There are a number of choices out there for web design. Some of the most popular platforms to choose from are Wix, Weebly and Wordpress; we've built sites on them all. We use Snapps, which is built on the Duda platform, with a custom interface. Why Snapps? Snapps offers many benefits over the other website builders, and we’ll talk specifically about those benefits over Wordpress today.

Better Security

WordPress is great for blog posts and corporate websites, but also requires a number of plugins for the functionality that small business websites need. There is a learning curve, however, and unstable WordPress updates can "break" plugins, causing sites using them not to function properly. Security can also be an issue with WordPress, and it's not uncommon to see hacked WordPress sites - especially those ranked well in Google search results - taken over by spammers and scammers. WordPress sites must be patched properly. When a site is not working properly or is compromised, there can be serious consequences for small business.

The Snapps platform utilizes AWS (Amazon Web Services) for hosting. With servers all over the globe and cloud-based hosting, there's a monthly uptime rate of 99.99%. AWS is the leader in security, reliability and performance. Your business and customer data is kept safe from hackers. No worrying about your site going down or loading slowly. These faster load times make for a better user experience too, which this blog will discuss more about below.

With Snapps, encryption is also free. Your site SSL certificate will generate within minutes of going live, and renew automatically. There are no extra fees. Compare to WordPress, where you'll need to pay for manual installation, and do security updates as well. It's very common to see expired certificates on WordPress sites, and we're blocked from even visiting them by our security software. That translates to  lost business, when people can't use or even view your site.

Update, 11/24/21:

Here are just two recent examples of major Word Press site issues in the news.

1) Google de-indexed Siteground hosted Word Press sites

2) GoDaddy WordPress sites were hacked and 1.2 million passwords were exposed

WordPress hosting may be cheaper than Snapps on the front end, but on the back end you'll pay more for management and development (code) to customize, and keep your site both updated & secure. When we're consulting with clients who want to manage their own sites, we insist on building with Snapps. Sure, Snapps is easier as a page builder if the client wants to do their own updates, such as writing blog articles. But the main concern is we don't want our clients to have their business put at risk in a hack. WordPress hosting may save you a little (we get asked about monthly fees a lot!), but with the aforementioned certificate concerns and plugin vulnerabilities - there are huge costs to a business if their WordPress site gets hacked. Sites get hacked to steal information, and to spew out spam and scams. A hack can mean harm to a business's reputation, lost revenue, and serious time and money to clean up after the hack.

It's not worth the savings of a few dollars a month.

Better SEO - Speed to Rank

Snapps is faster than Wordpress. If you’re optimizing your site for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes and need a lot of content quickly, it will be more difficult to do so with Wordpress. The Wordpress user interface often slows down when many plugins are added to the system. With SEO-friendly Snapps, everything loads lightning fast without any issues. Snapps' architecture improves SEO automatically, no SEO plugins needed, saving time. It's aligned with Google Lighthouse, which measures a site's performance on their Core Web Vitals. Basically, Google grades site performance on metrics like speed for users, especially for mobile versions. These metrics are now important as website ranking factors - where your company site appears on search results for given keywords. Sites rank better and more quickly on Google when they meet Google's requirements. And that's what SEO's all about - getting ranking results.

On page SEO like optimizing title and meta description, headers are also straightforward with Snapps. Snapps also makes it easy to use Schema - which is important for SEO too and can boost your site's ranking. Local Business Schema tells the search engine what your important business information is and how these "snippets" should be presented meaningfully in search results - logo, business name, phone number, email and business hours for example. Search engines want to deliver more useful, relevant content to visitors, after all. Schema can now be used for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). So, you can use a Snapps widget designed for FAQs to answer questions people searching on Google may have - using a smart looking question and answer format.

Better Performance - Speed to Load

Our sites are designed to load faster and score higher on Google's Page Speed test. There aren't numerous unused codes that can slow site speed down like there can be for the average WordPress user. If you're a developer - you can optimize your WordPress site, sure. But for those using a WordPress template trying to be all things to all users, it's going to get bloated.

Snapps optimizes uploaded images automatically for example, for desktop, tablet or mobile browsing. Visitors on your website using a mobile device on cellular data will see a version of your site designed to adapt to the smaller screen and load times. Snapps has responsive website design  and elements but is also adaptive - making for better performance on mobile. The same elements will all be there, but they will be automatically formatted and optimized for the user's device - and how they use it. For example, the mobile version is designed for touch screens and will have a click to call phone number. A simple tap and your visitors can call you.

Better User Experience and Personalization

With a better user experience, Snapps sites have higher user conversion rates than the industry average. With better SEO comes more visibility and website traffic, but the key metric is that these visits turn into more clicks and contact - calls, quote request forms filled out etc.

Snapps can be personalized for your visitors. Perhaps you want a certain message for first time site visitors. Or you want to have an alert for visitors during a certain time period, such as due to Covid safety precautions. Or, maybe you want to have an announcement for site visitors that are physically nearby (in proximity to) your business. A coupon or special offer, perhaps, during lunch hour? However you'd like to personalize for user experience, you can customize the rules in Snapps' settings.

Faster Build Times, Terrific Templates and Wonderful Widgets

Snapps has lots of fabulous looking templates for small business. Whether you have a service-based business, a non-profit, want to show off your portfolio or have an e-commerce site, Snapps has a solution. We can build using one of the existing Snapps themes, and customize anything. Faster site builds means reduced costs; we can publish a site in a fraction of the time it would take on WordPress.

If you take over your site, the site building software is drag and drop with widgets. Snapps makes it easy to publish new content - with dynamic pages, or blog mode for example. If you need to add code, you can do that too. The site builder is WYSIWYG, What You See Is What You Get. You don't need to be a web developer or know code.

Snapps templates mean you get a great looking site with tons of features, without having to spend hours doing it all yourself. And as you keep creating new content and adding images, Snapps automatically optimizes those pages for whatever devices your visitors are using, including mobile!

Better Control

Since Snapps is designed for building and hosting your site, it makes for seamless transfer to the client. If you want us to manage the site after it's built, you can even still do your own updates with your own login. We can collaborate with you. However, if you would like the "keys" handed over, transfer to you as the owner is simple. There's no worrying about control; Snapps provides the hosting as well, too.

Better Support

We offer results-focused training in Snapps, and Snapps has great white glove support too should you have questions or issues. We've worked with the developers since Beta. The Snapps developers saw a need for an easier website builder and hosting platform for small business. They are constantly adding new features such as custom widgets to help you increase conversion rates.