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Why SiteSwan is the Best Website Builder for Agencies Large and Small
Published on October 6, 2021
Which website builder should your agency choose?
When starting or growing a web design agency, you need to make sure you have a reliable website building platform behind the scenes. It will function as the backbone of your operation, and can be a major factor in your company's overall profitability and longevity.
A typical agency doesn't want to be using 10 different platforms for building websites. They prefer to use one core platform where the majority of their sites are built quickly and affordably, and maybe have one or two others that they use for special projects.
So if the focus is building websites for small businesses, which is the target market for most agencies, you have to pick the right platform – one that's easy to use, affordable both in the short- and long-term, that provides excellent support with a reliable track record, and that can do most or all of what you need to do out of the box.
If you take the time to make an educated decision in the beginning, you'll save yourself lots of time, stress, money, and frustration in the long-run.
For small agencies and individual designers:
Smaller agencies (1-5 employees) are typically nimble, so they can make changes quickly, but are also commonly spread thin, so everyone has to wear a bunch of different hats. They often don't have the time to spend on their own marketing efforts, and management can't always devote the necessary energy to offer continued education about the industry, changing best practices, or any sort of ongoing training. These agencies need to use a website building platform that's incredibly EASY to adopt and implement with a very small learning curve, and that provides additional tools and training to make sure the agency is staying highly competitive. They need to rely on their website platform very heavily for their success.
For larger agencies and media companies:
Larger agencies (more than 5 employees) usually have lots of moving parts, highly specialized roles within the company, and processes and protocols that are clearly spelled out that need to be followed. Making changes can be a long, drawn-out process and they often get stuck in ruts, doing things a certain way "because that's the way it's always been done." Sometimes, larger agencies have become so large out of necessity, due to the platform(s) they are using needing extensive training or careful oversight. That also means their prices skyrocket – the costs of running a large agency can be quite high, and the small business owner is the one who ultimately has to pay.
So is there a website building platform that is ideal for both small and large agencies?
Yes! The SiteSwan platform is perfect for any size agency or reseller. We have a network of over 400 resellers which includes both individual entrepreneurs operating alone and large national media companies with dozens of employees. We’re unique in that we are focused not just on the act of building websites, but on the bigger picture of running and profiting from scaling a web design business. Web design may be fun and a means to express yourself artistically, but if the business isn't operating soundly, then you have nothing.
Here are 7 reasons why SiteSwan is the best website building platform for agencies large and small:
1. SiteSwan is a Business-in-a-Box
SiteSwan is much more than just another website builder. Established back in 2011, we have been targeting agencies, media companies, and entrepreneurs with an all-in-one solution that takes all the guesswork out of scaling and profiting from a web design business.
Our platform includes everything from helping you find which local businesses need a website (our Local Prospecting Tool), to using our killer industry-specific Themes to easily build out sample homepages with our 1-Click Site Creation, to letting your clients submit payment for their setup fee and recurring monthly fee right from your dashboard (our Client Billing feature). In addition, you're granted immediate access to our ever-growing library of customizable marketing material including your own marketing website, sample contracts and agreements, client instruction manuals, and much more. And to help you truly scale, we even provide access to add-on services like Search Engine Submission and Reputation Management so you can build up the per-client revenue numbers.
The SiteSwan business model is 100% built on and reliant on our clients' success selling websites to small businesses, so our focus is dialed in on our agency partners closing deals and turning a profit. This approach is what has helped us continue to grow for such a long period of time.
And since everything about SiteSwan has been and continues to be built, designed, managed, and supported here in the United States, our clients can rest assured that they're getting the insights, expertise, and guidance from a company who truly understands what its agencies need and want to be successful.
2. Our Website Builder is Super Easy to Use
Ease of use has always been our focus at SiteSwan. You don’t need any technical experience at all to build a website on the SiteSwan platform. There’s no HTML, CSS, or other coding involved. With over 150 pre-built themes, you don’t even need to have any design skills.
Our site editor is super simple to use and appeals to agencies and users of any experience level. If you’re building websites for the first time, you’ll find it very easy to learn and master in just a few hours. On the other hand, if you’ve been building websites for years and used other platforms, you’ll find SiteSwan to be a refreshing alternative.
Agencies love the simplicity of our platform because that means they don't need to hire employees with specific, advanced knowledge on a particular platform or coding language. Literally anyone on staff can jump in and start designing and managing sites.
3. We Offer Affordable, Scalable Pricing
Unlike other website builders that charge you for each individual site you create, we tailored our plans to appeal to agencies looking to scale. Our wholesale, bulk pricing model starts at just $149/month and gives you everything you need to start building and selling websites to small businesses. If you’re just getting started, this plan allows you to take on 10 paying clients so you can generate a profit very quickly.
Every site includes hosting and SSL certificates at no additional charge. You can even add e-commerce to your sites for free, using our simple online store solution. These are all premium features that other website builders charge extra for. As you grow, or if you have an existing agency and need to move clients over to SiteSwan, you’ll find our pricing very attractive. With pricing as low as $3/month per site (on our Pro plan), we are by far one of the most affordable and scalable platforms on the market. Your cost per site actually decreases over time which will continue to boost your profits.
Agencies appreciate this simple pricing model and many have moved their clients’ sites over to SiteSwan to see a significant cost savings right out of the gates.
4. We Have Over 150+ Usable Themes
Many website platforms are limited in terms of website themes or templates. Some only offer a handful of options, or require you to purchase templates before you can even use or test them. Others claim to have hundreds, but are often obscure and unusable. (Who actually sells websites to someone running a cat blog?)
At SiteSwan, we focus on building themes that you can actually use when selling websites to small businesses. SiteSwan themes are industry-specific, professionally designed, mobile optimized, and come complete with search-friendly website content that can be personalized for each of your clients. We focus on creating themes for the industries that our resellers have the most success selling to in order to give you a clear path to success. We are always building more themes, and as a reseller, you can request a specific theme for us to build.
Agencies love that each of our themes comes with industry-specific content, along with the rights to use the professional imagery that comes with the theme. Plus, all the new themes we add are for hot markets that help everyone uncover new opportunities they may not have even thought existed. (For example, we recently launched a Pallet Supplier theme, Campground theme, and Real Estate Investor theme, which are prime opportunities in the current market.)
5. 100% White Label Solution
SiteSwan is a white label platform which means you can rebrand our site editor and marketing material with your own company name and logo. Nobody will know you are building websites with SiteSwan – not even your competitors. It can be your agency’s secret weapon to building websites that sell quickly.
You can even turn on “Stealth” mode which will remove any mention of SiteSwan from the backend dashboard. This can be used when you don’t want even your own staff members to know which website building platform you are using.
Agencies appreciate this level of privacy so that they can keep our relationship quiet. You are under no obligation to disclose the platform you're building sites on, so that you can have the ultimate competitive advantage. If you're searching for a white label website builder that has your agency's best interest in mind, SiteSwan is the clear choice.
6. It’s Perfect for Small Business Websites
SiteSwan is perfect for building websites for small to medium sized businesses.
Period.
We don’t claim to be the best solution for building membership sites, dating websites, mobile apps, classified forums, or complex online stores. This allows us to focus on creating the best website solution for small businesses. All of our features are designed to appeal to and satisfy your typical small business client. If you’re running a real web design business, this will make up about 99.9% of your customers.
Agencies love this hyper-focused approach because it helps them stay on track and truly scale. It's very easy to get convinced to take on a web design job that's out of your wheelhouse just because it's different and perhaps exciting, but that is a huge distraction. By staying dialed in to helping small businesses, that's where growth and scale truly takes place.
7. We Don’t Compete With You
You’ll notice that SiteSwan only offers plans starting at 10 sites. We don’t offer a single site plan or sell directly to small businesses ourselves because we don’t want to compete with our resellers.
If you’re an agency looking for a website builder for building your client websites, don’t you want to be sure that the platform you choose doesn’t try to swoop in and snatch up your clients? We don’t market to your customers, and we don’t communicate with your customers. Even our pricing is designed to dissuade an individual business from trying to come directly to us, and cut you out of the deal. Since we don’t offer a single site option, your clients can’t jump ship with you and purchase a site directly from us (at least, without spending significantly more).
Agencies appreciate this. The last thing you need is to have to worry about your clients trying to beat the system and go directly to the source, or move their site somewhere else in an attempt to reduce their fees. Your clients are much better off having you on their side as someone they can reach out to if they have concerns, a change in goals, or questions.
Now you know why SiteSwan is the best website building platform for both large and small agencies. As Mark Twain once said, “during the gold rush it’s a good time to be in the pick and shovel business.” There’s a “gold rush” out there with so many small businesses either needing a new website or a redesign on an existing one. SiteSwan is here to provide the “pick and shovel” and overall “business in a box” you need to succeed.
By positioning ourselves as much more than just another website builder – SiteSwan is a complete web design business in a box – you can get a lot more for your money and run your agency more efficiently. Whether you’re a “one man show” just starting out or an established design agency looking to truly scale, we give you everything you need to start, run, and grow a successful web design business.
Which website builder should your agency choose?
When starting or growing a web design agency, you need to make sure you have a reliable website building platform behind the scenes. It will function as the backbone of your operation, and can be a major factor in your company's overall profitability and longevity.
A typical agency doesn't want to be using 10 different platforms for building websites. They prefer to use one core platform where the majority of their sites are built quickly and affordably, and maybe have one or two others that they use for special projects.
So if the focus is building websites for small businesses, which is the target market for most agencies, you have to pick the right platform – one that's easy to use, affordable both in the short- and long-term, that provides excellent support with a reliable track record, and that can do most or all of what you need to do out of the box.
If you take the time to make an educated decision in the beginning, you'll save yourself lots of time, stress, money, and frustration in the long-run.
For small agencies and individual designers:
Smaller agencies (1-5 employees) are typically nimble, so they can make changes quickly, but are also commonly spread thin, so everyone has to wear a bunch of different hats. They often don't have the time to spend on their own marketing efforts, and management can't always devote the necessary energy to offer continued education about the industry, changing best practices, or any sort of ongoing training. These agencies need to use a website building platform that's incredibly EASY to adopt and implement with a very small learning curve, and that provides additional tools and training to make sure the agency is staying highly competitive. They need to rely on their website platform very heavily for their success.
For larger agencies and media companies:
Larger agencies (more than 5 employees) usually have lots of moving parts, highly specialized roles within the company, and processes and protocols that are clearly spelled out that need to be followed. Making changes can be a long, drawn-out process and they often get stuck in ruts, doing things a certain way "because that's the way it's always been done." Sometimes, larger agencies have become so large out of necessity, due to the platform(s) they are using needing extensive training or careful oversight. That also means their prices skyrocket – the costs of running a large agency can be quite high, and the small business owner is the one who ultimately has to pay.
So is there a website building platform that is ideal for both small and large agencies?
Yes! The SiteSwan platform is perfect for any size agency or reseller. We have a network of over 400 resellers which includes both individual entrepreneurs operating alone and large national media companies with dozens of employees. We’re unique in that we are focused not just on the act of building websites, but on the bigger picture of running and profiting from scaling a web design business. Web design may be fun and a means to express yourself artistically, but if the business isn't operating soundly, then you have nothing.
Here are 7 reasons why SiteSwan is the best website building platform for agencies large and small:
1. SiteSwan is a Business-in-a-Box
SiteSwan is much more than just another website builder. Established back in 2011, we have been targeting agencies, media companies, and entrepreneurs with an all-in-one solution that takes all the guesswork out of scaling and profiting from a web design business.
Our platform includes everything from helping you find which local businesses need a website (our Local Prospecting Tool), to using our killer industry-specific Themes to easily build out sample homepages with our 1-Click Site Creation, to letting your clients submit payment for their setup fee and recurring monthly fee right from your dashboard (our Client Billing feature). In addition, you're granted immediate access to our ever-growing library of customizable marketing material including your own marketing website, sample contracts and agreements, client instruction manuals, and much more. And to help you truly scale, we even provide access to add-on services like Search Engine Submission and Reputation Management so you can build up the per-client revenue numbers.
The SiteSwan business model is 100% built on and reliant on our clients' success selling websites to small businesses, so our focus is dialed in on our agency partners closing deals and turning a profit. This approach is what has helped us continue to grow for such a long period of time.
And since everything about SiteSwan has been and continues to be built, designed, managed, and supported here in the United States, our clients can rest assured that they're getting the insights, expertise, and guidance from a company who truly understands what its agencies need and want to be successful.
2. Our Website Builder is Super Easy to Use
Ease of use has always been our focus at SiteSwan. You don’t need any technical experience at all to build a website on the SiteSwan platform. There’s no HTML, CSS, or other coding involved. With over 150 pre-built themes, you don’t even need to have any design skills.
Our site editor is super simple to use and appeals to agencies and users of any experience level. If you’re building websites for the first time, you’ll find it very easy to learn and master in just a few hours. On the other hand, if you’ve been building websites for years and used other platforms, you’ll find SiteSwan to be a refreshing alternative.
Agencies love the simplicity of our platform because that means they don't need to hire employees with specific, advanced knowledge on a particular platform or coding language. Literally anyone on staff can jump in and start designing and managing sites.
3. We Offer Affordable, Scalable Pricing
Unlike other website builders that charge you for each individual site you create, we tailored our plans to appeal to agencies looking to scale. Our wholesale, bulk pricing model starts at just $149/month and gives you everything you need to start building and selling websites to small businesses. If you’re just getting started, this plan allows you to take on 10 paying clients so you can generate a profit very quickly.
Every site includes hosting and SSL certificates at no additional charge. You can even add e-commerce to your sites for free, using our simple online store solution. These are all premium features that other website builders charge extra for. As you grow, or if you have an existing agency and need to move clients over to SiteSwan, you’ll find our pricing very attractive. With pricing as low as $3/month per site (on our Pro plan), we are by far one of the most affordable and scalable platforms on the market. Your cost per site actually decreases over time which will continue to boost your profits.
Agencies appreciate this simple pricing model and many have moved their clients’ sites over to SiteSwan to see a significant cost savings right out of the gates.
4. We Have Over 150+ Usable Themes
Many website platforms are limited in terms of website themes or templates. Some only offer a handful of options, or require you to purchase templates before you can even use or test them. Others claim to have hundreds, but are often obscure and unusable. (Who actually sells websites to someone running a cat blog?)
At SiteSwan, we focus on building themes that you can actually use when selling websites to small businesses. SiteSwan themes are industry-specific, professionally designed, mobile optimized, and come complete with search-friendly website content that can be personalized for each of your clients. We focus on creating themes for the industries that our resellers have the most success selling to in order to give you a clear path to success. We are always building more themes, and as a reseller, you can request a specific theme for us to build.
Agencies love that each of our themes comes with industry-specific content, along with the rights to use the professional imagery that comes with the theme. Plus, all the new themes we add are for hot markets that help everyone uncover new opportunities they may not have even thought existed. (For example, we recently launched a Pallet Supplier theme, Campground theme, and Real Estate Investor theme, which are prime opportunities in the current market.)
5. 100% White Label Solution
SiteSwan is a white label platform which means you can rebrand our site editor and marketing material with your own company name and logo. Nobody will know you are building websites with SiteSwan – not even your competitors. It can be your agency’s secret weapon to building websites that sell quickly.
You can even turn on “Stealth” mode which will remove any mention of SiteSwan from the backend dashboard. This can be used when you don’t want even your own staff members to know which website building platform you are using.
Agencies appreciate this level of privacy so that they can keep our relationship quiet. You are under no obligation to disclose the platform you're building sites on, so that you can have the ultimate competitive advantage. If you're searching for a white label website builder that has your agency's best interest in mind, SiteSwan is the clear choice.
6. It’s Perfect for Small Business Websites
SiteSwan is perfect for building websites for small to medium sized businesses.
Period.
We don’t claim to be the best solution for building membership sites, dating websites, mobile apps, classified forums, or complex online stores. This allows us to focus on creating the best website solution for small businesses. All of our features are designed to appeal to and satisfy your typical small business client. If you’re running a real web design business, this will make up about 99.9% of your customers.
Agencies love this hyper-focused approach because it helps them stay on track and truly scale. It's very easy to get convinced to take on a web design job that's out of your wheelhouse just because it's different and perhaps exciting, but that is a huge distraction. By staying dialed in to helping small businesses, that's where growth and scale truly takes place.
7. We Don’t Compete With You
You’ll notice that SiteSwan only offers plans starting at 10 sites. We don’t offer a single site plan or sell directly to small businesses ourselves because we don’t want to compete with our resellers.
If you’re an agency looking for a website builder for building your client websites, don’t you want to be sure that the platform you choose doesn’t try to swoop in and snatch up your clients? We don’t market to your customers, and we don’t communicate with your customers. Even our pricing is designed to dissuade an individual business from trying to come directly to us, and cut you out of the deal. Since we don’t offer a single site option, your clients can’t jump ship with you and purchase a site directly from us (at least, without spending significantly more).
Agencies appreciate this. The last thing you need is to have to worry about your clients trying to beat the system and go directly to the source, or move their site somewhere else in an attempt to reduce their fees. Your clients are much better off having you on their side as someone they can reach out to if they have concerns, a change in goals, or questions.
Now you know why SiteSwan is the best website building platform for both large and small agencies. As Mark Twain once said, “during the gold rush it’s a good time to be in the pick and shovel business.” There’s a “gold rush” out there with so many small businesses either needing a new website or a redesign on an existing one. SiteSwan is here to provide the “pick and shovel” and overall “business in a box” you need to succeed.
By positioning ourselves as much more than just another website builder – SiteSwan is a complete web design business in a box – you can get a lot more for your money and run your agency more efficiently. Whether you’re a “one man show” just starting out or an established design agency looking to truly scale, we give you everything you need to start, run, and grow a successful web design business.