Subscribe
Sign in
Hey Founders and Makers, what's the best tool for building a startup website?
I mean what's the best product for building a full-blown marketing website for a startup including:
– Landing pages
– Blog
– Documentation / Help
– Public Changelog
– Public Roadmap
Can you share your experience and thoughts here?
83
Replies
Best
Noah Lenz
Historically I've used WordPress but it can get bloated and hard to maintain as you add more plugins for more functionally. Now, Webflow is what we primarily use and it's lightweight and fairly easy to use.
You can build everything you mentioned on Webflow and WordPress, however, I'd recommend Canny for your changelog/roadmap & I'd recommend building your help center inside of your helpdesk tool (if you have one) or perhaps Notion.
Report
Share
@noah_lenz Thank you for your answer, Noah. Much appreciated. I like Webflow and Canny too.
I’m using Freshdesk but I don’t like the docs part of it. What helpdesk are you using?
@shashcoffe Yeah, I've used Freshdesk a few times in the past and really am not a huge fan of it all together but the docs part is defiantly lacking.
Currently, we're using Intercom, but HelpScout works great as well. Zendesk is a good Freshdesk replacement but is quite expensive and bloated and generally not necessary until you scale more.
Early Stage? No-Code builder - pick your poison - no-code is basically a box, once your startup doesn't fit in the box it's time to grow up. With no-code you'll have a poor CMS experience and it will be annoying for SEO and other things but it's early days right :)
Ready to go after SEO and growth? Low-Code Headless CMS
Why Headless??
1 - You can manage ALL of your content from one place. Landing pages, microsites, knowledge base, blog, App, IoT etc. "Single Source of Truth" for your content.
2 - It's API first - all the other features/functions you need can be built into the stack as microservices. Commerce, Forms, Portals, CRM/ERP, etc, etc - it also means lower maintenance, better performance, scalable, better security.
3 - it's headless, meaning decoupled from the backend. This means you can quickly change and update the frontend experience without all the cumbersome processes from traditional CMS. Also you can have the backend experience you actually want. No need to bend things to your will.
4 - build on purpose. So many tools come with technical debt and are over engineered. Headless keeps everything lightweight and on purpose. Total control.
5 - You can build your own DXP - Digital Experience Platform. No need to have multiple systems and complex workflows. Everything takes places in the headless CMS
I like Sanity CMS - https://www.sanity.io/ but there's a ton to choose from.
@alex_belding Hey Alex! Thx for you detailed comment. Much appreciated. I feel you have experience and expertise in this area. Cool. 🤝🙂
@shashcoffe yea - I've ran shops and brands on Magento, Adobe Muse, Adobe Business Catalyst and of course WordPress but shifted my entire world view when I discovered headless a few years ago. I like the no-code movement but eventually you need a CMS. Actually putting a new podcast episode together on this topic so I was already prepped to answer this question LOL.
@alex_belding Thank you for the reply, Alex. Where can I listen to this new episode?
@shashcoffe once published you can find it anywhere you find and play podcasts. I am using Acast now for the hosting and distribution. About to build it into our website. It's called The Headless Marketing Show :)
https://shows.acast.com/the-head...
@shashcoffe got that episode published - https://shows.acast.com/the-head...
You can also listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts etc
@wael_khattar1 Hi Wael, yeah, Bubble is an awesome tool. Do you use it for websites too?
@tony_ls Anthony, yeah, agree. This is the one of the best tool in this area. But is it good for the website building?
@shashcoffe Yea, it can be used for both websites and webapps. Obviously Webflow for example is probably better suited for static websites but in his case he can build the blog and database for the Roadmap and Changelog into Bubble.
He can also directly link his CI/CD pipeline directly into the Changelog through APIs, things that you can't do easily with Webflow for example
We were using WordPress first, but moved to Tilda later, cos it's much faster and easier to use.
@cn__katie Hi Katie, wow=) It’s not often to meet people who use WordPress) Tilda is cool, yeah.
I really believe that WIX is enough for landing page and blog creation.
I would like to recommend Basecamp as a starting tool for Backlog sharing. On the other hand, Jira is the best tool for Backlog management.
We are using GitHub for public documentation at Identance
For my startup KatLinks I'm using:
- Wordpress for my main website and blog
- Froged for my Knowledge base
- ProductStash for my roadmap/changelog
We used Wix for our RoundUp website. Given it's a MVP, we needed something quick and easy to set up and it included all the features you listed. We didn't even have a designer so our marketer jumped in but was able to navigate quite well, and noticed most of the work required by developers were provided as a self-setup.
Blogs, SEO built-in, A/B testing features were all helpful. Only downside is it's not as robust with design functions (e.g. for CTA buttons, there's only a handful of fonts/colors you can select).
We did look into Squarespace too and they have more or less the same features - pricing was a little lower for Wix so we decided to give it a try.
(1) Elementor: Really good website builder for WordPress
(2) BigCommerce: If you’re looking to create an online store that scales
(3) Trello: Tool to share your product roadmap
For our startup we use Tilda, it's very easy to deal with and user-friendly with a big amount of functions.
Webflow is by far the best low-code tool for building a marking website. Their features are superb for this use case and the product is essentiality an abstraction of classical web development which makes your website work as well as a professionally built website.
@jall_n Hey John. Much appreciated comment! Thx. Is Webflow for people with design skills?
@shashcoffe I'm a designer myself and find Webflow to be intuitive. There is a learning curve for people who are not familiar with web development principles but overcoming that challenge will ultimately make you a better creator.
Anybody using Shopify? Offers an awful lot of what's required, particularly (obviously) if you're selling physical goods!
A little late but you can use OLITT Website Builder to create free landing pages for your startup. OLITT offers SSL, Web hosting and Domain connection to websites for free.
I hope this helps.
We started with Wix, but we rapidly had some issues. We' moved to Webflow and I really recommend this builder. You don't need an expensive plan to build something cool, the builder is very versatile.
@cica_laure_mbappe Hi Cica-Laure! It's so interesting case. Webflow is excellent. But what problems did you have with Wix? Can you specify? And do you have design skills?
@shashcoffe First, Wix was a bit limited when it comes to design. Then we had some troubles, our website was down for 48 hours and the problem was from them. So my team was more likely to switch to Webflow. I had a few design skills but I improved them on Webflow.
Founder of Versoly here a Website builder for Startups (mainly SaaS at the moment).
https://www.producthunt.com/post... got #3 of the day and PH users love us.
We handle landing pages, blogs, docs, and changelog.
Most of our customers try 5+ builders before finding us and upgrading (lots of hype and overselling by other builders).
Versoly is a little different, we give you access to the code so there is 0 vendor lock in and you can create completely custom websites without exporting.
If you love no-code then bubble.io if you are a developer or have access to developers then I would say build it from scratch using ruby, python nodejs etc.
You can also checkout ghost.org.. it's mainly a publishing platform but with some tweak you can do all from the list above
@md_salehin_khan Thanks, man. I see this product provides tools for launching subscription business. That is so interesting area.
If you want all these features in one platform and want to build a community around it, checkout https://gully.to. Founder of Gully here :)
Our team uses simple lightweight tools, such as Tilda or WebFlow. I'd personally recommend using WebFlow - there are more developers on the market, so it would be easier to maintain your site in future.
If you want to create an app I recommend bubble.io and if it's for a website you can use Wordpress with the Elementor integration (it will make the development much easier)
@tony_ls Yeah, bubble is cool for the app. But why WordPress? Why not Webflow or Wix?