Showit website platform is not the right choice for most small businesses

Showit is celebrated for its incredible design freedom, especially for creatives and those who want a highly visual, custom website. However, this flexibility comes with several major drawbacks and common problems, especially for users who aren't experienced designers or need robust built-in features:

• Limited Native E-commerce Capabilities:

  • Showit is not an e-commerce platform. It lacks native shopping cart, product management, and checkout functionalities.

  • Selling products requires integrating third-party solutions like Shopify Lite (for "Buy Buttons"), ThriveCart, or Stripe, which adds complexity and often extra costs. It's generally not suitable for businesses with large product inventories.

• Separate Mobile Design (and Tablet Issues):

  • While praised for allowing distinct desktop and mobile designs, this means you have to design and optimize both views separately. This adds significant time and effort to the design process.

  • A common complaint is that Showit doesn't handle tablet responsiveness well. It often just scales down the desktop design, leading to layout issues or unreadable text on iPads and other tablets.

• Steeper Learning Curve for Non-Designers:

  • Its "blank canvas" drag-and-drop editor, while powerful, can be overwhelming for those without a design background (e.g., familiarity with tools like Adobe InDesign or Illustrator).

  • Achieving a polished, functional, and responsive design requires a good understanding of visual hierarchy, spacing, and mobile optimization, which can be challenging for DIY users.

• WordPress Blog Integration Complexity:

  • Showit itself doesn't have native blogging. It integrates with WordPress for blogging functionality.

  • This means you're managing two separate platforms (Showit for page design, WordPress for blog content), which can lead to:

    • Two Logins: Needing to log into both Showit and WordPress.

    • Plugin Management: Still needing to manage WordPress plugins (and their updates/compatibility issues) for blog features.

    • Setup Time: The blog setup can take a few days as Showit's team handles the integration.

• SEO Challenges (Requires Manual Effort):

  • While Showit sites can rank well, it requires meticulous manual optimization.

  • No SERP Preview: It doesn't offer a preview of how your titles and descriptions will appear in search results, making it harder to optimize effectively.

  • Layer Ordering Quirk: The visual stacking of elements in the editor is often reversed in the actual HTML code (bottom to top), which can affect how search engines interpret content hierarchy.

  • Image Alt Text Confusion: The process for adding alt text can be counter-intuitive.

  • URL Limitations: Page names automatically dictate URLs, and changing a page name breaks existing links, requiring manual redirects.

  • Hidden Elements & Code Bloat: Elements hidden on desktop or mobile can still be present in the page's code, potentially slowing down load times or creating unnecessary code for search engines to crawl.

• Higher Overall Cost (Potentially):

  • While base plans might seem comparable, the need for third-party e-commerce integrations, potentially expensive premium templates, and the necessity of hiring a designer/developer for complex customization or maintenance can make Showit a more costly option in the long run, especially compared to all-in-one platforms.

  • Some common WordPress plugins may not be compatible with Showit's integration.

• No Built-in Email Hosting:

  • Showit does not provide email hosting, meaning you'll need to set this up separately (e.g., with Google Workspace).

In summary, Showit prioritizes ultimate design freedom, making it a favorite for visual brands and designers who want complete control over aesthetics. However, for users prioritizing ease of use, built-in functionality (especially e-commerce), comprehensive SEO tools out-of-the-box, or those who prefer a "set it and forget it" approach, its manual design requirements and reliance on external integrations can become significant hurdles. This is not the ideal solution for a business, and in the long run, you will have headaches and problems managing your business on this platform.