If you have an agency or are a web designer, speed and quality are of the essence. You need a tool that not only helps you build websites at a faster rate, but also one that doesn’t compromise on quality.
In this blog post, we’re going to take a deeper look at the best tools to help you build websites faster.
Duda
We’re starting with Duda because it’s a tool that was actually built with speed in mind; or, in other words, built for agencies who need to build websites at scale.
That means that there are also team collaboration tools, as well as client management features. You can add all the team members you need and assign them specific roles, as well as add them to specific groups, based on their area of expertise (admin, blogger, designer, sales, and store manager).
Furthermore, you can create a custom domain where clients will be able to see what you’re working on, and which you can white-label and brand with their colours for a better user experience.
As for actually the actual website builder, you have access to numerous templates or you can start from scratch and create your own templates. To speed things up, you can send your clients an URL where they can add all of the content they want on the website:
Or, you can automatically important content from a website or even a Facebook Page.
The menu on the left-hand side of the website editor is where you find all of the elements you need to customize the website; one of the options is “widgets”. There is a great selection of widgets available, but if you can’t find what you need, you can use the widget builder to write code yourself and create any widget the client wants.
Key takeaways about Duda:
- It’s built for agencies, with team collaboration tools as well as client management features (including white-labelling and client reporting)
- It’s built with speed in mind, with different automation options and other time-saving features
- Very easy to build websites and customize them
- It has a widget builder that allows you to create your own preferred widgets
WordPress
WordPress needs little introduction – a huge percentage of websites and blogs are built on WordPress (31%!) – but we would be remiss not to mention it here as well.
Ironically or not, its popularity can be a big plus towards using WordPress even if it’s not necessarily built with agencies in mind.
WordPress is a very flexible tool so you have a plethora of customization options, as well as all kinds of integrations (you can’t build an online store, for example, but you can integrate with a service like Shopify) and most importantly: the huge variety of plugins that you can install on the website to make the most of it.
However, that’s not necessarily ideal for agencies and web designers that need to build websites at scale, especially as you don’t get the same collaboration and client management features that you get with Duda, for example (not that there aren’t collaboration tools at all, but rather that they are not built with agencies in mind).
At the end of the day, only you can decide what matters the most: the huge variety of templates, plugins, and integrations…
Or the speed with which you can build a website that still looks and performs great?
Key takeaways about WordPress:
- The most popular content management system in the world, with 31% of websites powered by WordPress
- The tool is very easy as to use as well as highly flexible
- Huge variation of themes available, both free and paid, as well as a plethora of plugins
- Not built for agencies, but can be used successfully as an agency
Drupal
Drupal is an open source content management system that targets 3 different groups: web developers, marketers, and agencies – which means that it’s built to scale.
To start with, it offers advanced users management features, meaning you can give each user different permission rights and you can order all users into groups, for ease.
Plus, the fact that it’s open source means that there a lot of plugins available to help customize your website; in fact, they’re in the thousands.
One of the downsides of Drupal though, is that the script is quite complex and much more difficult to install and modify than other popular options. So while it’s very powerful as a tool, it’s not necessarily that speedy; but once again, that depends on what matters the most to you, personally (or as an agency).
What is for certain though is that many users agree that while Drupal is one of the most complex CMS solutions in terms of options and customizations, it’s also one of the most complicated in terms the knowledge you need of various programming languages.
Key takeaways about Drupal:
- Open source content management system for web developers, marketers, and agencies
- Difficult to install and modify, but also very complex
- Team collaboration and user management features
- Need for knowledge of various programming languages such as PHP and HTML
Joomla!
Joomla! is another very popular open source content management system – not as popular as WordPress, but still up there. And, like the other tools we’ve covered in this list, also a widely appreciated content management system.
Installing Joomla! is similar to WordPress – meaning, it’s fast and easy, as opposed to Drupal. And, also like WordPress, some hosting providers offer one-click installs as well, to make things even easier and speedier.
Joomla! is very easy to customize and extend to your hearts’ content; there are literally thousands of templates to choose from, as well as thousands of 3rd party extensions to help you build the exact websites you need. You can find you need by browsing their library of extensions:
As of time of writing, there are close to 8,000 extensions available (although it’s worth noting that not all of them are free)
It’s also quite easy to manage once you’ve finished your Joomla! website, so that your clients can easily manage their website content on their own
Key takeaways about Joomla!:
- Open source content management system that can be used by agencies as well
- Easy to install, as well as to maintain once the website is ready
- Huge library of close to 8,000 extensions to help customize your website
- Huge library of thousands of free and paid website templates
Conclusion
So, which is the best option for creating beautiful websites as quickly as possible? Well, as we’ve mentioned a few times throughout this list, it really depends a lot on your needs and what you prefer more: speed or customization options?
For example, Drupal might offer a lot of customization options, but it can also prove to be very complex and more difficult to install and maintain than other tools mentioned. Another example, Duda, might not have as many templates or extensions as some of the other systems we’ve covered here, but at the same time, it has a big array of automation and time-saving features that allow you to build beautiful websites at a very fast rate.
