Question 1

Is Wix or Squarespace better for a small local business?

Accepted Answer

Wix offers more apps and flexibility; Squarespace offers cleaner templates with stricter guardrails. But for most local businesses the platform isn’t the real decision — your time is. Both make you the designer, copywriter, and SEO, typically 15–40 hours to launch and ongoing upkeep after. The owners who win are usually the ones who hand that job off.

Question 2

What about Shopify — is it a real alternative?

Accepted Answer

Shopify is built for selling products online, and if you run a real store it’s the strongest of the three. For a service or local business it’s overkill and the most expensive — about $39/month before apps and themes — and you still build and run it yourself. If you sell online and want it done for you, we build commerce-ready sites too.

Question 3

What do Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify actually cost?

Accepted Answer

With a custom domain and no platform ads, realistic entry pricing is about $16–17/month on Wix or Squarespace and around $39/month on Shopify — and that’s the floor. To get what you actually want, you pay more as per-app dependencies and add-on fees stack up. The bigger hidden cost is your hours: across our proprietary research into local business websites, DIY-built sites most often stall on the exact things that convert — trust signals, clear calls to action, and fresh content.

Question 4

Is there an alternative to building it myself?

Accepted Answer

Yes — done-for-you services like GrowLocal. We design and build a custom site for your industry free, you revise it until you love it, we write and schedule your social posts, and hosting plans run $10–50/month depending on features. You never touch a page builder.

Question 5

Can I switch from Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify later?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You keep your domain, and we rebuild your existing content into a custom design as part of the free mockup — switching costs you nothing until you decide to launch.