Which platform is best for your needs?
By understanding your goals for a website, we’re able to custom build to meet your needs—and choosing the right platform matters.
Platforms and Toolsets
Some of our favorite solutions include WordPress, Magento, and Shopify, with tool sets that include HTML5, CSS3, PHP and MySQL.
We’re adept in other platforms that include WIX, Squarespace, Weebly, Blackboard, Joomlah, Drupal, OpenCart, and OS Commerce. Our big picture understanding of the values and strengths of each, helps us identify the best solution for your unique needs.
HTML
A straight HTML/CSS site is simple to build and maintain but requires intimate knowledge to edit and maintain.
Enabling functionality often requires more work than with a Content Managed Platform, like WordPress or Shopify. Even simple features, like a contact form, photo gallery or a slideshow require custom effort to install, especially as many hosts prefer their own solutions.
We find it takes about the same amount of time to build an HTML/CSS site as it does a WordPress. When you need functionality, it quickly tips the scales in favor of WordPress.
We’ve been building HTML, CSS, PHP and ASP driven sites since 1994, professionally. It’s interesting that there are sites we built years ago that are still up and running, many requiring very little maintenance or intervention. That they haven’t changed in a decade suggests they probably don’t need to still exist, but that’s another story.
WordPress
We’ve been designing and developing in WordPress since 2004. After we build and launch a site, users with access can edit, create new, and delete pages, easily edit menus and much more.
At it’s heart, WordPress is a blog. It’s built to publish, curate, and maintain articles. What makes it so powerful and scalable, is the robust third-party marketplace of developers that provides incredible functionality.
Plug-ins allow us to deliver complex and sophisticated services, like memberships, subscriptions, eCommerce, calendars and scheduling, directories, newsletters and an ever changing array of add-ons that improve how your site works, looks and performs.
We love WordPress, and are experts in its design, development, maintenance, and security. We’re often called in to work on custom solutions that many newcomers to the platform don’t understand.
Shopify
During the drop ship days, where and endless stream of cargo ships sailed from China on a daily basis, we fell in love with Shopify. It’s a paid platform, costing you at least $30/month and more likely $80/month minimum.
Instead of being in the eCommerce business, retailers get to return to running the business they love, not worrying about maintaining a shopping cart. To me, that’s it’s greatest strength.
Shopify has limits, but the ease of use, intuitive mobile interface lets you manage your business from your iPhone.
It’s Point of Sale system turns an Apple or Android phone or tablet into a cash register, with an assortment of cash drawers, scanners and receipt printers that let you take your business on the road. And POS manages inventory as well.
The magic of Shopify however, is how easy it is to sell from beyond your website. Shopify lives wherever you embed it, any website, your Facebook, Amazon, eBay accounts or social media. And users never leave those sites, managing everything through your account.
While their Apps, what they call plug-ins, are not developed as WordPress or Magento’s marketplace, they are still growing the space.
Magento and Adobe Commerce
Developing shopping carts powered by Magento since 2008, we love this powerful platform. It’s important to understand it’s strengths and the maintenance requirement it places on your budget. Adobe acquired the platform in 2018 and there are several paths to deploy it, but at any level it’s priced our of the reach of small business.
Magento Open Source is offered free of charge, but there are costs involved with the platform. Development is the big one, followed by the price of extensions, hosting, security, and don’t forget, transactional pay gateway fees.
MageStore, a Magento resource, provides an excellent real cost analysis, of $12,000-57,000+ to build and launch.
Source: magestore.com/
In 2024, we see Magento as an Enterprise play and recommend most small businesses opt for a simpler, easier to manage cart—Shopify, Big Commerce, or WordPress with WooCommerce.
If cost is no object, with lots of pros, one strength lies in it’s multi-store ability, unmatched by other platforms. Imagine, one back-end, one reporting source, to manage multiple storefronts, which makes it a game changer. Robust sales and inventory reporting, built-in newsletter system and a marketplace to buy Extensions, makes this cart the most serious offering of its kind.
Most customers come to us because they have a broken cart that has not been kept up to date, and running in it’s 1.9x version. The modern 2.x platform is worth the price of admission, but again, this is not a small business platform.
Experts in managing products, content, and SEO, we can help you migrate to a less costly platform, if it makes sense.