to get started with your podcasting journey. However, one downside is that the podcast website isn’t as polished as some podcasters might prefer.

Other key features include

You can host audio and video files without limits on storage and bandwidth.
You can personalize your podcast with your own domain.
You can also schedule your podcast episode in advance.
Once you publish your podcast, users can access it on Alexa devices.
Its Mailchimp integration will help you collect emails for future distribution.
You can monetize your podcast using ads.
Live stream your podcast with a remote co-host or guest.

Pros

They offer a free plan, which provides iPhone and Android app players with 100GB of monthly bandwidth and their own podcast site.
Even though the interface is very intuitive, the resources in their knowledge base will be helpful to beginners.

Cons

You can’t host video podcasts unless you are on their Plus & Business plans.
The podcasting website should be more professional.

Pricing

It starts at $9/month for unlimited storage space, unmetered bandwidth, distribution on significant podcast apps, customizable themes, and more.

2. Buzzsprout

Buzzsprout is a podcasting platform that provides hosting, promotion, and analytics solutions. You can directly distribute your podcast on Google, Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Alexa, Overcast, and more through Buzzsprout.

You can start with easy and free learning material provided by Buzzsprout, including podcasting guides, courses, video tutorials, industry podcasts, and community.

It’s also worth noting that Professional-sounding podcasts don’t come easy. That’s why Buzzsprout’s MagicMastering tool is available for you to use. It’s an audio filter that sweetens your podcast and optimizes it for the best industry standards.

That said, the Magic Mastering feature is only available with the pricier plans, so you’ll have to shell out more money for it.

You don’t have to worry about optimizing your episodes yourself either because Buzzsprout optimizes all episodes in terms of file type, bitrates, ID3 tags, etc.

The best part is that it has dynamic content flexibility, letting you decide whether audio should go at the beginning or end of an episode. It does everything to make your podcast search engine friendly, including transcribing each episode for people with hearing disabilities.

Buzzsprout’s users also usually have good things to say about the platform.

For example, Neil Thacker, founder of Casual Car Guide, who uses Buzzsprout himself, is a big fan of the platform.

Thacker says,

“I have been lucky enough to host a few different podcasts in various industries. Every time, my hosting platform of choice is Buzzsprout. They just get it. Buzzsprout makes it super easy to publish and syndicate your podcast episodes across various mainstream streaming platforms and directories.

If you need a website for your podcast, Buzzsprout gives you the tools to create one. Simply pick a domain and host your podcast there for the world to see. It’s quick and easy to set up and won’t cost you the earth. Go, Buzzsprout!”

Other key features include

It offers a customizable podcast player that lets you skip to the next track or move backward. You can also share your episode on social media and make the player match your website’s branding.
One account can hold multiple podcasts and team members.
You can find all the necessary help through its YouTube channel and Facebook community.
It integrates with tools such as Chartable, Podtrac, Hindenburg, and more.
It also offers Visual Soundbites to match your brand colors.

Pros

It offers competitive pricing and features.
Clean & easy-to-use UI.
Plenty of learning resources.
Free version for 90 days.

Cons

Limited upload time, even with paid plans.
Your episodes will be hosted only for 90 days with the basic plan.
The basic plan does not include Magic Mastering.

Pricing

Starts at $12/month for 3 hours of upload, advanced statistics, unlimited storage, and more.

3. Simplecast

Simplecast is the all-in-one solution for your podcasting needs – including podcast publishing, distribution, analytics, and sharing. Whether you’re a large or small business, it also has similar tool access for all sizes of companies.

Your podcast can be set up anywhere, including Shopify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, and other podcast directories. Simplecast gets your podcast on these directories and apps as soon as you publish any episode and then automatically sends it to your listeners.

Then it will provide you with advanced analytics to show how many listeners you have, how many downloads you get, your listeners’ locations, and more. See below for a visual representation of how this works:

It also has a website. That’s right; you’ll get your own website.

This website automatically updates as you publish new episodes and is customizable, mobile-friendly, search engine optimized, and Google Podcast optimized. You can even use your own domain names.

In addition, it allows the user to manage multiple shows in a single account. The image below will show you what the Podcast Dashboard looks like. It displays the number of episodes for each show and other information, such as role and owner.

Other key features include

Its audio analytics come in easy-to-understand visuals and show you different trends – for example, which device listeners use to listen to your podcasts.
Simplecast’s framework is a rock-solid, no-nonsense platform that keeps your stream playing 24/7.
You can import your existing podcast from any platform with just a few clicks.
You can use its players to embed your podcasts on your web.

Pros

All of its plans offer unlimited uploads and storage.

Cons

It does not offer a free version.
I see users getting frustrated with the limited customization options for website themes.

Pricing

It starts at $15/month for two seats, unlimited storage and uploads, basic analytics, a custom domain, a customizable website, and more.

4. Anchor.fm

Anchor is one of the – if not the best free podcast hosting services by Spotify that takes care of creation, distribution, monetization, analytics, and more.

Creating Music+talk episodes on Anchor is as easy as pie. Choose any song from Spotify’s library, place it in your episode builder, add an audio file that you wish to go with the music file, and then submit your episode for review.

Some of the best ways to make money from your podcast are by building an audience and monetizing that audience. And with Anchor, you can monetize in various ways, including by adding paid advertisements to your podcast or asking for donations from listeners.

In addition, the IAB 2.0-certified metrics from Spotify let you measure your podcast’s performance in detail. For example, you can see where listeners are abandoning you on the track and adjust accordingly by adding content that really matters to them. You can also see what type of listeners interact with your podcasts – how old they are, what gender they identify with, and more.

Luciano Colos, founder and CEO of PitchGrade, who uses Anchor for his own podcast, talks about his experience with the platform.

He believes that the end-to-end control of the whole process is what makes Anchor.fm unique.

Colos further shares,

“Even if you’re not a technical person, the interface is so simple that you’ll be able to learn it in minutes. I’ve been using it since the day I started my podcast, and I’m so glad I found it. It’s also worth mentioning that the support on the platform is great. If you ever have a question, you can contact the staff on their Discord channel and will get an answer within minutes.”

Other key features include

All the content rights are yours.
You can distribute your podcast to Google, Apple, Pocket Casts, Spotify, and more.
You can directly record from your phone, tablet, or computer and sync them to all devices.
You can create both audio and video podcasts.
The episode builder has easy-to-visualize building blocks.

Pros

Anchor offers free and unlimited hosting in all plans.
Easy monetization options, that too with ads in your own voice.
You can distribute your podcast to all major podcasting platforms.

Cons

You can host only one podcast per account.
Interview features on phone hosting are limited.
Customer support is limited to online resources.

Pricing

It’s a free platform.

5. SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a platform for both streaming audio and hosting podcasts. Majorly, it’s a popular music-sharing platform, but it also offers a robust podcast-hosting platform used by over 75 million people worldwide.

Creating a SoundCloud profile is also as simple as pie. You can personalize your profile with your own username, profile URL, custom profile image, and header.

SoundCloud is also one of the few podcast-hosting platforms that allow you to create a community around your podcasts. This is handy if you want to grow awareness about your podcast among other users.

Users can comment on specific moments of the track, and other users can see those comments when they reach that moment on the track.

The podcast hosting platform is available for Android and iOS, and you can sign up for free. Of course, there’s an affordable fee for upgrading your account to a creator account.

In addition, SoundCloud lets you distribute your tracks on various channels, including Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and more.

Then you have the SoundCloud Analytics dashboard that gives you a quick overview of the number of streams, revenue, and top tracks — but it’s not as detailed as you can get with other podcasting sites. After all, it’s a music streaming platform primarily rather than one specifically for podcasts.

There is little to no knowledge on their website for beginners, which is another disadvantage. That said, it’s pretty easy to use, so anyone without experience in podcasting can easily use the platform.

Other key features include

SoundCloud allows you to share your music on Apple Music, TikTok, Spotify, and more.
Except for the free version, SoundCloud offers unlimited upload time.
If you have collaborators in your profile, you can split the payments with them.
You can also schedule your podcast releases in advance.

Pros

It offers a free plan with 3 hours of upload time.
The hosting fee is affordable.
Listeners can comment on specific moments from your track.

Cons

Many users report that it takes a long time to load the track.

Pricing

It starts at $2.50/month for monetization, distribution, promotion, and split payment features.

6. Transistor.fm

Transistor’s like other podcasting platforms – you can create a podcast from scratch or import it from another platform. Just follow the instructions, and you’re good to go.

Once your podcast is recorded and ready to go, you can invite multiple members to contribute. Its analytics software provides clean visuals and robust insights into listener trends.

For instance, the below image is an overview of the podcast performance:

Now observe that the amount of data and clear visuals make this less overwhelming. As you can see, it gives you insights into average downloads per episode for the specific period, estimated subscribers, and total downloads (month-wise visual presentation).

In addition to providing one-click submissions to significant podcast platforms such as Spotify, Google, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, and more, Transistor also offers one-click submissions to search engines like Listen Notes and The Podcast Index. Transistor is one of the few podcasting hosting platforms to provide a service like this.

Corey Haines, Founder of SwipeWell, shares his experience with the platform,

“I’ve been super happy with Transistor.fm for hosting all my podcasts. Instead of paying for each one individually, Transistor allows me to host all the podcasts I want for a single price. This made me feel free to experiment and start as many podcasts as I wanted. They also have great integrations, analytics, and sharing capabilities to embed on a website or newsletter.”

Other key features include

You can create, import, and host multiple podcasts in a single Transistor account.
You get a unique RSS feed, advanced analytics, a basic webpage, and collaborator invites for each podcast you create.
The analytics tool gives you insights like the number of plays, total plays per episode, average download, devices, and more.
It offers a podcast player that you can embed on your website, landing page, or tweet.

Pros

Multiple podcast hosting options allow you to test different podcast formats for varied groups of listeners.
You can host unlimited podcasts in one account.
It offers a free trial.

Cons

The starter plan, which is a paid one, does not include dynamic ads. It also does not allow you to automate YouTube posting.
There are plenty of resources in their knowledge base, but finding what you’re looking for is confusing.
Only the Business plan allows you to remove Transistor branding from the player.

Pricing

It starts at $19/month for unlimited podcasts, private podcasts, live customer support, a built-in podcast website, and more.

7. Libsyn

Libsyn has the tools to help you get started regardless of your level of podcasting expertise. It assists you in recording, publishing, distributing, and monetizing your podcasts.

The best part? You can host both audio and video podcasts on Libsyn.

To get started with Libsyn, you’ll have to provide a few details, including podcast title, subtitle, description, category, owner’s name & email, author, website URL, and more.

The below image shows what the Libsyn podcast settings look like:

You can also add your own artwork to your podcast. Click “Add artwork” or drag and drop the images in the upload area. Suppose you don’t have your artwork ready. In that case, you can design one on Canva – Libsyn’s integration with Canva makes creating a professional-looking podcast cover simple without any graphic design experience.

Once you are ready with everything, publish your podcast and distribute it to the platforms where your listeners could be, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Play Music.

Libsyn gives you more ways to make money with your podcast, including advertising and subscriptions. For example, you can pitch to the big advertisers on Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast Marketplace or build a community of members who get exclusive access to your content.

Antreas Koutis, Administrative Manager at Financer, shares his experience with Libsyn,

“When I started podcasting on the side, I wasn’t sure which hosting platform to use. There are a lot of options out there, and it can be overwhelming to try to figure out which one is the best. After trying out a few different platforms, I found that I liked Libsyn the best.

It was easy to use and had all the features that I was looking for. I also liked the fact that they offered unlimited storage and bandwidth, which was important to me since I wanted to be able to grow my podcast without having to worry about running out of space. The only downside is that it can be a bit expensive, but overall I thought it was the best option for me.”

Other key features include

Its podcast players allow you to drag and drop your uploads, and you can create an episode from any page.
You can also publish your episodes in batches or pre-schedule them.
With Snippets, you can create a description for your podcasts just once and reuse it with every post.
It provides IAB Tech Lab Verified Stats, which means you can trust the accuracy of the data.
Get access to advanced analytics, including an interactive worldwide map, listener app analytics, demographics, and more.

Pros

Podcasting can be a cinch for anyone who starts with Libsyn’s in-depth, step-by-step guides and other valuable resources.
Its integration with Canva helps you design your artwork with ease.

Cons

The basic plan does not offer unlimited storage or uploading hours.
For advanced features, the price is quite high.

Pricing

Starts at $5/month for 3 hours of uploading, 162MB storage, stats snapshot, basic social promotion, unlimited bandwidth, ad-free website, and more.

8. Podcastics

Podcastics is a complete suite of tools for hosting, sharing, and monetizing your podcasts. The prime reason to give Podcastics a try is its 1-month free trial – no credit card required! And you don’t even need the training to use this platform. But if you need assistance, there’s plenty of help in the help section.

It takes just a few clicks to get Podcastincs up and running. The editor is clean and self-explanatory, as shown in the image below. Just follow the steps, and your podcast will be ready in minutes.

Moreover, if you already have your podcasts on the Apple Podcasts platform, you can easily import all of them into your Podcastics account in just two clicks. Simply type your podcast name in the search box and select yours from the list that appears. This will collect and save all your data, such as titles, descriptions, episodes, etc.

Podcastics is also one of the few podcast hosting platforms that allow you to host multiple podcasts with unlimited episodes under one roof.

Once your podcast is up and ready to be distributed, you can share it with the world on major listening platforms such as Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and more. Podcastics makes distribution so much easier by automatically creating an RSS feed for you.

Its magic link never misses redirecting your listeners to the correct platform. You can also add QR codes to your magazines or print flyers to get user subscriptions.

Other key features include

You can host multiple podcasts in one account.
It also records heat maps for you with the most and least active time during the week.
The text editor lets you insert links and lists and style your fonts in episode descriptions.
If you are using a free version, you can use your own server to upload your podcasts. Paid plans offer to host by Amazon Servers.
You can also monetize your episodes using Patreon and affiliate programs.
You can segment your podcasts into sessions and assign episode numbers.
You can schedule your podcasts for specific dates & times.

Pros

It saves your time with the duplicate episodes feature; then, you can edit a few details and post another episode in minutes.
Its description snippets eliminate the redundant task of adding a few same elements for each episode.

Cons

Although it contains so many advanced features, newbies can quickly become confused by the program for the same reason.
For the free plan, you have to use your own server.

Pricing

Starts at $8/month for worldwide distribution, easy import, unlimited episodes, private/unlisted episodes, and more.

9. Spreaker

Spreaker comes with a bundle of tools for you to create, distribute, monetize, grow an audience, and track the progress of your podcasts. You can host and monetize your podcasts with programmatic ads from big brands, such as Green Chef, Lego, Swag.com, CareerBuilder, and more.

Spreaker’s how-to guide for podcasting will get you started in no time. Once you have your podcast’s name, length, and format ready, Spreaker Studio will help you record it, add sound effects, and crop or trim your audio. Finally, add the cover art, and you are ready to publish your first podcast on Spreaker.

Martyna Inkielman, Community Manager at PhotoAiD, shares her experience with Spreaker,

“I find Spreaker the best and most reliable platform. My favorite thing about it is that it provides most of the essential features in one place – pretty much everything related to your podcast can be done on Spreaker. It’s also very intuitive, so it’s effortless to use, even for beginner podcasters.”

Martyna mostly has good things to say about Spreaker, but one thing that bothers her – it doesn’t support video podcasting, so she can’t post on YouTube with it.

Other key features include

With Spreaker, you can share your podcasts on Google Podcasts, Amazon, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio.
For monetizing, Spreaker inserts relevant ads in your podcasts no matter how new your episode is.
For analytics, you can choose the plan for the level of detail you need about your podcast interactions. From downloads to listeners’ geolocation, Spreaker shows you every statistic vital to you.
Spreaker Enterprise offers full-stack audio publishing, single-click distribution to various podcast channels, ad campaign manager, and more.

Pros

You can monetize your podcasts regardless of the size of your audience, the number of downloads, or your account age.
You can see real-time analytics of your podcasts because of their IAB Tech Lab certification.

Cons

Users have reported limited options for customer service.

Pricing

It starts at $8/month for 6-months statistics, 100-hours storage, auto-upload to Spotify, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, and more.

10. Podomatic

Podomatic allows you to build your podcasting career in four easy steps: create a free account, record and publish, submit your podcast to big podcast platforms such as Spotify, and keep repeating.

To upload media, you must first add it to Podomatic’s library of supported file formats. It supports file formats including m4a, mp3, mp4, BMP, jpg, png, mp4, m4v, and more.

Podomatic will store your audio and video files in an unpublishable section if they are larger than 350MB, lack an extension, or has an unsupported extension.

To upload a podcast, you only need to determine the title, tagline, cover art, description, category, tags, and language. Then, once published, you can start monetizing it using Patreon, Popcorn, and What For Apparel ads.

You can also get stats on your podcast, including total plays, mobile plays, embeds, downloads, visits, and more. The service goes further into analytics to show your performance over a selected period of time, the performance of individual episodes, and listeners’ graphs.

Other key features include

You can store up to 6 hours of recording (free) or 500MB of files.
It gives you 15GB of bandwidth for a month.
It also offers free tracking of your podcasts daily.

Pros

You don’t pay for your first 20 episodes.
Its premium plans are affordable.
Premium plans offer unlimited bandwidth and storage.
Be it a computer or mobile – you can record and publish high-quality episodes.

Cons

It doesn’t allow the scheduling of episodes.

Pricing

Starts at $2.49/month for 100GB bandwidth, 2GB storage, and more.

11. Blubrry

Blubrry is a podcast hosting platform where you find easy podcast migration from other platforms, live customer support, and in-depth statistics. Blurry is also ready to host your single podcast or a whole slew of them.

With Blubrry, you can get more than just a podcast hosting service. You can grow your audience and connect with listeners by using Podcast Audience Surveys. These surveys give you valuable information about your audience, allowing you to develop a more robust publishing strategy.

For instance, you can see who completed your surveys and see their entire profile with information like identification, age, employment, education, demographics, audience’s listening habits, feedback, and more.

Once you’ve got all these metrics in place, you can then use them to compare and contrast with one another to come up with a more robust publishing strategy. This is something that no other podcast hosting platform does.

Blubrry also offers a free and optional managed WordPress website – designed with all the necessary modules a podcast website needs. In addition, this site automates podcast publishing on your website by using PowerPress Plugin.

And if you’re not looking to host an entire website, Blubrry offers a podcast landing page with a quick display of the show and listen and subscription module.

Want to further know where your listeners are coming from and which device they’re using? Blubrry Stats can help you analyze all of that!

However, it’s worth noting that Blubrry’s Standard plan is so basic that you can’t even use your own domain with it. It doesn’t come with advanced statistics or additional themes and plugins either – so be prepared to buy a pricier plan if you want all of those features.

Other key features include

It allows private podcasting for secured delivery of audio and video to any device.
It comes with a podcast media kit – which gives you an overview of your podcast performance.
It also lets you choose your own logo, branding, and theme.
You can also use your own domain with its advanced plan.

Pros

Additional storage is available for an extra charge.
Listeners’ survey helps build a closer connection with the audience.
Its visual reports are detailed and easy to understand.

Cons

Both paid plans offer minimal storage. The maximum is as little as 400MB.

Pricing

It starts at $10/month for 125MB storage, standard statistics, monetization, email and phone support, unlimited downloads, a custom embedded player, and more.

12. Captivate.fm

Captivate takes pride in its simple, easy-to-use dashboard that covers all the necessary functions and metrics to create, distribute, monetize, and promote your podcast.

Although it does not come for free, the range of hosting features and storage and upload capacities makes the price worth it. Captivate is designed by podcasters for podcasters, so it knows about their needs.

Creating a podcast in Captivate is a 5-step process. First, you’ll need the podcast name, author name, podcast cover art, description, category, directory setting, and more. Once you have all the necessary details, you can start importing your podcast into the Captivate Dashboard.

Then copy your current RSS feed into the current feed URL box and choose the current host—and voila! You are ready to go.

As soon as you publish your first episode, your podcast can be listed on one of the directories that Captivate integrates with.

With Captivate Analytics, you can see total downloads, total listeners, unique listeners, website traffic, listener demographic, and more.

It also offers responsive podcast websites where you can select from 3 templates, add bios, sign-up forms, lead generation modules, and more.

Nina Paczka, Community Manager at Resume Now, shares her experience with Captivate.fm,

“What I like the most is their dashboard – minimalistic yet providing everything you need. If you’re experiencing some trouble, Captivate’s team is there to support you. Considering the above, there’s nothing to dislike there. The platform offers a seven-day free trial. All paid plans cover unlimited podcasts and team members, with access to analytics and marketing tools.”

Other key features include

Each plan offers unlimited podcasts and unlimited storage.
You can import, add, and edit podcast transcriptions within Captivate thanks to its support of podcasting 2.0.
It offers an international support team of 11 that covers four time zones, which means no matter where you are, their customer support will always be available.
It offers Advanced IAB Tech Lab-certified podcast analytics to all podcasters.

Pros

Their blog section is the source for every little question you could have while you are using this platform.
Analytics goes deeper with each metric giving you a complete picture of your podcast performance.
It offers a 7-day trial with all the features.

Cons

It does not offer a free version.

Pricing

Starts at $17/month for 12K downloads, unlimited podcasts, unlimited uploads & storage, podcasting 2.0 support, and more.

13. Sounder

Sounder is another podcast platform on this list that offers tools to monetize, analyze, and promote your podcast across global directories. It follows IAB & GARM industry standards to generate accurate episode ratings, transcripts, keywords, summaries, and more within seconds.

You can create your podcast on Sounder either from scratch or by importing it from an existing platform. Once you sign-up for a free account, you can start with the podcast by entering details such as title, description, category, and artwork.

You can tinker with many more details, including your podcast’s name and description, author name, language, timezone, and more. While setting up these details, you can enable monetization by simply clicking on the relevant option. And that’s it!

Now you can create an episode by uploading an audio file and adding its title and description. Here you can set episode numbers, types, and artwork. You can also pre-schedule them.

If you’ve enabled monetization, you can select whether pre or post-rolls ads should go to your show.

Once you publish your podcast, Sounder will help you distribute it to popular listening apps such as Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, and more.

With Sounder Analytics Dashboard, you can get insights into streams, listeners, revenue, listeners’ demographics, keywords, referrals, and more.

Other key features include

You can have up to four collaborators on your podcast.
You can publish your podcasts under custom domains.
It comes with a podcast player with audio search functionality.
You can host unlimited podcasts in one account.
If you have 50K+ streams per month, you can get early access to host-read DAI opportunities.

Pros

Unlimited podcasts.
Offers a free version for limited features.
UI is clean and intuitive.

Cons

Only offers audio podcasting.
You cannot create membership programs.

Pricing

Available on request.

14. Fusebox

If you’re looking for an affordable podcast hosting platform, then Fusebox is the tool for you! It’s also pretty easy to use and provides a step-by-step guide through the entire process.

To start a podcast using Fusebox, you need to choose whether you’re starting a new podcast or importing from an existing one. In the below image, you can see that the UI is straightforward and easy to follow, even for newbies to podcasting.

If you’re creating your podcast from scratch, you must be ready with the details, such as the podcast title, description, and cover artwork.

Here’s what the form will look like:

You can also import data from your existing podcast by simply entering your feed RSS URL. It will lead you to the subscription page, where you can select a free or pro plan.

If you’re a new user of Fusebox or creating a podcast for the first time, you should enable Easy Hosting from your dashboard. It comes in every paid subscription.

Here, Fusebox will find your podcast and import all the files and data into your Fusebox account – you can just sit back and relax.

Once you’ve set up podcast information, you can start customizing your podcast player. The Branding page lets you select the brand colors that match your podcast or website branding.

You can also add a call to action – a button that prompts listeners to buy your music or sign up for your mailing list.

You can further:

Control the speed of the player
Add a download button and subscribe button
Include a custom URL that sends listeners directly to your online store when they click on the cover art in their iTunes library.

Other key features include

Customizable podcast players will help you stay aligned with your branding.
Fusebox focuses on the metrics that count, such as downloads, referral sources, and top-performing podcasts and episodes.
The easy hosting feature comes with step-by-step instructions to create podcasts.
The built-in mobile player allows you to target listeners on the go.
The podcast player comes with a download, subscribe, and social sharing buttons.
It offers three types of podcast players – including sticky player, full player, and single player.

Pros

Its podcast players are customizable.
Easy, self-guided UI.

Cons

The free version forces you to use your own host and gives you a single-track player with limited customization features.
The starter plan includes only single-track players. To offer the rest of the players to your listeners, you’ll have to upgrade to the Pro plan.

Pricing

Starts at $7.50/month for a single track player, essential analysis, easy hosting, and more.

15. RSS.com

Rss.com is a podcasting app for people on the go. It’s like a Swiss army knife for busy podcasters, with features such as cross-platform analytics, automatic podcast distribution, and unlimited audio storage.

You can start by creating your podcast from scratch or importing it from an existing podcast platform. Both are super easy. To create from scratch, you will need to enter its title, description, language, and more.

Check out the image below to see what you will need:

As you can see, the UI is clean, easy to use, and self-explanatory. Every field is explained as you fill it out, and tips appear onscreen if you need more information. Once you create your podcast, you’re ready to upload your first episode.

The good thing about episodes is that they can be assigned season numbers, episode numbers, and types – giving you the flexibility to publish your episodes in the form of different series or trailers.

If you want to monetize your podcast, you’re in luck – RSS has in-built tools for that. The activation process is also easy and just takes one click.

Rss.com offers you three ways to monetize your podcasts: donations, bitcoin payments, and sponsor ads.

You can also distribute your podcast to listening platforms such as Google, Amazon, Spotify, Samsung, Amazon Music, and more.

Other key features include

Its all-in-one dashboard shows you a complete picture of your podcasts. You can see scheduled episodes and navigate to your podcasts, analytics, distribution, or settings. You can also create a new episode from the dashboard.
Its cross-platform analytics enables you to compare the metrics from different sources. For example, you can determine which podcast channel gives you more listeners or downloads.
It uses podcasting 2.0 – which means you can transcribe your audio and use them for SEO purposes.
From analytics, you can determine the best time to publish your episode and schedule it for the right time.
With its embedded episode player, you can easily embed your podcast to any third-party website.
You can get more reach using social share buttons on your podcast players.

Pros

You can add chapters and soundbites to your episodes.
You can schedule episodes in advance.
Your podcasts are automatically distributed to popular podcast platforms.
It offers a free podcast website.
Each plan includes a free trial with no credit card.
Affordable plans.

Cons

Does not support mobile apps.
No forever-free plan.
Does not support any WP plugin.

Pricing

It starts at $4.99/month for unlimited episodes & audio, cross-platform analysis, RSS feed, free website, custom embedded player, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions about Podcast Hosting Platforms

1. What is a podcast hosting platform?

Podcast hosting platforms are the middleman between you and your audience. They’re a necessary part of the podcast ecosystem — they provide the basic infrastructure that makes it possible for you to create and publish your show.

2. How do I choose a podcast hosting platform?

There are many factors to consider when choosing a podcast hosting platform, including:

Cost – How much does it cost to use the platform? Paid services don’t always offer better features than free ones, but they may come with more support options or other perks.

Features – What does the platform offer in terms of features? Does it have things like automated episode creation, automatic distribution, social media integration, and more?

Support – How good is their support team? Can you reach them if you need help?

Bandwidth – The amount of data that can be transferred from one location to another in a certain amount of time (usually measured in bits per second). The more bandwidth available on your account, the more listeners will be able to download your episodes without having their connection interrupted or experiencing any buffering issues.
A built-in audio player – This allows listeners to listen to your episodes without having to download an external app or visit another website. You can even add social sharing buttons so people can easily share your episode on Facebook or Twitter.

3. Do I need to use a podcast hosting platform?

If you’re just starting out, then it might be easier for you to use a podcast hosting platform because there are so many options available. However, if you have some experience with WordPress, then you can host your own podcast to avoid paying monthly fees and have more control over your content and website design.

4. How does podcast hosting work?

Podcast hosting services provide a platform to upload your audio files as well as convert them into an MP3 format. After uploading your content, it will be available on their servers so that anyone can access them online.

Most of these services also offer some basic analytics and statistics that help you track how many people have listened to your podcast and where they live.

Some even offer more advanced analytics like ranking charts, number of downloads per episode, etc., which helps you understand what people like about your show and how they listen to it (e.g., through mobile devices).

5. What do you mean by “Hosting?”

Hosting refers to storing your files on the Internet. It’s like storing your files on an external hard drive, except that they’re stored online rather than on a physical device. When you upload an episode to a podcast hosting platform, it will be saved there so that listeners can access it easily.

6. How do I upload my podcast?

You need to sign up for an account with a podcast hosting platform (like Libsyn). Once you have your account set up, there is usually an upload tool that allows you to select the files from your computer and add them to your account.

7. What are the best podcast hosting platforms?

Libsyn, Buzzsprout, Blubrry, and PodBean are all popular options for podcasters. It really comes down to personal preference and what type of features you’re looking for. You can also check out our post on how to choose a podcast host if you need more information on making this decision.

8. Can I use iTunes or Stitcher?

No, those aren’t podcast hosting platforms — they’re directories that people use to find podcasts. You’ll need to host your own MP3 files off-site so that they can be accessed by these directories (and other apps/devices).

9. Do I need a website?

No! Your podcast will be hosted on a website provided by the platform you choose, so you don’t need your own domain name or web hosting account. You may want to create an email address for your show so listeners can contact you directly with questions or feedback, though.

10. What are the different types of podcast hosting?

There are two main types of podcast hosting: free and paid. Free hosts do not give you full control over your episodes, while paid hosts usually offer more features and flexibility.

Ready to start podcasting with a suitable podcast host?

Hopefully, we’ve answered a few of your questions and given you the information you need to help you pick the right podcast host for your needs. Whether you’re looking for the best professional podcast host, the cheapest option for monetizing your podcasts, or something in between, there are podcast hosting sites out there that will help you meet your specific requirements.

We think the best way to choose whichever podcast hosting service is right for you is to check out how they handle certain features and what level of support they offer.

Note that free podcast hosting services are a great way to get your podcast started. The free option is perfect for a hobbyist or someone who is interested in the process of making a podcast. From there, you can upgrade to paid accounts for a more dedicated podcast hosting service with some of these platforms or go with a self-hosted option.

Whichever you choose, make sure you read the fine print, so your podcast isn’t censored for inappropriate content or hurt yourself by not having the proper legal disclaimers in place.

Featured image by Freepik.

The post 15 Best Podcast Hosting Platforms first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

2 novembre 2022/par Service comm.

10 Best Website Builders for 2023

When you need a website, you have two options, you can hire someone who’s an expert in website building to design it for you, or you can make it yourself.

Hiring someone with experience building a website means you’ll get a more professional result, and you should achieve a good return on your investment. However, hiring a freelancer or a design agency has plenty of pitfalls. Budgets can spiral, timescales get stretched, and the end result might not meet your expectations.

The answer might be to build your own website using a website builder. And the best site builders are designed to help you do just that — most don’t require any design or coding knowledge.

Creating a website with a website builder is usually cheaper than outsourcing the job, and the results can be almost as good as a bespoke website. There are even some free website builders out there.

The key is to choose the right website builder that ticks all your boxes and delivers what you want without paying through the nose for bells and whistles you don’t need.

We’ve tested the best website builders on the market. We’ve quizzed professionals and first-time users. We’ve poked around in the dark corners of UIs. All to bring you this guide to the top website builders on the web. This comprehensive guide to the best website builders for 2023 contains everything you need to know when selecting a site builder.

What To Look For in a Website Builder

The most significant obstacle people face when using website builders is you don’t know what you don’t know. There’s so much information online that it’s hard to know where to start.

That’s why we put together this guide to the best website builders, so small businesses everywhere can make an informed decision about website building.

Choose a Site Builder With High-Quality Code

The first thing you need to look for is production-ready code. That means source code that is modern, robust, and hack-free. (All of the website builders on this list meet those criteria.)

Identify What A Successful Website Looks Like To You

Professional designers start by identifying a website’s purpose. Websites perform best when they have a clear purpose.

If you’re a wedding photographer, you will want to showcase your portfolio and generate new leads. You’ll want to sell products online if you own a clothing store. If you’re a community group, you want to raise awareness and encourage public interest.

Whatever your goal, a website builder listed below will help you achieve it. And choosing the best option for you will be a more straightforward process if you’re clear about that goal to start with.

Think About Design Flexibility

One of the defining characteristics of any website builder is how flexible its designs are. Some of the best website builders give you complete control over every detail of your design. Other website builders limit you to choosing from a selection of pre-designed blocks.

If you’re prepared to compromise on your design, you will have more options. On the other hand, if you want to achieve a specific look, you may need to opt for a more flexible website builder.

Be Honest With Yourself

Next, consider your own level of experience and the amount of time you have to invest in learning to use a tool and build a website. Some website builders will get you online fast, but even some of the best website builders take a little time to learn.

Some people can spare 3–4 hours every weeknight to learn how to leverage a complex website builder — that helps a lot when building a complex site like an online store. Other people have family commitments or social engagements and just need to get something done fast.

There’s no right or wrong answer. You don’t need prior experience, and you don’t need to commit to an evening course to get online. If you want to put a website online in 15 minutes and then forget about it, that’s fine. Make sure you choose a website builder that can help you do that.

Check Out the Support Options

Speaking of your experience, we don’t want to put a damper on things, but what will you do if something goes wrong?

Websites experience problems from which website builders are not exempt. Most of the best website builders use a CDN (Content Delivery Network) for web hosting. But CDNs aren’t infallible.

Some site builders offer a free domain, and all of the best website builders allow you to use a custom domain name and free SSL certificate. What happens if there’s a problem with it? Does the site builder’s support extend to domains?

Happily, most website builders offer an excellent level of customer support. So before you start, check what help you’re entitled to and how to get assistance should a problem arise.

Make Full Use of Any Free Trial

Most of the best website builders offer a free trial or even a free-forever package. The free trial is your opportunity to try out the UI (User Interface) and get a feel for the product.

All the website builders we’ve listed below specialize in a particular type of site. Most cater to small business owners. Each has pros and cons and can help you achieve your online goals. However, in the end, the success of your site comes down to you; you can use a free web builder and still succeed if you’re willing to put in the work.

Trust your instincts: if you find a particular site builder intuitive, then the chances are you’ll be able to create a great website with it.

Wix: Best Website Builder for Small Business Owners

Wix is widely considered to be one of the best website builders of 2022, and a quick glance at its extensive list of features will tell you why we expect it to still be the top website builder platform in 2023.

First up is a vast number of templates giving you more selection than almost any rival. There’s so much choice that you’ll probably spend longer choosing your template than actually building your site!

Wix’s editor uses an intuitive drag-and-drop editor that enables anyone to create just about any design. It’s not the most straightforward editor on the market. Still, Wix has extensive documentation, so if you have the time to tackle a modest learning curve, you should quickly get to grips with the UI.

Of course, Wix also includes core features like custom domain names and free SSL certificates.

On top of these features, Wix provides various marketing tools to help your site grow toward profitability.

Finally, for freelancers and web design agencies, Wix provides Editor X, a professional solution for creating multiple websites for clients. Editor X is an excellent addition to Wix’s lineup. However, it’s not the best option for design agencies (keep reading to find out which tool we think tops Editor X).

Wix Features

Wix is the biggest website builder in the world and includes hundreds of features that make building a website simple. Here are just some of the highlights.

Huge Range of Templates

Wix boasts a huge range of 800+ customizable templates for every kind of business, from online stores to simple marketing sites.

Intuitive Drag and Drop Editor

Wix’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor makes it a simple task to achieve almost any design with little to no design experience.

There are a couple of downsides to this approach. Firstly, many small business owners opt for a website builder because they need a guided design process — unlimited options can actually make things harder. Secondly, the highly flexible design system Wix offers can introduce unexpected bugs at different device sizes.

Editor X

Editor X is Wix’s solution for freelance designers and web design agencies. It allows you to build client sites with dedicated tools for professionals.

App Market

Wix’s AppMarket is a dedicated app store with hundreds of plugins that enable you to expand your website’s capabilities quickly and easily. You’ll find everything from table reservation apps for restaurants to social media integrations.

Velo

Velo is Wix’s open development platform for building web applications. This is an ambitious project that aims to move web builders into areas in which they typically cannot compete: complex web apps.

For most businesses, Velo is far beyond what you need; for most app developers, it isn’t enough yet. But it’s great to know this opportunity is on the horizon.

Ecommerce

Wix has a range of tools to help your ecommerce business grow. There are coupons, discounts, bookings, and shipping tools.

Ascend

Ascend is Wix’s built-in marketing suite. It includes a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) which is excellent for fostering long-term business relationships and eliminates the need for a third-party app.

Email Marketing Tools

Email is still the most effective way of staying in touch with your customers. Wix’s built-in email marketing tools make it easier to manage email campaigns, all from your Wix dashboard.

Free Domain

Wix will even give you a free domain for a year on everything except its basic package.

Pros

Relatively intuitive design process
Excellent documentation and quick-start guides
Reliable and secure system
Huge range of tools
Extensive plugin market

Cons

Sites are less responsive than some rivals
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) options are limited
Difficult to change templates once you’ve selected one
Image and video-heavy sites perform poorly on mobile devices
Design flexibility can introduce unexpected bugs

Pricing

Wix has multiple tiers of pricing depending on the features you require.

Note that the availability of some Wix plans varies depending on your location.

Website Plans

Website Plans are aimed at those users creating an individual site.

Combo: $16 per month — 2 Gb bandwidth and 3 Gb of storage, plus 30 minutes of video streaming.

Unlimited: $22 per month — Unlimited bandwidth, 5Gb storage, 1 hour of video streaming, and access to marketing tools.

Pro: $27 per month — Unlimited bandwidth, 50Gb storage, 2 hours of video, marketing tools, social media tools and priority support,

VIP: $45 per month — Unlimited bandwidth, 100Gb storage, 5 hours of video, marketing tools, social media tools, and priority support.

Business & Ecommerce Plans

If you want to accept payments online with Wix, you’ll need a business plan.

Business Basic: $27 per month — 20Gb storage space, 5 hours of video, online payments

Business Unlimited: $32 per month — 35 Gb of storage, 10 hours of video, multiple currencies, multi-channel selling, dropshipping, product reviews

Business VIP: $59 per month — 50Gb of storage, unlimited video, marketing, and sales tools, dropshipping, product reviews, and a loyalty program

Enterprise Plans

Wix provides custom solutions for enterprise customers. If you have a large site with complex needs, then Wix can design a complete solution for your brand. Contact Wix directly for pricing.

Bottom Line

Wix is one of the best website builders available for creating your own website. Its flexibility, massive range of features, and ability to scale are ideal for many new and established businesses. But, if anything, Wix’s vast range of options can be a hindrance and make its learning curve a little steeper than necessary.

Wix is a great allrounder, but it’s not the easiest, cheapest, or fastest website builder. So keep reading to discover the best alternatives to Wix.

Squarespace: Best Website Builder for Creatives

Squarespace is the ideal website builder for anyone for whom aesthetics are a primary concern; it boasts the most beautiful templates of any website builder.

On its higher tier packages, Squarespace allows ecommerce sites to host their own checkout. This is radically different from some website builders further down this list and ensures a consistent customer experience while maintaining a secure checkout.

For professional designers, Squarespace offers Circle, an invite-only program for professionals creating multiple sites in Squarespace. To qualify, you must build at least three websites on the Squarespace platform.

Squarespace Features

Beautiful Templates

Squarespace has hundreds of templates, widely considered to be amongst the most beautiful designs of any website builder.

Additionally, you can purchase Squarespace templates at a number of different design marketplaces, giving you even more options.

Powerful Ecommerce Features

Squarespace has everything you need to power an online store, from selling an individual item to a huge product range. You can even sell online classes.

Integrated Marketing Tools

Squarespace includes integrated marketing tools like email campaigns that carry your branding from your site to your customers’ inboxes.

Squarespace also includes a very capable blogging app with all the features you need to start publishing content that will engage your users and boost your position on SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages).

Circle

Circle is Squarespace’s partner program for professional web designers. You will need to build at least three Squarespace websites to qualify.

Members of Circle get free educational content to keep their skills up to date and access to product betas.

Pros

Award-winning templates
Incredible customer support
Seamless integrations
Simple but powerful ecommerce features
Create a stunning site in 15 minutes

Cons

Steeper learning curve
Limitations on navigation
Slower than average page speed
Premium-priced plugins
No free domain
Custom CSS restricted to the business plans

Pricing

Squarespace offers four simple pricing plans. Additionally, you can save up to 30% by opting to pay annually instead of monthly.

Personal: $23 per month — 2 contributors, curated templates, simple analytics, mobile version of sites

Business: $33 per month — unlimited contributors, business tools, advanced analytics, ecommerce with 3% transaction fees

Basic Commerce: $36 per month — unlimited contributors, business tools, ecommerce analytics, merchandising tools, 0% transaction fees.

Advanced Commerce: $65 per month — Everything in the basic commerce package plus abandoned cart recovery, subscriptions, advanced shipping options, and discounts, as well as APIs for third-party integrations.

Bottom Line

Squarespace offers undeniably beautiful sites. Its editing experience takes a little getting used to but is far from complex. Its simple, transparent pricing means your costs are predictable, and there is genuine value in its 30% discount for paying annually.

Due to its shallower navigation, it’s best suited to smaller online stores with dozens rather than hundreds of products. However, artists and craftspeople will love selling their work on Squarespace.

Shopify: Best Website Builder for Online Stores

Shopify is the best-known website builder for creating an online store, and for a good reason. Few website builders manage to handle online sales with the grace of Shopify’s ecommerce features.

That does not mean it’s without its failings. The biggest issue for most Shopify users is the restriction on the number of product variants, which is capped at 100, and always seems to be reached too quickly. Another common gripe is the styling restrictions placed on the cart in the name of security, which prevent anything but basic styling from being applied to your checkout process.

Shopify is one of the best online website builders, but it eschews the usual drag-and-drop interface approach and instead uses templates and editable code.

Templates typically come with styling options, and there is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) style editor for adding content. However, you’ll need to hire a developer or learn basic coding to customize your template significantly.

The upside of this approach is that there’s a vast Shopify ecosystem, with thousands of templates and plugins available in the dedicated store and on third-party marketplaces.

Shopify Features

Vast Number of Templates to Choose From

Shopify has a huge number of templates, there are hundreds of native templates, and there are thousands more available from third-party marketplaces.

Extensive Plugin Store

Shopify has an extensive plugin store with 6500+ add-ons, from apps to improve your UX to helpers to simplify third-party integrations with SaaS (Software as a Service) like Mailchimp and AliExpress.

Social Media Integration

Shopify isn’t just an online store; it makes selling products across multiple channels, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even email, a simple process.

Industry-Leading Education

Shopify has a plethora of resources to help you create an online store and maximize your sales. It provides online courses and community resources and a dedicated and knowledgeable customer support team.

Pros

Highly optimized checkout
Recognized and trusted platform
Sell across multiple channels like Etsy and Facebook
Huge app store
Manage large inventories easily
Fast customer support

Cons

Checkout has limited styling options
Coding knowledge is needed to fully extend Shopify
No simple drag-and-drop editor
Additional costs if buying a template or plugins
Steep learning curve compared to other website builders
Limits on the number of variations per product

Pricing

Shopify offers three website plans. You can save 50% if you pay annually instead of monthly.

Note: in addition to your plan, Shopify charges a per-sale percentage plus $0.30 for online transactions.

Basic: $29 per month — Basic reports, 2 staff accounts, 4 inventory locations, up to 77% shipping discount, 2.9% + $0.30 fee per transaction

Shopify: $79 per month — Professional reports, 5 staff accounts, 5 inventory locations, up to 88% shipping discount, 2.6% + $0.30 fee per transaction

Advanced: $299 per month — Custom reports, 15 staff accounts, 8 inventory locations, up to 88% shipping discount, 2.4% + $0.30 fee per transaction

Shopify is aimed at small businesses but also provides ShopifyPlus, an enterprise-grade solution for high-volume businesses that starts at $2,000 per month.

Bottom Line

Shopify sets the bar for ecommerce solutions. When it comes to selling online, it’s the first choice for many businesses.

Shopify occupies the middle ground between website builders and custom solutions. As such, making changes is difficult. Once you’ve chosen your template and exhausted the built-in features of the template, your only recourse for further changes is to hire a developer (or learn to code).

Shopify is laser-focused on ecommerce, so it’s a poor choice for anything but ecommerce. However, if you’re aiming to quickly establish an online store with scope to grow, Shopify is impossible to beat.

Webflow: Best Website Builder for Design Agencies

Webflow is a website builder geared solidly towards freelancers and design agencies concerned with building a website for their clients.

For professional website designers who possess at least a passing understanding of HTML & CSS, Webflow is an ideal way to create a website.

With its white labeling and a complete CMS (Content Management System), Webflow allows you to serve sites to clients as custom builds. Clients can then edit content in a simplified dashboard called Editor; this lessens the learning curve for clients and avoids the risk of them fiddling with site-breaking settings.

Webflow Features

Full CMS

Webflow employs a full CMS (Content Management System) to separate design and content and allow you to use data to create a website rapidly. In this respect it’s like a the best elements of Wix and WordPress combined.

Powerful Design Process

With Webflow you have the option to fully customize almost every aspect of your design, without code.

Start with a blank canvas, or a template, then use the drag-and-drop editor to add HTML elements onto your page. Create reusable symbols to speed up your site creation.

White Labeling

White labeling means teams can create client sites in Webflow without the client knowing how the site is built — design agencies don’t have to worry about clients cutting out the middleman and going straight to Webflow to save money.

Webflow Enterprise

Most website builders are out of their depth when it comes to enterprise-grade sites with high volumes of traffic. Not so Webflow, which delivers advanced security, traffic scaling, and guaranteed uptime for its enterprise customers.

Pros

Comprehensive SEO tools
Extensive customization options
Industry-leading documentation
Excellent for client work
Fast customer support
Awesome free plan

Cons

Not beginner-friendly
No plugin store
HTML & CSS knowledge advisable
Membership sites are only in beta
Complicated pricing
Eye-wateringly expensive

Pricing

Webflow offers a multitude of pricing options depending on whether you’re an individual, a reseller, or an online store.

If you’re running an individual site you’ll need either a website plan or an ecommerce plan. If you’re an agency planning to resell Webflow to your clients you’ll need a workspace plan for your team in addition to a website or ecommerce plan for every client site you publish.

Website Plans

If you’re an individual, Webflow provides three plans to choose from. You can save up to 22% by opting to pay annually instead of monthly.

Basic: $18 per month — 0 CMS items, 500 form submissions per month, 50Gb bandwidth.

CMS: $29 per month — 2,000 CMS items, 1,000 for submissions per month, 200Gb bandwidth, and up to 3 guest editors

Business: $49 per month — 10,000 CMS items, 2,500 form submissions per month, 400Gb bandwidth, up to 10 guest editors

Ecommerce Plans

To unlock features specifically designed for online selling, you need to opt for one of Webflow’s ecommerce plans. You can save up to 30% by opting to pay annually instead of monthly.

Standard: $42 per month — includes everything in the individual CMS plan, plus 500 products, 2% transaction fee, and a maximum of $50,000 in annual sales

Plus: $84 per month — includes everything in the individual business plan, plus 1,000 products, 0% transaction fee and a maximum of $200,000 in annual sales

Advanced: $235 per month — includes everything in the individual business plan, plus 3,000 products, 0% transaction fee, and unlimited annual sales

Team Plans

For teams, Webflow offers workspace plans in addition to website and ecommerce plans. There is a free plan while you learn Webflow, and you can save up to 33% by paying annually.

Note that team plans are charged per seat, so for example, the cost for four designers of the Growth package is $240 per month (not $60 per month).

Core: $28 / seat per month — for small in-house teams, up to 3 seats, a maximum of 10 unhosted sites, custom code and code export.

Growth: $60 / seat per month — for growing in-house teams, up to 9 seats, unlimited hosted sites, custom code, custom export.

Freelancer: $24 / seat per month — for freelancers or small agencies, up to 3 seats, full CMS access on unhosted sites

Agency: $42 / seat per month — for agencies, up to 9 seats, full CMS access on unhosted sites

Large teams with more than 9 team members will need to contact Webflow for its enterprise plan, which promises unlimited seats.

Bottom Line

Webflow is aimed at design agencies and freelancers who need a web host for client work and is one of the best website builders for managing multiple sites.

Due to its advanced feature set, Webflow is relatively complex to use. However, it is far simpler than a bespoke site, and anyone with a cursory understanding of web technologies should master it in a short space of time. Additionally, its Editor feature simplifies it for clients.

Unfortunately, Webflow’s ecommerce plans are expensive and ecommerce features are limited. Anyone looking to sell online might want to consider other site builders instead.

If you’re a design agency building multiple client sites, Webflow is an excellent platform to adopt…if you can afford the team plans.

Duda: Best Website Builder for SEO

Duda website builder has been outperforming its rivals since 2021, when Google introduced Core Web Vitals and, in the process, made SEO all about speed.

Duda produces blazing-fast, reliable sites and, in doing so, ticks all of Google’s boxes for a quality site that it wants to rank highly.

On top of this, Duda provides a white-label option, allowing design agencies to build sites for clients on the platform. In fact, this is what Duda was initially created for.

Duda offers beautiful design in a simple-to-use package. As such, it produces some of the best no-code websites.

Duda Features

Simple Editor

Duda offers a Simple Editor option that allows you to provide your clients with a simple website builder of their own. Predesign elements that work together, then let your clients combine them in whatever way they please.

Clients will feel empowered, and you get a website project out the door with less work and fewer revisions.

White Labeling

Duda is aimed squarely at freelancers and design agencies that want to foster an ongoing relationship with their clients.

Team Libraries

Build your own library of widgets, templates, and sections. Share across your entire team, so client projects are created with your in-house approach.

Omni-Channel Ecommerce

Duda enables ecommerce sales across the web and social media, with your inventory synced everywhere you sell, from Facebook to eBay and Amazon.

Managing a store is simple with store management apps for iOS and Android.

Pros

Extremely fast page speed
Beautiful templates
Award-winning customer support
Intuitive drag-n-drop interface

Cons

Relatively expensive
Limited plugin store

Pricing

Website Plans

Duda offers three pricing plans for websites, and you can save up to 33% by paying annually instead of monthly.

Basic: $19 per month — 1 website, email customer support only, no team or client collaboration

Team: $29 per month — 1 website, email chat and phone customer support, up to four team members, white label client access

Agency: $59 per month — 4 websites, priority email chat and phone customer support, up to ten team members, white label client access, widget builder, export control

Duda also offers custom plans for clients with enterprise-grade sites; contact them directly for pricing.

Ecommerce Plans

Duda provides ecommerce features as an add-on, which means if you want to use Duda to create an online store, you need to sign up for one of their website plans as well as one of their ecommerce plans.

Note: you can pair any of the ecommerce plans with any of the website plans; they don’t need to scale together.

You can save up to 25% on Duda’s ecommerce plans by paying annually instead of monthly.

Standard: $8 per month — Up to 100 products

Advanced: $22 per month — Up to 2,500 products, sell subscriptions

Unlimited: $49 per month — Unlimited products, sell subscriptions, Square PoS integration

Bottom Line

SEO is a complex subject, and many factors feed your ranking on Google, Bing, and other search engines.

What is universally accepted is that fast pages translate into a better ranking.

If you’re looking for a blazing-fast website builder to help you establish a strong online presence, Duda must be near the top of your shortlist.

WordPress.com: Best WordPress Website Builder

WordPress is a juggernaut of an app; its rise has been unstoppable, and 43% of the web is made up of WordPress sites. Furthermore, WordPress.com — not to be confused with WordPress.org — is a WordPress site builder. That means all you need to do is log in and have all the power and flexibility of WordPress at your fingertips.

The downside to all this power is that WordPress.com is a big step up in complexity from most of the site builders on this list. It’s not as complex as its self-hosted sibling, but you’ll still need to spend some time getting acquainted with the advanced features.

You’ve probably heard that WordPress is insecure. We’re sorry to say that’s true. WordPress’ main vulnerability is its third-party themes and plugins — the commonality of a WordPress site means criminals consider it worth exploiting. WordPress.com web hosting is considerably more secure than self-hosted WordPress.org, but hey, it’s still WordPress.

But if you decide the security risk is acceptable, WordPress.com offers an ecosystem of themes and plugins unparalleled for its range and variety.

WordPress.com Features

Huge Ecosystem

WordPress has a vast ecosystem, perhaps the largest of any design software. There are thousands of professionally designed themes, and over 50,000 plugins, providing enormous scope for customization.

When vulnerabilities are found, more often than not, it’s the result of a flaw in a plugin update. So if you install a lot of plugins, you are exposing yourself to increasing security risks.

Unfortunately, in order to take advantage of the WordPress ecosystem, you need to be on one of WordPress.com’s higher-priced plans.

Secure Web Hosting Service

WordPress sites are notoriously insecure, but WordPress.com solves most of the issues thanks to a dedicated security team.

Drag-and-Drop Editor

The whole WordPress community has been working on evolving the design process from coded templates to a drag-and-drop editor called Gutenberg. Gutenberg started out small, but it gets better all the time and now offers a good level of design control without overwhelming beginners with too many options.

Pros

Generous free plan
Intuitive drag-and-drop editor
No installation required
Great live chat support
Ideal for blogging
50,000+ plugins
Vast number of templates
Secure web hosting service

Cons

Unintuitive
Slow page-load times
Persistent security concerns
Premium templates and plugins are restricted to more expensive plans.
SEO locked behind more expensive plans

Pricing

There is a generous free plan that is ideal for getting started. Beyond that WordPress.com offer four price tiers. You can save up to 50% by paying annually instead of monthly.

Note: many of WordPress.com’s best plugins are not free; make sure you budget for the cost of any plugins you intend to use.

Personal: $4 per month — Remove WordPress.com ads, collect payments

Premium: $8 per month — Remove WordPress.com ads, collect payments, earn ad revenue, install premium themes, Google Analytics integration

Business: $25 per month — Remove WordPress.com ads, collect payments, earn ad revenue, Google Analytics integration, install plugins, automated site backups.

eCommerce: $45 per month — Remove WordPress.com ads, collect payments, earn ad revenue, Google Analytics integration, install plugins, automated site backups, accept payments in 60+ countries, top shipping carrier integration, premium design options.

WordPress.com also provides WordPress VIP, an enterprise-grade package that starts at $25,000 per year.

Bottom Line

Opting to use WordPress.com boils down to one thing: building a website with the WordPress ecosystem. That means you must select at least the Premium price tier (to install premium themes) or the Business price tier (to install plugins). As a result, WordPress.com, on the lower packages, has limited appeal.

WordPress.com is one of the better choices on this list for blogging. If you hope to attract a lot of organic traffic from search engines, then WordPress.com’s blogging heritage will serve you well.

GoDaddy: Best Website Builder for Marketing

GoDaddy is best known for website hosting but does not have the best reputation regarding reliable software; however, its web builder dispels that myth by producing good quality code and decent page speed.

Unfortunately, it achieves its performance by limiting your design options. For example, you can’t add individual elements to your site; you must add whole sections and customize them. However, suppose you don’t feel particularly confident with design. In that case, having someone else make those decisions for you can be a real bonus.

A big flaw with GoDaddy’s ecommerce features is that the checkout isn’t hosted under your domain name; it’s hosted on a third-party website. Consumers are increasingly concerned about scams, and the site URL changing this way can feel like a real red flag.

GoDaddy website builder has a version control system built in. This helpful feature allows you to revert back to an older version of your site. So if you make a change, undoing it is just a couple of clicks. That’s great for websites that want to make temporary, seasonal changes to their website and then revert back to the everyday design.

GoDaddy Features

AI-Powered Advice

GoDaddy uses a surprisingly effective AI to offer advice, helping you to establish an online presence and boost your business.

Integrated Marketing Features

GoDaddy has some of the most comprehensive marketing tools of any website builder. SEO, social media, and email marketing can all be employed to connect with and retain customers.

Hundreds of Themes

GoDaddy offers hundreds of customizable themes that you can edit with no technical skill or experience.

Free Image Library

Lots of businesses struggle with images when they first start out. GoDaddy has a built-in library of professional images that you can use until you have your own.

Pros

Award-winning 24/7 support
Very simple to use
Quick build process
Add-on tools

Cons

No plugin store
Limited SEO, especially on lower plans
Limited styling options
Ecommerce checkout hosted elsewhere

Pricing

GoDaddy offers four simple pricing tiers. You can save up to 37% by paying annually instead of monthly.

Note: The availability of GoDaddy Plans varies depending on your territory.

Basic: $9.99 per month — 1 social media platform, 5 social posts per month, 100 email marketing sends per month

Premium: $14.99 per month — Unlimited social media, 25,000 email marketing sends per month, SEO tools, group events, paid appointments

Ecommerce: $16.99 per month — Unlimited social media, 25,000 email marketing sends per month, SEO tools, group events, paid appointments, product listings, flexible payments, promotional features

Bottom Line

GoDaddy isn’t the best overall website builder, and neither is it the cheapest website builder. But it is a good, solid, middle-of-the-road choice for small businesses.

Where GoDaddy website builder does excel is in the business tools that come with its site builder platform. Its marketing tools are excellent, and its new AI-powered hints are a great way of guiding you toward a profitable site.

Wrap all of this up at a competitive price, and GoDaddy is worth a look if you want to do all your web design and promotion in one place.

Carrd: Best Website Builder for One-Pagers

Carrd is website builder software for anyone building a one-page site. One-page sites are ideal for product microsites, event sites, small companies, time-limited promotions, contact forms, and many other websites.

One of the most complicated tasks when a software company sets out to create a website builder is navigation. Carrd circumvents that problem by eliminating the need for navigation, which results in a more straightforward UI, compact code, and faster page speeds.

There is a bit of a learning curve with Carrd. For example, it helps if you understand the basic principles of CSS. But if you don’t, the documentation will help. And getting to the nuts and bolts under the hood of your site can give you a real sense of ownership.

Carrd allows you to build and publish three sites for free. But if you want to publish more than three and use pro features like custom domains, it will charge you $19 per year — that’s just $1.58 per month.

Carrd Features

Sensational Value

Carrd is one of the cheapest website builders around. At just $19 for an entire year, you normally struggle to find plain web hosting this cheaply.

The price reflects the limited feature set — Carrd lacks the marketing and SEO tools that the top website builders have — but for many small businesses who just want to establish an online presence quickly, a one-page site is exactly what they need.

Custom Code

Unlike many of the premium website builders on this list, Carrd allows you to use custom code on its sites.

Custom code requires a little more knowledge than the average site builder, and many people prefer a drag-and-drop interface. However, adding custom code to Carrd is far easier than adding it to Shopify, for example.

Widgets

Carrd refers to its plugins as widgets. It doesn’t have a full app market or ecommerce features, but you can add widgets from services like Stripe and PayPal to expand the capabilities of your Carrd site.

Pros

Very low cost
Perfect for one-page sites

Cons

Steeper than expected learning curve
Limited to one-page sites
No free domain or free SSL certificate

Pricing

Carrd allows you to publish three branded sites for free. It only has one paid plan, which is billed per year. Carrd also provides a free seven-day trial.

Note: Carrd’s Pro plan allows you to build multiple sites.

Carrd Pro: $1.58 per month (billed annually at $19) — build more than three sites, custom domains, signup forms, payment forms, Google Analytics, widgets, custom code

Bottom Line

Carrd is an excellent website builder that outputs solid production code. If you need to get a one-page site online fast, then Carrd is a perfect choice.

At just $19 for a whole year, Carrd is one of the best-value website builders on this list.

Unfortunately, one-page sites typically have a limited lifespan, and sooner or later, you’ll want to expand. At this point, Carrd will cease to be a viable option and you’ll have to look at other website builders.

But at this price, you could have a one-pager up in the next 15 minutes. That’s hard to knock.

Square Online: Best Website Builder for IRL Businesses

Square Online is part of the Square product range that includes one of the most popular PoS (Point of Sale) solutions. Square Online is an excellent option for brick-and-mortar businesses that exist IRL (In Real Life). It’s also one of the few entries on this list that qualifies as a free website builder.

Square acquired the Weebly website builder in 2018 and redeployed staff to develop Square Online. Although Weebly continues to exist, all development seems channeled into making Square Online’s ecommerce features the best option for building an online store.

Square Online is more straightforward than Shopify for building an online store and offers a range of tools to integrate online and offline business.

Square Online is perfect for businesses that need an online store but feel website building is too technical. Its broader ecosystem of business tools means you can do everything digital in one place, with a consistent set of UIs and workflows, which makes things easier.

Square Online Features

POS Migration

If you’re already a customer of Square’s PoS (Point of Sale) products, then you can export your inventory from your PoS device and import it into your online store, saving yourself hours while ensuring that your products are synced.

Multichannel Sales

Square Online is just part of the Square group of products. Consequently, your sales aren’t limited to your website. As well as the obvious PoS option, Google, Instagram, and Facebook integrations are available.

Restaurant Tools

Square is particularly well-suited to restaurants, bars, and cafes. It provides scheduling software, team management, and loyalty cards, all of which make running a service business online a cinch.

Pros

Simple e-commerce features
Intuitive UI
Integration with the Square ecosystem
Generous free plan

Cons

Limited design options
Lengthy website building process

Pricing

Square Online offers three price plans, all of which are priced monthly but billed annually. Its lowest-priced tier is free, except for card processing fees.

Note: different pricing plans are available in different territories.

Free: $0 per month — Unlimited products, sell on social media, SEO tools

Plus: $?? per month (billed annually) — Free tier features, Advanced item settings, Accept PayPal

Premium: $?? per month (billed annually) — Plus tier features, reduced processing rate, real-time shipping rates

In addition, Square Online offers an enterprise solution for high-volume, multi-location businesses. Contact Square directly for pricing.

Bottom Line

With the financial backing of its parent company Square Online has the resources to evolve into a world-leading website builder; it just hasn’t gotten there yet.

Like a couple of other website builders on this list, Square Online is aimed directly at anyone who wants to build an online store — or, in fact, commerce in general. So you should look elsewhere if selling online isn’t central to your site.

But suppose you’re already invested in the Square ecosystem with PoS devices in physical locations. In that case, using Square Online is a no-brainer.

And if you’re willing to look past some of the design restrictions in favor of good customer service and the potential of a growing platform, then Square Online is a solid choice too.

Zyro: Best Budget Website Builder

Zyro is exceptionally cheap, especially for building an online store. But don’t let that fool you into thinking Zyro website builder is low on quality. On the contrary, hidden behind the low-ball sales pitch is a competent website builder with many features.

Zyro gives you complete control over the placement of your content, something that only Wix can rival.

Zyro offers an outstanding balance of powerful customization but not too many tools, so you won’t be overwhelmed by all the options.

Zyro doesn’t have a built-in app store like some rivals, which means you have limited options to expand the functionality of your site. However, it does offer some third-party integrations to services, so you’re not entirely without options.

Zyro Features

Intuitive Editor

Zyro does a tremendous job of getting new businesses online because you don’t need any experience to use this very simple site builder.

Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth

Many website builders usually scrimp on the extras and claw back a little money by charging extra for hosting. Not so Zyro, which provides unlimited storage and bandwidth.

Branding Tools

Zyro includes a logo maker, so if you’re starting from scratch, you can get give yourself some professional gloss with a shiny new logo.

Pros

Affordable
Great value ecommerce
Responsive templates
High-level control of design elements
Live chat support
Drag-and-drop editor

Cons

Basic blog options
Only basic SEO tools
No built-in app market

Pricing

Zyro offers two price plans, one for simple small business websites and one for ecommerce.

Note: Zyro offers regular discounts of up to 75% off its packages. These discounts are time-limited, but once they expire, they reset. So you won’t miss out if you decide to think it over.

Website: $2.99 / month — free domain, free email for 3 months, marketing integration, logo maker

Business: $3.99 / month — All of the features of the Website tier, plus sell up to 500 products

Bottom Line

With its AI-powered logo maker, fast build times, and simple options, Zyro is committed to getting you online fast.

We really didn’t like the deception of placing a fake countdown on the price discount. And hiding the increased renewal price in small print isn’t a good look for Zyro either. That type of blackhat UX doesn’t have a place on the modern web.

However, the prices beat almost everything except free website builder plans. In addition, Zyro’s ecommerce package is one of the most affordable options on the market, with an equally generous 1% transaction processing fee.

If you want to set up a side business over a weekend or even over your lunch hour, then Zyro is an excellent choice.

Website Builder FAQs

What is a website builder?

A website builder, or site builder, is a service for creating a website without any design or coding skills. The most popular website builders are designed to democratize the web by helping anyone build a website quickly and easily.

It sometimes helps to have some design ideas, and some website builders will allow you to add custom code if you want to, but neither is required.

With a website builder, all you need is the desire to create a website.

Are websites built with website builders as good as professionally built bespoke websites?

Because website builders are created with many potential uses in mind, they use generic source code. Unfortunately, this means that their code is typically less streamlined than a bespoke site.

However, over the past few years, the code quality that website builders generate has improved enormously. Now, many professional design agencies use website builders instead of coding their own websites.

If you have a very specialized site in mind, like a SaaS (Software as a Service, then even the best website builder won’t be able to create it. But for marketing websites and online stores, website builders are an ideal way to build a website.

How much do website builders cost?

The cost of a website builder varies from product to product. There are free website builders available, but many of the top website builders charge a monthly fee.

For one of the best website builders, you can expect to pay a subscription based on the features you require. Expect to pay more for e-commerce features, marketing features, and a flexible drag-and-drop interface.

There are sometimes hidden costs, such as a card processing fee for online sales.

If you opt for a website builder that uses templates or plugins, you may need to pay for those in addition to the subscription.

You don’t need to pay for web hosting services; web hosting should be included.

Most website builders offer a limited free plan or a free trial, so you can test out features before opening your wallet.

Is a website builder suitable for a small business?

It depends on the nature of your business. For example, suppose you’re setting up an online store or a professional service like plumbing or landscaping. In that case, a website builder or perhaps a specialist e-commerce website builder could be ideal for you.

On the other hand, if you’re running a business like a car dealership or a travel agency — where you need lots of individual listings — that is a little beyond what website builders can do. In that case, you’ll probably need a complete CMS (Content Management System).

If you are building a complex app or SaaS, then sorry, but website builders can’t manage that; you’ll need to hire a professional developer or improve your coding knowledge.

How hard is it to use a website builder?

You don’t need web design experience to use a website builder; they are designed to get new businesses online without professional assistance.

Some website builders are more complicated than others. Typically, the more features there are, the more time you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the user interface. A website can be created quickly with a drag-and-drop editor, but you may find you need to put in a little more work if you’re creating an online store.

As a guide, if you can use email, a web browser, or a document processor like Word or Pages, you’ll be able to use a website builder to build a website.

Can you use a custom domain name with a website builder?

Custom domains, like myawesomewebsite.com, can usually be used with website builders.

Be aware that some website builders charge more for this option. But equally, you may be offered free domain name registration, at least for the first year.

Do I need web hosting services to use a website builder?

You don’t need to worry about a web host; that’s part of what you’re paying the website builder to provide.

Many website builders even host your site on CDNs (Content Delivery Networks), making your site faster for a global audience.

Depending on your package, most website builders restrict the storage space you can use (the total size of all of your files combined). Some website builders also limit the bandwidth you can use (the total size of all the files users access on your site combined).

Do website builders perform well on search engines?

Getting your site to page one on Google is the primary aim for most businesses.

Many professional techniques boost your site up search engine rankings, but they all boil down to publishing good content and fast page load times.

You’ll find plenty of blog posts online claiming that website builders output low-quality and slow code. This used to be true, but in recent years the code website builders’ output has improved significantly.

A good website builder (like the ones on this list) won’t guarantee good search engine ranking, but the top website builders include marketing features that will help.

How long does it take to build a website with a website builder?

Some website builders can get you online in under five minutes. Others require hours of build time.

Typically, the more complex a site is, the longer it will take. Ecommerce, for example, will take longer than a simple résumé webpage.

Additionally, websites are not a once-and-done task. You will need to update your site, change information, and add features throughout its life.

But you’ll find that most website builders make this easy by taking away the hard work. As a result, most first-time website builders discover that they enjoy making websites, and some even decide to become professional website designers!

What is a drag-and-drop editor?

A drag-and-drop editor is exactly what it sounds like. You drag an element into position by clicking on it, and you drop it into place by releasing the mouse button when it’s positioned as you want it.

A drag-and-drop editor is considered a premium feature of the best website builders, but some people do prefer to make changes with code or via a simple form interface.

Which is the best website builder?

There isn’t a catch-all approach to building a website. The right website builder for you might not be the right website builder for someone else.

As you can see from the list above, Wix is a solid all-rounder, whereas Shopify is excellent for creating an online store. However, there are many occasions when other website builders would be a better choice.

Sometimes it comes down to something as simple as feeling an affinity with the website builder’s philosophy. If you find a website builder intuitive and it provides all the features you need, it’s the right website builder for you.

Featured image by upklyak on Freepik

The post 10 Best Website Builders for 2023 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

https://www.collectid.com/

24 octobre 2022/par Service comm.

SAP.iO Foundry Paris lance la nouvelle édition de son programme consacré aux start-ups sur le thème de « Futur of Retail »

Actualités, ERP & Applications, SAP

Paris, le 19 septembre 2022 – SAP SE (NYSE : SAP) a lancé l’édition 2023 de son programme d’accélération de start-ups axé sur le futur du Retail and Consumer Products. Pour cette 8^ème édition de SAP.iO Foundry Paris, 12 start-ups internationales ont été sélectionnées par un jury composé d’experts SAP, de partenaires, de clients et de fonds d’investissement. Ces start-ups ont été reconnues comme étant précurseur sur ce thème de “Future of Retail and Consumer Products ”, un thème plus que jamais d’actualité avec les bouleversements des usages et du parcours client observé durant la crise sanitaire, et qui résulte de l’accélération de la numérisation de toutes les entreprises.

SAP.iO Foundry Paris, véritable incubateur de SAP en France, a déjà aidé plus de 65 start-ups à développer leur business ou leur solution. En quatre ans, SAP a atteint l’objectif fixé avec le gouvernement français visant à soutenir l’économie des start-ups lors sur sommet #ChooseFrance.

Ce nouveau programme a pour objectif de proposer aux entreprises du Retail et Consumer Products un accompagnement de leur stratégie digitale, grâce aux solutions de ces 12 start-ups, au rythme de l’évolution technologique autour de deux enjeux clés :

Proposer à leurs clients une expérience d’achat améliorée et différenciante
Assurer la traçabilité et l’authenticité de leurs produits

Odilia von Zitzewitz, Interim Lead SAP.iO Foundry Paris déclare : “SAP.iO est un accélérateur de start-ups formidable et engagé. Pour cette édition, l’accent a été mis sur le Retail laissant place à des innovations de choix, et qui répondent aux enjeux prédominants des acteurs de ce secteur clé. Nous sommes très fiers d’accompagner cette nouvelle promotion de start-ups !”

Au cours des 5 prochains mois, les start-ups auront accès à un mentorat personnalisé de la part des dirigeants de SAP France, à une exposition à la technologie SAP® et aux interfaces de programmation d’applications (API), ainsi qu’à des opportunités de collaboration avec des clients SAP du monde entier.

Les start-ups suivantes participent au programme SAP.iO Foundry Paris :

Sorga Technology

La mission de Sorga Technologie est d’accompagner les marques retail dans leur innovation digitale en proposant une solution à faible consommation d’énergie assurant la transparence et la traçabilité de leurs produits

https://sorga.org/

Arianee

La mission d’Arianee est de fournir aux entreprises des solutions simples pour établir des relations directes avec les consommateurs, respectueuses des données des utilisateurs et indépendantes des grandes plateformes technologiques.

https://www.arianee.org

CollectID

CollectID permet de garantir l’authenticité d’un produit, l’amélioration de l’expérience phygitale, ou encore l’établissement d’un canal de communication direct entre les marques . Une solution qui garantit l’authenticité et l’unicité des produits tout en rapprochant les marques de leurs clients.

DIAKSE

Diakse développe et commercialise une solution de création de showrooms virtuels dans le métavers avec un objectif : permettre aux marques de mieux communiquer sur leurs produits et ainsi les aider à augmenter leurs ventes.

www.diakse.com

Foodetective

Foodetective est une plateforme de gestion et une infrastructure (API) de l’industrie F&B. Les entreprises utilisent Foodetective pour automatiser leurs opérations, simplifier leur administration, augmenter leurs revenus en ligne et accélérer les nouvelles opportunités commerciales. business.foodetective.co

LIVEBUY GmbH

LIVEBUY est une solution d’achat en direct pour les détaillants leaders du marché,

qui fournit à la fois la technologie et les bons créateurs pour construire une plateforme de contenu réussie au sein des boutiques en ligne.

https://www.livebuy.io/

Priceloop

Priceloop a développé une IA permettant de faciliter et d’automatiser les processus de tarification, proposant les meilleurs prix en tenant compte de tous les paramètres essentiels.

https://priceloop.ai/

Replika Software

Le logiciel Replika est une solution de vente sociale clé en main. Replika permet aux marques d’activer un réseau de vendeurs sociaux avec une entreprise clé en main pour inspirer sur les médias sociaux, vendre en ligne et se connecter avec les clients.

www.replikasoftware.com

Shopreme GmbH

Shopreme GmbH Développe notamment une technologie appelée « Scan & Go » qui transpose les avantages des achats en ligne dans les vrais magasins (rapidité, facilité de paiement, recommandations personnalisées, listes de course partagées…).

https://www.shopreme.com/

SmartPixels

SmartPixels fournit un outil de configuation et de visualisation de produits en 3D, l’objectif est d’aider les marques de mode et de luxe à créer des expériences personnalisées et interactives en ligne et en magasin.

https://www.smartpixels.fr/

SMARTZER LTD

La plateforme de Smartzer est utilisée par les marques pour transformer leurs vidéos et leurs flux en direct en expériences interactives et exploitables, ce qui leur permet d’obtenir un retour sur investissement direct du contenu et de mesurer les données détaillées des interactions vidéo.

www.smartzer.com

YZR

YZR automatise et accélère tous les projets de données textuelles de ses clients grâce à une solution puissante basée sur le traitement automatique des langues.

https://www.yzr.ai/en/

The post SAP.iO Foundry Paris lance la nouvelle édition de son programme consacré aux start-ups sur le thème de « Futur of Retail » appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

21 septembre 2022/par Service comm.

Let’s Talk Data Podcast Series – Nouvelle saison disponible maintenant !

Actualités, ERP & Applications, SAP

Découvrez les saisons précédentes de la série de podcasts SAP intitulée « Parlons des données » dans nos précédents blogs sur la saison 5 et la saison 4.

Il est essentiel de créer un robuste socle de données et d’atteindre l’excellence en matière d’informations pour obtenir l’agilité d’entreprise nécessaire pour faire face aux changements et prendre rapidement les bonnes décisions stratégiques. Aider les équipes métier à mettre à profit leurs ressources de données et une remarquable réactivité pour optimiser la collecte et la communication de ces précieuses ressources est extrêmement utile pour renforcer l’efficacité au sein de l’entreprise et gérer de façon optimale les périodes de changements.

Nous avons donc réuni des experts en gestion et stratégie des données pour évoquer les sujets et tendances clés qui transforment la façon dont les entreprises exploitent les données pour libérer tout le potentiel de ces précieuses ressources.

Écoutez cette série de podcasts en anglais pour tout savoir sur les données !

Surveillez les nouveaux podcasts et rattrapez votre éventuel retard en la matière.

Écoute possible sur Spotify, SoundCloud, iTunes, PlayerFM ou YouTube.

Aperçu de la saison 6 : podcasts sur la stratégie de données, cas d’utilisation et solutions SAP associées

Ep. 58 — Partie 2 : Intégration de SAP Signavio Process Intelligence à SAP Data Intelligence

Cet épisode dit tout sur SAP Signavio Process Intelligence : le pourquoi, le quoi et le comment. Il aborde également l’intégration entre SAP Signavio Process Intelligence et SAP Data Intelligence. Intervenants : Silvio Arcangeli, directeur principal SAP Signavio Process Intelligence, et Ginger Gatling, directrice principale du marketing des solutions de gestion des données chez SAP.

Ep. 57 — Partie 1 : SAP et Signavio : le quoi et le comment

Cet épisode présente SAP Signavio. Il présente la solution ainsi que les éléments clés et la façon dont SAP et Signavio travaillent ensemble pour améliorer les processus.
Intervenants : Silvio Arcangeli, directeur principal SAP Signavio Process Intelligence, et Ginger Gatling, directrice principale du marketing des solutions de gestion des données chez SAP.

Ep. 56 — Ce que le conseil d’administration doit savoir sur les données

Ce podcast porte sur les fondements nécessaires aux membres de conseils d’administration, en particulier ceux d’entreprises non natives des données, pour gérer les opportunités et risques majeurs, mener des examens plus approfondis, et assumer leur responsabilité de supervision axée sur les données. Écoutez Dr Thomas C. Redman, « le docteur Données », président de Data Quality Solutions, et Maria Villar, en charge de l’innovation en matière de gestion et de stratégie des données d’entreprise chez SAP, partager leurs précieux insights.

Ep. 55 — Les femmes dans le domaine des données

Rejoignez cette discussion interactive avec des femmes ayant toute une carrière en lien avec les données, dont Kristin McMahon, vice-présidente mondiale Solutions et marketing chez SAP, Corrie Brague, directrice principale Gestion des données chez SAP, Ina Felsheim, directrice marketing produits chez AWS, et Ginger Gatling, directrice principale Gestion des données chez SAP. Vous entendrez leur avis sur l’état actuel de la gestion des données, des conseils pour une carrière en lien avec les données et des insights sur l’importance de la promotion des données dans tous les secteurs.

Ep. 54 — SAP et OpenText : réduction des coûts, amélioration des performances et migration vers SAP S/4HANA avec solide retour sur investissement

Cet épisode concerne le traitement des documents, le partenariat avec OpenText et une récente étude axée sur le retour sur investissement évoquant la réduction des coûts, l’amélioration des performances et l’efficacité en matière de migration vers SAP S/4HANA.
Intervenantes : Sheila McCarthy, directrice mondiale du marketing et des solutions, et Ginger Gatling, directrice principale du marketing des solutions SAP

Ep. 53 — Données et analytique SAP : cas d’utilisation client pour l’intégration des données

Ce podcast s’appuie sur l’épisode 51 évoquant les services de gestion des données disponibles dans SAP Business Technology Platform. Dans cet épisode, nous découvrons une entreprise disposant de données en silos, déconnectées et dépourvues de contexte commercial. Ce podcast explique comment SAP Business Technology Platform, et plus particulièrement les services de données et d’analytique, ont été utilisés pour ajouter un contexte commercial à la masse de données existantes afin de favoriser des décisions fiables.
Intervenants : Silvio Arcangeli, directeur principal Stratégie produits technologiques et plateformes chez SAP, Axel Schuller, responsable Solutions de gestion des données SAP, Ginger Gatling, directrice principale du marketing des solutions de gestion des données chez SAP.

Ep. 52 — Rapprochement des données financières

Savez-vous que le rapprochement des données financières est incontournable dans tout projet de mise en œuvre SAP ? En quoi cela consiste-t-il et pourquoi est-ce nécessaire pour toutes les entreprises d’y prêter attention ? Rejoignez Syin Tan, Kevin Zheng, Lucas Morris et Sam Bannigan, représentants Pratiques relatives aux données chez Deloitte, qui évoquent les coûts, risques et exigences de conformité liés au rapprochement financier, et la façon dont ils ont mis à profit SAP Data Intelligence pour maîtriser ce facteur de réussite essentiel.
Intervenants : Kevin Zheng, spécialiste des données chez Deloitte Consulting, Syin Tan, spécialiste finance et données chez Deloitte Consulting, et Lucas Morris, spécialiste finance chez Deloitte Consulting.

Ep. 51 — Les meilleures façons d’exploiter les services de gestion des données avec SAP Business Technology Platform

Ce podcast explore les plus importants services de gestion des données disponibles sur SAP Business Technology Platform. Ces services incluent le catalogage des données et la gestion des métadonnées, l’intégration des données et le traitement des données. La façon dont ces services sont utilisés dans l’ensemble du portefeuille données et analytique de SAP Business Technology Platform sera également abordée. Rejoignez ce podcast pour découvrir les dernières innovations concernant les services de gestion des données et comment les mettre à profit.
Intervenants : Silvio Arcangeli, directeur principal Stratégie produits technologiques et plateformes chez SAP, Axel Schuller, responsable Solutions de gestion des données SAP, Ginger Gatling, directrice principale du marketing des solutions de gestion des données chez SAP.

Ep. 50 — SAP et Sodales : comment innover, créer et monétiser vos solutions SAP BTP Sodales Solutions crée des solutions pour la gestion EHS (Environnement, Hygiène et Sécurité) des entreprises et elle s’appuie pour cela sur SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). Grâce à son innovation continue et à sa mise à profit de SAP BTP, Sodales exploite chaque opportunité d’amélioration. Écoutez ce que ce « modèle en matière de SAP BTP » a à dire et découvrez son approche en matière d’innovation, mais aussi des réflexions concernant SAP Store, les critères d’embauche, etc.

Ep. 49 — Le problème oublié : comment gérer la croissance du volume de données tout en réduisant les coûts et les risques La croissance du volume des données s’accélère. Les coûts et les risques liés à la gestion de toutes ces données ne se limitent pas au stockage. Rejoignez Deepak Sood, PDG d’Auritas, et Robert Pickering, directeur principal Gestion des solutions Business Technology Platform chez SAP, qui expliquent comment et pourquoi gérer le cycle de vie des données tout en trouvant le juste équilibre en matière de coûts des ressources, propriété, risques et conformité légale.

Ep. 48 — Découverte de la valeur ajoutée de SAP BTP pour les partenaires, avec SAP, IDC et le partenaire SAP Rizing Dans cet épisode de podcast, vous entendrez des dirigeants de SAP, IDC et Rizing, partenaire SAP, évoquer la valeur ajoutée obtenue par les partenaires avec SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). Paul Edwards (directeur, canaux logiciels et écosystèmes chez IDC) mène une discussion particulièrement instructive avec Martin Stenzig(directeur de la technologie chez Rizing) et Tom Le (vice-président mondial Conseil en solutions partenaires, SAP), en abordant les conclusions du guide de la réussite partenaires IDC qui explore les accélérateurs opérationnels et technologiques offerts aux partenaires via SAP BTP. Les dirigeants abordent des sujets tels que la façon dont Rizing innove avec SAP BTP, le périmètre et l’impact de la plateforme sur la valeur du cycle de vie client, ainsi que les programmes SAP proposés pour assurer la réussite des partenaires avec SAP BTP. Pour en savoir plus, accédez au podcast dès maintenant.

Ep. 47 — Prévision du prix des produits de base avec SAP Data Intelligence Ratan Yedla et Sumanth Krishnan de VASPP Technologies évoquent le fonctionnement de la prévision des prix des produits de base avec SAP Data Intelligence. Ils abordent le recours à des modèles d’IA (intelligence artificielle) et de ML (Machine Learning) pour prévoir les futurs prix en fonction de modèles passés, d’événements externes et de données IoT, et expliquent combien mieux prévoir les prix, avec moins d’erreurs, permet de meilleures décisions d’achat et des économies pour les entreprises. VASPP Technologies a réalisé ce travail lors du sprint de contenus SAP Data Intelligence.

Ep. 46 — Création de l’automatisation intelligente de DataXstream avec SAP Data Intelligence Xilin Cheng et Kathleen Taggart de DataXstream évoquent la création de l’automatisation intelligente et les avantages du recours à SAP Data Intelligence pour les opérations de Machine Learning (MLOps). L’équipe aborde les difficultés rencontrées par le grossiste pour traiter un gros volume de devis et de commandes avec précision et efficacité. Traditionnellement, il fallait que des représentants du service client, comprenant SAP GUI et ayant des années d’expérience dans le secteur, passent des heures à saisir des données. Avec l’automatisation intelligente, la reconnaissance optique de caractères permet de lire du texte dans les modèles de Machine Learning créés par Xilin. Il évoque les techniques de traitement du langage naturel (TLN) utilisées, mais aussi les avantages du développement de pipelines de Machine Learning dans SAP Data Intelligence. Kathleen et Xilin évoquent pour finir l’avenir de l’automatisation intelligente et le potentiel qu’offre le Machine Learning pour remporter plus de contrats et améliorer l’expérience d’achat des clients.

Pour en savoir plus, consultez les ressources et informations supplémentaires disponibles ici :

The post Let’s Talk Data Podcast Series – Nouvelle saison disponible maintenant ! appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

30 août 2022/par Service comm.

How to Measure Live Chat Performance

Live chat is one of the most powerful tools for customer experience in the current marketplace.

In a world where customers are constantly connected to the online world, online chat is a reliable way of getting quick solutions to common problems.

Today’s consumers prefer talking to an agent over chat to calling a contact center, and they often feel that live chat is less frustrating than waiting for the right person to answer the phone.

Of course, like any digital tool, live chat is only effective when using it correctly. Today, we’re going to show you the crucial KPIs you need to consider if you want to ensure that your chat strategy is delivering a tangible return on investment.

The Most Important Metrics to Measure for Live Chat

These days, implementing live chat tools is easier than ever.

You don’t necessarily need to hire a professional developer unless you want a specialist widget with specific functions and unique branding. Many plugins and tools for sites built on Shopify and WooCommerce allow you to instantly access chat functions.

However, just because implementing live chat is easy doesn’t mean that there aren’t countless ways for your strategy to go wrong. Keeping an eye on these crucial KPIs and metrics ensures you’re making the right impression with your chat strategy.

1. First Response Time

First response time is a crucial live chat metric. This measures how long customers need to wait before someone responds to them. Technically, this metric only refers to how quickly an actual agent responds to your customer, so automated “thanks for getting in touch” messages don’t count. However, immediately responding with one of those messages can convince your audience to stick around for a little longer.

The faster your agents can respond to messages and solve problems, the better your brand reputation becomes. The good news is that a good live chat strategy can lead to pretty quick response times. The average time for an agent to see a live chat message is around 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

To improve your FRT statistics, make sure you:

Invest in chatbots: AI chatbots can support customers 24/7 with handy, self-service functionality. These tools will also filter out the customers waiting for an agent who can find a solution to their problem on your FAQ page.
Prepare canned responses: Quick responses to common queries can help you to address a problem much faster. In addition, preparing canned responses will ensure that your team members can quickly respond to more customers.
Increase your resources: Ensure you have the right hand and enough agents to handle peak demand.

2. Average Resolution Time

The first response rate only looks at how quickly someone responds to a customer’s message for the first time. However, it doesn’t show how rapidly you deal with client problems. Average Resolution Time is the metric that helps to measure customer satisfaction by seeing how long it takes to get to a point where your customer can close the chat.

If it takes too long for your employees to solve problems, there’s an increased risk of your customers becoming annoyed and frustrated. Additionally, the longer agents take dealing with each individual chat, the more other consumers will have to wait for someone to become available. Finally, the longer it takes to resolve an issue, the more customer satisfaction decreases.

The key to success is ensuring that the right agent deals with the correct customer and that everyone on your team is empowered with the appropriate tools and information. Boost resolution time by:

Giving customers a quick self-service solution: For common questions, make sure that you have an FAQ section that you can direct your customers to. In addition, a chatbot that can offer quick canned responses to regular queries can save time. Plus, they’re great for reducing the pressure on your agents’ shoulders.
Integrate CRM tools with live chat: Make sure your agents have access to information about each customer as soon as they start the conversation. This information should include the customer’s name, what they’ve purchased before, and if they’ve issued any support tickets. Integrating with the CRM makes it easier for agents to jump straight into the action without needing the customer to explain everything first.
Keep resources handy: Your team members should have instant access to all the information they need to answer customer questions. Ensure that searchable data repositories are available for everyone on your live chat team.

Remember, routing tools that automatically send customers to the agent with the proper knowledge or skills will also improve response times and reduce the number of times a customer needs to repeat themselves.

3. Chat to Conversion Rate

Live chat tools aren’t just an avenue for problem resolution. Although customers can get excellent service through live chat, they also look to chat to collect information before a potential purchase. Around 38% of customers say that they end up purchasing a positive live chat experience.

The live chat app on your website can provide real-time assistance for sales queries, converting leads, and maximizing your return on investment. However, to determine how successful your chat system is at encouraging sales, you must look at the chat to conversion rate metric.

Essentially, you measure the number of chats your company has been involved in, then compare that number to the total number of conversions from those customers. It might be helpful to narrow down your results here by using your data and analytics tools to separate your total number of live chats into those intended for sales information and those requiring assistance.

If your chat to conversion rate isn’t as high as you would like, there are lots of things you can do to start making a positive impact:

Automatically launch a chat: As soon as someone comes to your website, launch a chat window with a bot that asks whether you can help your customer. You can even include a list of commonly asked questions so your customer can get help faster.
Follow up on chat conversations: Make sure you follow up on any questions that customers ask on your chat widget with an email. This is a great way to reach out to customers that may have been distracted and ended up abandoning their cart.
Personalize suggestions: Use AI insights and information from your customer management tools to determine which products are most likely to appeal to each customer, then suggest those items. Remember to ensure that your tone of voice in the chat matches your brand too.

Remember, the faster you can answer customer queries and address their concerns with your live chat strategy, the more likely the chat will lead to a sale. Ultimately, customers are convinced to purchase when they believe they can trust your business to deliver excellent experiences.

4. Customer Satisfaction Score

The customer satisfaction score is probably one of the most critical metrics in any customer experience strategy. It directly measures customer satisfaction levels and gives you an insight into how well you’re doing from the perspective of your target audience.

The best way to measure CSAT through live chat is to add a survey to the end of the chat session. For instance, you could ask, “How would you rate this session on a scale of 1 to 10”. Then, based on the score, you’d calculate a “Net Promotion Score.” Each score falls into one of three categories: “Detractors 0-6”, “Passives 6-8,” and “Promotors 9-10”.

The more information you collect about your CSAT score, the easier it will be to determine where you’re going wrong with your live chat strategy. On the other hand, if the score is pretty good after a chat session, you’re probably on the right track. To improve your overall score:

Encourage feedback: Getting people to leave feedback, even on a live chat app, can be difficult. Offering customers the chance to win something in exchange for their insights could help you to get more data.
Follow up: Connect with your “detractors” to find out what you did wrong. Follow up in the live chat session by asking if they’d like to leave a more comprehensive review. Alternatively, you can send an email asking for additional information.
Reach out to promotors: Connect with the people who give you the most favorable scores to ask them for their insights. Find out what they enjoyed most about the experience and request a review that you can place on your website for social proof.

5. Missed Opportunities

The longer someone waits for you to answer their question in a live chat or respond to their initial message, the more likely they’ll give up on the conversation. Unfortunately, this means that your company ends up with missed opportunities. You lose the chance to potentially make a sale, delight a customer, and strengthen your brand reputation.

While you might assume that your customers will know you can’t be available to answer all of their questions immediately, that’s not the case. INC tells us that 51% of consumers believe a business should always be open. So every missed chat is another negative mark against your reputation.

If you discover that your team is missing a lot of chat chances, this could be a sign that you don’t have enough resources available in this area. However, there are a few ways that you can reduce your chances of missed opportunities, such as:

Hiring more team members: If you know that there are times of the year or week when you have peaks in demand, ensure that you have the correct number of staff members available.
Using chatbots: Chatbots won’t be able to answer all customer questions, but they can deliver quick responses to commonly asked queries and reduce the risk of lost opportunities.
Provide alternative forms of communication: if your customer can’t reach you on live chat, make sure that there are other options available, like a phone number and email address or a form where your customer can automatically submit a ticket.

6. Total Number of Chats and Tickets

Keeping track of the total number of tickets your customers submit, alongside the number of chats your employees engage in, will give you helpful information. First, the total number of conversations shows how many customers are taking advantage of your live chat function on the website.

You’ll also be able to compare your total number of chats to the number of resolved problems you deal with for your customers. For example, comparing your total number of chats to an unlimited number of tickets shows you how many customers have been left to rely on other sources of communication. You can also see how good your employees are at following up with tickets issued by customers.

When you’re analyzing your number of tickets and chat sessions, you might notice that many of the queries you dealt with were connected to specific questions or topics. If that’s the case, you might be able to create a new FAQ page for your customers or provide your chatbot with extra information that it can use.

If you’re getting more support tickets through alternative means than live chat, it might be time to ask yourself what’s wrong with your live chat performance and why your customers choose not to use it.

Improving Live Chat CX for Your Business

Live chat can be a powerful tool for improving customer experience and an excellent way to strengthen your relationship with existing and potential clients.

Step into the shoes of your customer and discover what it feels like to walk through the whole live chat experience, from the moment that you send a request to the live chat team to the moment when you close down the chat with a solution to your problem. Other quick tips include:

Getting the software right: Make sure your live chat app is easy for your end customers and your employees. The chat app you use should be convenient and suit your brand. It also needs to collect information effectively without causing problems like GDPR and regulations. Get a developer involved if you think you have a problem with your chat functionality.
Guide your team: Remember that your team needs to know how to use the live chat tools available effectively if they’re going to deliver the best results to your customers. Make sure you give your employees scripts to deal with problems if needed. In addition, chatbots that can quickly grab information from integrated CRM tools and other solutions could make your agents’ lives much more manageable.
Pay attention to feedback: Ask your customers for feedback on their live chat experiences whenever you can. Ensure you pay attention to what they say they like and dislike about the encounter. If you can listen to your customer’s opinions, they’ll give you a lot of helpful information to work with when you’re enhancing and optimizing your live chat strategy. In addition, listening to your audience shows that you have their best interests at heart.

Remember, as well as customer feedback; you might be able to ask your employees for their insights into how you can improve live chat performance too. Employees also work with these tools regularly, so they know which features are more problematic than others.

Measuring and Improving Live Chat

Live chat functionality isn’t something that you implement into your website and forget about. Instead, like any form of customer service or engagement tool, your live chat solution should be something you test regularly and constantly update to suit your customers’ needs.

Knowing which metrics to measure when examining live chat functionality and performance will boost the experience you can give your audience and even open the door for better relationships with clients in the long term.

The post How to Measure Live Chat Performance first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

12 août 2022/par Service comm.

10 Dos and Don’Ts of Web Design in 2022

Navigating the world of web design can be difficult. There is so much conflicting and outdated advice.

How many times have you been advised to obey the 3-Click Rule? It states that users must reach the content they want in three clicks. But, according to the Nielsen Norman Group, no research supports the 3-Click Rule. It’s just a guess, the web’s equivalent of an urban myth.

There are dos and don’ts of effective web design in 2022. In this post, we’ll present the most important so that you can design websites with confidence.

Do: Make Use of Design Patterns

Design Patterns sound like a complex technique. All it means is copying standard, well-known approaches. Jakob’s Law says that most people spend most of their time on other sites, so they will understand your site better if it is like those other sites.

You can’t make your site like every other, so your job is to pick and choose which design patterns will be most helpful to your target demographic.

Some of the most recognized design patterns include placing the logo in the top left of the viewport, underlining links, and placing essentials like shipping information in the footer.

Do: Make It Inclusive

Inclusive design holds the opinion that the web is for everybody. It hasn’t always been that way. Just a few years ago, it was common to see sites excluding some demographics to reduce development costs.

Excluding anyone from your website is wrong. In many jurisdictions, it’s so wrong it’s illegal. But, perhaps more importantly, excluding 5% of users deducts 5% from your profits.

It’s never been easier to be inclusive. The first step is to make your website responsive so that it caters to every device. Then, follow accessibility guidelines to ensure that you welcome everyone. Finally, be ready to listen to your users, and adapt to their needs.

Do: Keep It Simple

As a website designer, you’ve undoubtedly looked in envy at some of the more original sites out there. It’s important to remember that many of the most experimental sites are usually targeting other designers. Something that works well on a portfolio site won’t translate well to a local convenience store.

99 times out of 100, the simple choice is the right choice. Most people aren’t interested in an original design. They’re interested in accomplishing a task. The less effort expended to complete the task, the better the experience.

Complexity most often creeps into navigation. Start with a logical structure, and use simple, hierarchical navigation.

Do: Stay Focussed

Every website has goals. It might be promotion, profit, utility, or a combination. Each part of that website, every single page, should have one goal.

Hick’s Law says that the time it takes to make a decision increases when there are more choices. And the Goal-Gradient Effect says that a customer is more likely to complete a process the closer they are to the completion. Combine the two, and it means that giving users one CTA (call to action) on a page increases the chances of them taking it.

It’s OK to still have navigation, links, and secondary goals provided each page has a single clear purpose.

Do: Keep Your UI Consistent

Consistency is often referred to as the hallmark of quality. It means that you’ve paid attention to details. But consistency isn’t just about giving a good impression. Consistency is also essential for good UX (user experience).

Users learn to navigate your website as they go. They learn your website’s ‘rules’ or the logic as they interact with it. If your UI (user interface) is consistent, they’ll learn the rules faster and feel more confident.

Areas that often fail the consistency test are the corner radius of boxes, the style of links, and the tone of writing.

Don’t: Ignore Aesthetics

Design isn’t all about usability studies and reliance on design patterns. Design should also be beautiful.

Beauty is often seen as shallow and unimportant. However, the Aesthetic-Usability Effect states that a beautiful website is more likely to be seen as usable by customers.

A pretty design is a high-converting design.

To ensure your design is pretty, pay attention to your typography hierarchy, color scheme, and the symmetry of your layout.

Don’t: Make Users Wait

The worst thing you can do is make users wait. The more technology advances, the faster connections get the higher user expectations.

Your site needs to load in under a second and be interactive in under two seconds. Otherwise, you’ll lose customers who bounce back to their search engine and try one of your competitors instead.

Delays don’t only apply to the speed of your site. You need to ensure that the information or product a customer wants is easy to access. Don’t bury it multiple levels deep in your site. If users are delayed by complicated navigation or unpredictable structure, they will exit your site as surely as if it took 10 seconds to load.

Users have zero amounts of patience.

Don’t: Block the Screen

Browsing through the web, the number of designers that block users from seeing the content on a website is astounding.

The most common culprits are newsletter subscription offers. How can a customer know whether they want to sign up for your newsletter when they haven’t yet seen your products?! Let the user browse your site, and then offer them a newsletter subscription.

Another common culprit is cookie notices. Most sites require a modest cookie notice to stay on the right side of the Law. And yet they display a huge, site-blocking modal as if the cookie notice were the most critical content on the site.

Don’t: Leave Content Until Last

Content is frequently left until last. That’s because it’s hard. Just because we learned to read and write as kids doesn’t mean we can write persuasive, engaging sales copy.

Content is vitally important for SEO (search engine optimization), but more importantly, it’s essential for CX (customer experience).

Most websites make three big mistakes with their content.

Mistake one is unbalanced copy. That means writing 25 words about your flagship product and 5,000 words about the company’s history.

Mistake two is writing for the company, not for the customer. That means organizing content around the company structure rather than customer tasks.

Mistake three is too much content at once. Walls of text are a turn-off. Instead, write short, scannable snippets that will keep customers engaged.

“Don’t try to be original…

…Just try to be good.”

That quote is from the titan of twentieth-century design, Paul Rand.

It boils down to this: originality is about you, and quality is about the website. Great designers care more about their output than their reputation.

Featured image via Pexels.

The post 10 Dos and Don’Ts of Web Design in 2022 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.