What is Webflow?
Webflow is a CMS (Content Management System). It is therefore part of the large family of online tools for website development, including Wordpress, Wix, Squarespace, and many others, less known.
While it may be perceived as a newcomer to the CMS market, Webflow was however created in 2013 and has therefore reached a certain maturity as a web development tool and platform.
Even if in market share, WebFlow only represents 0.6% of websites, with more than 500,000 units, the CMS can boast of being used by major brands such as Groupon, Hewlett-Packard, Pinterest, MTV or IBM.
From now on, Knok Studios offer you to develop your website in Outsourcing in Asia with Webflow. In this article, we will go over everything there is to know about this innovative solution!
What are the advantages of Webflow?
- The very first advantage of Webflow lies in its ultra-advanced customization of the design. Indeed, it allows Web designers almost limitless creativity, without coding, thanks to an interface similar to tools such as Photoshop. This creativity is particularly expressed in the animations and the possible modes of navigation.
- This is also a major upside: the code created on the Webflow platform is very easy to export. It is therefore entirely possible to develop a site via Webflow and then “install” it on another platform such as WordPress. However, it is not possible to import an existing site into Webflow.
- The responsive nature of Webflow sites is also very precise and very powerful, and much less rigid than other CMS. Your site will therefore be displayed perfectly with designs adapted to PC, tablet and mobile devices.
- Fast sites, thanks to high-quality hosting, and optimized code.
- Webflow has documents that help you use all the tools. Knowledge bases, forums, but also hundreds of hours of tutorials (in English) are at your disposal.
What are the disadvantages of Webflow?
- The site creation interface is relatively complex, because it is very rich in functionalities. Webflow is clearly aimed at “pros” (web designers, agencies, startups …). Please note, this does not mean that it is difficult for customers to update their sites. When creating a Webflow site, the developer can choose to give access to editors to certain parts of the site (eg editing of texts, products).
- The possibilities of integrating third-party tools (plugins) are quite limited, but it’s getting better with time. Difficult to compete on this point with WordPress and its gigantic community of developers.
- Some E-Commerce features are missing, such as selling subscriptions and sending cart abandonment notifications (although these are planned for the future).
- While knowledge bases allow you to improve, technical support is not always there. But this issue is common for the majority of CMS (in particular WordPress, which is an open solution, does not have more customer service). As often on the web, it is better to speak directly to developers.
Can we build a blog with Webflow?
Yes. Webflow has all the tools you need to create and organize your Blog posts, with templates (paid or free) to help you. You have to make sure that these templates have a CMS that allows you to manage the articles, and that the comment system is activated if you wish.
Can we create an E-Commerce website on Webflow?
Absolutely. Webflow allows you to sell products (digital or physical, and soon subscriptions), as well as their variations (colors, weight, etc.).
Webflow integrates with traditional payment methods such as Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Paypal. You can create your own shipping rates, and taxes can be calculated automatically.
Additional plugins allow you to have access to features such as DropShipping, collecting and sending emails via MailChimp, sending SMS alerts to your customers, creating discounts and coupons, etc.
The connection with social networks and their advertising platforms is also there.
As with any other website, you can also connect it to Google Analytics to track your visits, sales, and more.
The commissions on your sales vary between 0 and 2% of the amount of the transaction, and the hosting of E-Commerce sites on Webflow starts at $ 29/month.
In short, Webflow is, therefore, suitable for small E-Commerce, and it is embarking on a path allowing to further expand its market possibilities in the future. For more ambitious projects in terms of product quantities, with better stock management, this is probably not the best solution.
Do you have an E-Commerce Website project? Do you want to outsource its development in Asia?
Contact our experts to choose the most suitable solution!
What about SEO on Webflow?
WordPress often appears as one of the CMS references for the SEO of your website, thanks to its many optimization tools. Webflow has fewer SEO tools, however, it has 2 major upsides when it comes to SEO:
First: As Webflow’s code structure is more efficient and its loading speeds are excellent, there is less need to use optimization tools. Webflow also has SSL security which does not require an additional plugin.
Second: because some tools/plugins are not yet developed, but will inevitably appear.
Remember that all the major SEO standards are present on Webflow since you will be able to manage:
- Titles, meta descriptions, and metatags.
- Titles and alt tags of images.
- Redirects of your pages.
- Sitemaps.
- Schema Markups for your enriched results.
And as seen before, you have a blogging tool for all the optimized content you would want to create.
Does Webflow offer templates? at what price?
Absolutely. Like its competitors, it is possible to acquire already existing designs for Webflow. At the time of writing, some 500+ templates are available. The price of these templates varies mainly between 24 and 129 USD.
Our Webflow experts in Asia can offer you websites at affordable prices, in a price range quite similar to what can be done on WordPress or other CMS.
How much does a tailor-made Webflow site cost?
Thanks to this platform, our Webflow experts offer websites that are more graphically daring than our WordPress offers. However, such sites do not necessarily cost more than a “traditional” site. First of all because by virtue of its performance, the time saved thanks to Webflow can have an impact on the price, but also because nothing forces you to opt for a very high-end site graphically. A classic design that goes to the essentials also has its place on Webflow.
Count between 1000 and 2000 USD / Euros for a single page showcase site (or 2-3 single pages), and a flat rate of 5000 to 8000 USD / Euros for a large number of pages. It all really depends on your expectations and the complexity of your project.
Do you have a Showcase Website project? Do you want to outsource its development in Asia?
Contact our experts to discuss it!
How much does hosting on Webflow cost?
There are many different hosting packages at Webflow, by website, or by account. For showcase websites, here are the options:
- Basic, at $12/month: good if you don’t need CMS and want a simple website, with up to 25,000 visits per month.
- CMS, at $16/month: suitable for blogs and websites with a lot of content. This formula supports up to 100,000 visits per month, 1,000 forms received, and 2,000 pages/articles.
- Business, at $36/month: for the more ambitious and resourceful sites, with 500,000 visits per month.
Note that there is a free plan to try Webflow, but you will not have your own domain (you will have a .webflow.com address), and you will be limited in the number of pages.
For E-Commerce solutions:
- Standard, at $29/month and 2% commission on sales, up to 500 products, and $50K annual turnover.
- Plus, at $74/month, no sales commission, up to 1000 products, and $200K in annual turnover.
- Advanced, at $212/month, no sales commission, up to 3000 products, and no annual turnover limit.
