Industries Roofing How to Pick the Best Website Builder for Your New Roofing Site [2024 Comparison]

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How to Pick the Best Website Builder for Your New Roofing Site [2024 Comparison]

Website builders have everything you need under one roof.

These simple drag-and-drop platforms come with hosting and ready-made roofing templates, so you don’t even need to learn what HTML stands for – everything is already working for you.

Even better, picking a website builder is relatively risk-free. Free trials mean you can try before you buy, and with our guide to the best website builder for roofing websites, you’ll know exactly which platform to choose to help you save time, and generate revenue for your business.

How to Pick the Best Website Builder for Your New Roofing Site

Website builders are perfect for roofers who want a professional site but don’t have a ton of web design experience – and don’t have the spare cash to hire one.

Instead of learning how to write in code or build a site from scratch, website builders are all-in-one platforms perfect for beginners.

You can choose from existing roofing themes that require little to no customization, but if you’re keen to change colors or design a few features, it’s a simple drag-and-drop process to create your finished site.

But choosing the right website builder can be tough. With so many options online, how can you figure out which website builder is best for you?

This article will compare the top website-building platforms available in 2021. Whether you’re a commercial roofer, residential roofer, or a handyman looking to make a little money off your roofing expertise, read on to discover the pros and cons of the most popular website builders available in 2021.

Quick breakdown: Website builders compared [2021]

Website Builder Best Used For Free Plan Paid Plans
WordPress

DIY SEO Websites

Yes $33 USD/month and up
Wix Simple Websites Yes $18 USD/month and up
Pedestal Trade Businesses Yes $49 USD/month flat fee
Weebly eCommerce Yes $15 USD/month and up
Squarespace Blogging No (Free Trial) $25 USD/month and up

Choosing the best website builder – 3 x questions to ask before you get started

You wouldn’t rush into a roofing job without asking questions of your customer and figuring out the best approach to save time and money – and building a website is the same.

Before you choose your preferred website builder, you’ll need to figure out what type of roofing site you’re after. Once you figure out what features you want and what goals you have in mind, you’ll be able to work backwards and find a website builder that suits you.

The alternative approach is to pick the first (or cheapest) website builder you find, then realize it can’t add the features you have in mind. Imagine launching a new website and realizing it comes with poor page speed that hurts your SEO, or design limitations that mean your site’s branding looks nothing like your business branding.

To help you find the best website builder, consider answering these questions first.

· “What are the goals of my roofing website?”
· “What features do I want on my roofing website?”
· “Will I be updating my roofing website regularly?”

All of the website builders on this list offer drag-and-drop interfaces, so avoid making your choice based on simplicity. Instead, figure out what you want from your new roofing site and use those goals to frame your choice.

For example, if you want a site that’s SEO friendly and can be optimized to rank higher on Google in the future, avoid choosing a website builder with limited ability to post and optimize content.

sg-book-cover
OUR GUARANTEE
$300 Lead Increase Guarantee

Look for the following criteria when choosing a roofing website builder

✔ Ease of Use ✔ Pricing
Your website builder should be easy to use for the absolute beginner. Drag-and-drop features are a must with simple instructions and clear directions whether you’re looking to choose colors or set up your email address. Website builders occupy a competitive space with plenty of options. That means you can launch a new roofing site for 10% of the cost of paying an agency for a full website. Finding value for money will help you choose the best website builder.
✔ Templates ✔ Features
Does your website builder come with roofing templates? Every website builder comes with ready-made themes, but you don’t want a generic ‘construction’ theme. If there’s no roofing template, you should look elsewhere. Features cover the in-built features like hosting, email connectivity and site maintenance. As well as the ability to connect external features, like Google Analytics and other marketing tools.
✔ Design Options ✔ Customer Support
You don’t want to have to design your roofing site from scratch, but some customization is necessary to make sure your new site looks and feels connected to your existing branding. If there’s not ongoing support, you can be left high and dry if something goes wrong. Unlimited support is the gold standard with dedicated support desks providing lasting peace of mind.

Top 5 website builders in 2021 [pros and cons]

We’ve tried the leading website builders so you don’t have to (and because our web developers find that sort of thing fun).

Each website builder has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, so we’ve outlined the pros and cons to help you make an informed decision.

WordPress

The world’s most popular website builder, over 41% of ALL websites are powered by WordPress.

Where WordPress differs from the other website builders on this list is that it’s an open-source website builder. This means you’ve got full control over how your site looks and functions, compared to other builders like Wix or Weebly which have limitations.

WordPress also keeps design and content separate – something the other web builders on this list don’t do. That means you can add content regardless of the design you’ve picked, or tweak your design without affecting your content. On top of design and content, you have access to plugins that can help add features to your roofing site – like booking forms, social media buttons, or analytics tools to see how many people are checking out your site.

This means you’ve got 3 elements of your WordPress site to manage: content, design, and plugins.

WordPress Feature Image

For anyone looking to invest their spare time in web design this is exciting, but if your roofing business keeps you busy enough as it is, the steep learning curve of WordPress – and managing all 3 interconnected aspects of your site – can add pressure to your schedule.

What type of roofer IS suited to WordPress? WordPress isn’t the type of website builder you’ll master in an hour. The scale of plugins and built-in SEO-friendly features (you can optimize each post and page) means WordPress sites can become powerful marketing tools – but only if you have the time (and drive) to master them.

What type of roofer is NOT suited to WordPress? If you’re a roofer looking to get more work through Google, but you don’t want to add 5+ hours of work and web design each week, you’re better off choosing a website builder that offers the same marketing features and SEO benefits, without the need to master such a steep learning curve.

Pros Cons
✔ 58,000+ free plugins

✔ Complete control over your roofing site

✔ Able to integrate with third-party marketing tools (SEO, email marketing, lead-gen)

✘ The steep learning curve to master

✘ Your responsibility to stay on top of security updates, plugin updates, and making backups

✘ Basic coding needed to unlock the most value

Wix

Wix is the biggest website builder available, and no doubt one you’ve heard of before.

The popularity of Wix is in large part down to how simple it is to use. This makes it easy for a 16-year old blogger or a 96-year old selling knitted shirts to launch a website with zero experience.

With hundreds of ready-to-use templates, you can have a roofing website up and running in less than an hour. But unfortunately, that simplicity is where Wix often falls short for roofers.

Although Wix can set up a simple website, creating a multi-page site on the Wix website builder is challenging. Wix navigation isn’t deep so if you plan on adding extra pages you can quickly end up with a messy, hard-to-navigate site that frustrates people and sends them running to the next roofer they find.

What type of roofer IS suited to Wix? If you’re after a simple site with contact information, professional design, and a handful of pages, Wix is a fast and simple option. So if you want a simple site to send to word-of-mouth leads and referrals, Wix provides the basics.

What type of roofer is NOT suited to Wix? This type of site won’t lend itself to advanced SEO goals or marketing strategies. If you’re a roofer looking to create unique pages for each service – slate roof maintenance, tile roof maintenance, metal roof maintenance – then your site can end up messy, which drives people away.

Pros Cons
✔ Simple drag-and-drop interface

✔ Very easy to use

✔ 500+ templates to choose from

✘ Slow on mobile devices

✘ Impossible to change hosting

✘ Not suited for service-based businesses

Pedestal

Pedestal is a new website builder to the scene and looks to have avoided the teething problems associated with other popular website builders.

While Wix, Weebly, and co have opted for an ‘all-in-one’ approach in terms of the businesses they target, Pedestal has narrowed their focus exclusively to the trade and service-based businesses.

If your goal is to sell products online then Pedestal won’t support you. But if your goal is to get more leads and put more bookings in the calendar so you can provide a service – whether it’s replacing, repairing, or cleaning roofs – Pedestal is for you.

Offering the same point and click interface as Wix and Weebly, Pedestal comes with a built-in “brain” to help your marketing. By keeping design choices to a minimum, the ready-made themes (which includes roofing) come pre-populated with conversion features like ‘Request a Quote’ forms, Downloadable guides, badges and warranties, and optimized call-to-action (CTA) buttons.

The result of this focus on leads and conversions sees Pedestal websites generate 26.7% more leads than the average website builder, though you will find your customization options limited to ensure these lead-gen and conversion features aren’t removed.

What type of roofer IS suited to Pedestal? Pedestal is the website builder with a “brain” so if your goal is to get more leads and attract new roofing clients without managing every aspect of your marketing, Pedestal is ideal. With marketing and conversion strategies built-in, Pedestal offers a ‘set and forget’ approach to marketing so you can focus on your business as leads consistently roll in.

What type of roofer is NOT suited to Pedestal? If you want to control every aspect of the design process then Pedestal won’t suit you. As Pedestal sites rely on lead-gen and high-converting features, your customization options are limited. You can still control the color, look and feel of your site, but you won’t have unlimited control of Wix.

Pros Cons
✔ Built-in marketing strategies

✔ High-converting features come pre-populated in roofing theme

✔ Lead-generation comes as the standard goal of each template

✘ Limited customization options

✘ Only for service-based and trade businesses

✘ Fewer templates to choose from

Weebly

Weebly is a drag-and-drop website builder that’s created over 50 million websites, which makes sense because it’s easy to use – and after testing out the platform we’d say it’s the easiest of all website builders to master.

Outside of the usability, Weebly is technically sound with all Weebly websites optimized to be fast, while security is taken care of with business plans unlocking free SSL Certificates across your site.

Able to handle more complex roofing websites – which are required if you plan on creating unique pages for your roofing services – Weebly does have a limited app store. So while other website builders like WordPress benefit from 1000’s plugins, you’ll be limited by the smaller selection of apps Weebly offers.

Previously known for their focus on technological development to improve the platform, Weebly was acquired by eCommerce platform Square in 2018 and has since slowed down their rollout of new features.

What type of roofer IS suited to Weebly? If Wix feels too simple for you, Weebly offers the same easy-to-use interface with the ability to create a multi-page roofing site that’s not as messy. For local roofers after a professional and easy-to-use website, Weebly can tick the boxes.

What type of roofer is NOT suited to Weebly? Weebly isn’t right for roofers if you have SEO or marketing goals. For example, Weebly websites only allow you to optimize your H2s. H1s are generated automatically and there’s no ability to optimize other headers (H3, H4, etc) without heading to the app store to try and play around with add-ons.

Weebly also changes certain URLs (whether you want them to or not) which can harm your SEO if you’re trying to rank for a roofing keyword. When building a roofing website with built-in marketing was the goal, this makes Weebly an unreliable option.

Pros Cons
✔ Simple drag-and-drop interface

✔ Free domain with all paid plans

✔ Fast website speed

✘ Limited Content Management System (CMS) if you plan on using SEO

✘ Lack of advanced marketing tools

✘ Phone and priority support only available with premium plans

Squarespace

Squarespace offers 100+ ready-made templates so you can get your roofing website up and running without having to make a ton of design decisions.

Unlike Wix and Weebly, who position themselves as the website builders for all industries; and Pedestal, who position themselves as the website builder for trade and contracting businesses, Squarespace occupies the market for blogs, portfolios, and online stores.

Squarespace websites excel when they’re showing off creative work, but can lag when the goal is to rank on Google with pages of content. This is due to Squarespace’s navigation limits which restrict your site to one level below the main navigation, making large roofing websites a huge challenge to launch.

What type of roofer IS suited to Squarespace? If you’re looking for an online portfolio to show off your roofing work, and you’re not trying to increase your rankings on Google through SEO, Squarespace provides stunningly eye-catching websites that your customers will love.

What type of roofer is NOT suited to Squarespace? When you want to add multiple service pages with 1,000+ words of text to boost your SEO, Squarespace simply won’t suit. If you’re looking for more than visual designs, we recommend searching for an alternative website builder.

Pros Cons
✔ Creates stunning, eye-catching websites with a focus on visuals

✔ Free SSL Certificate with all paid plans

✔ Strong site speed

✘ Require high-quality, professional images to make your site stand out

✘ Poor content management and SEO potential

✘ Limited marketing tools built-in

Our pick for the best website builder for roofers is…

After trialing each website builder, we feel Pedestal outperforms all others in creating a professional, lead-generating roofing website.

Pedestal is a simple point-and-click website builder ideal for beginners, so there’s no need to brush up on your web design skills. And all Pedestal websites come fully mobile responsive, and with over 50% of all traffic coming through smartphones, this means roofing customers get the best experience on every device.

A major reason for Pedestal taking the #1 spot though is its ability to save time and generate revenue.

All elements on a Pedestal website come predefined and prepopulated. By choosing a ‘Roofing’ template you get an industry-specific theme with existing elements designed to increase conversions.

These conversion features are part of the in-built marketing strategy Pedestal websites offer, for example, split-tested call-to-action (CTA) buttons to increase quote requests, and downloadable reports to build trust and build email lists for future roofing marketing campaigns.

Pedestal websites also generate 26.7% more leads than the other website builders on this list, and for commercial and residential roofers looking to grow their business, this makes Pedestal the clear winner.

Website builder comparison: Conclusion

When choosing a website builder it’s not about finding the cheapest or the most popular website builder. It’s about finding the right fit for your roofing business.

We’ve found Pedestal is best suited to roofing businesses because of its built-in marketing, lead-gen, and conversion features. Instead of worrying about where the next job is coming from, you can focus on your business with a website that supports you.

Although Pedestal is new to the website building landscape, its focus on trade, contracting and home improvement businesses makes it tough to beat.

If you’re still unsure which website builder is right for you, we recommend starting a free trial and trying each out.

Good luck with your new roofing website!

Ready to get started? Try Pedestal (build a website in minutes for FREE)