Another way to increase your online visibility and connect with your customers is to have a business page on Facebook. A Facebook page can help you showcase your products or services, share updates and news, engage with your audience, and collect feedback and reviews. You can also use Facebook to run ads and promotions, create events, and link to your website or other social media platforms. BetterView can help you create and manage your Facebook page, and make sure it aligns with your marketing goals and brand identity. There are also ways to include your Facebook feed on your web site. Contact us today to find out more.

See our Facebook page here.

WordPress is one of the most popular and widely used platforms for creating and managing websites. It offers a variety of features, such as themes, plugins, widgets, and customizability, that make it appealing to many users. However, WordPress also has some limitations and disadvantages that may affect its performance, security, and usability. In this document, we will discuss some of the main pros and cons of using WordPress as a website builder. With effort a person can learn to create a website with this platform, but if you get stuck there are a lot of web developers that can help.

A few Pros of WordPress:
• WordPress is free and open source, which means that anyone can use it, modify it, and contribute to its development.
• WordPress has thousands of themes and plugins that allow users to customize the appearance and functionality of their website.
• • WordPress is compatible with most web hosting services and browsers and can be integrated with various third-party tools and platforms.

A few Cons of WordPress sites:
• WordPress can be vulnerable to security issues, such as hacking, malware, and spam, as it is a popular target for attackers and hackers.
• WordPress can be difficult to maintain and update, as it requires regular backups, updates, and troubleshooting, which may be challenging for some users.
• WordPress can be limited and restrictive, as it may not offer the desired level of customization, flexibility, or functionality for some users, especially for advanced or complex websites.
• WordPress can be expensive, as it may require additional costs for premium themes, plugins, hosting, or domain name, which may not be affordable for some users.

Most web hosting companies have the option to create your site in WordPress. Because of this there is a large variation in pricing. Most of the libraries are also free. Although this saves on cost, the problem we have run into is when a library stops working, it is almost impossible to fix.

BetterView DOES NOT support WordPress sites. However, if you are happy with your WordPress site and developer keep it going.

WIX is another popular platform that allows users to create and host websites without coding. WIX offers a drag-and-drop interface, hundreds of templates, and various features and tools to customize and optimize websites. However, like WordPress, WIX also has some advantages and disadvantages that users should consider before choosing it for their website needs. Here are some of the pros and cons of using WIX.

Easy and intuitive: WIX is designed for beginners and non-technical users who want to create websites quickly and easily. The drag-and-drop interface lets users add, edit, and arrange elements on their web pages with a few clicks. Users can also choose from hundreds of pre-designed templates that suit different niches and purposes or start from scratch if they prefer. In many ways it is easier to learn than WordPress.

Flexible and customizable: WIX offers a lot of options and tools to customize and enhance websites according to users' preferences and needs. Users can change the colors, fonts, backgrounds, layouts, animations, and other aspects of their web pages. Users can also add various features and functionalities to their websites, such as blogs, online stores, booking systems, contact forms, galleries, videos, social media integration, and more.

A few Cons of WIX

Limited and locked-in: WIX has some limitations and restrictions that may affect the performance, functionality, and scalability of websites. For example, WIX does not allow users to access or modify the source code of their websites, which means they cannot make advanced customizations or integrations that are not supported by WIX. Also, WIX does not let users migrate or export their websites to another platform, which means they are locked into WIX and cannot switch to another provider if they want to.

Slow and unreliable: WIX has some issues with speed and reliability that may affect the user experience and SEO of websites. For example, WIX websites tend to load slower than some other platforms, especially on mobile devices, which may frustrate visitors and lower rankings. Also, WIX websites may experience downtime or glitches due to server problems or maintenance, which may cause inconveniences and losses for users and visitors.

Shopify is a popular and easy-to-use online store builder that lets you create and manage your own e-commerce web site. Shopify offers a variety of templates, themes, and apps to help you design and customize your web site according to your brand and preferences. Shopify also provides tools and features for inventory management, order fulfillment, payment processing, marketing, analytics, and customer service. Shopify is a cloud-based platform that handles hosting, security, and updates for your web site, so you don't have to worry about technical issues or maintenance. Shopify is suitable for beginners as well as experienced online sellers who want to launch and grow their e-commerce business. We used Shopify to create a shopping web site a few years ago and it worked very well.

Some of the best features of Shopify are:

- Shopify is easy to use and set up, even for beginners. You don't need any coding or web development skills to create your web site with Shopify.

- Shopify has a large and diverse selection of themes and templates that you can choose from to suit your brand and industry. You can also modify and tweak them to your liking or hire a Shopify expert to help you with more advanced customization.

- Shopify integrates with many third-party apps and services that can enhance your web site's functionality and performance. You can add features such as social media, email marketing, analytics, customer service, loyalty programs, and more to your web site with Shopify's app store.

Other notes about Shopify are:

- Shopify can be expensive compared to other e-commerce platforms. Shopify charges a monthly fee for its plans, ranging from $29 to $299 (USD), plus transaction fees for every sale you make. You may also have to pay extra for some premium themes, apps, and features that are not included in your plan.

- Shopify has limited flexibility and control over your web site's design and functionality. Shopify uses its own proprietary coding language, called Liquid, which can be difficult to modify or customize if you are not familiar with it. You may also encounter some limitations or restrictions on what you can do with your web site, depending on your plan and Shopify's policies.

- Shopify is not very SEO-friendly compared to other e-commerce platforms. Shopify does not allow you to edit or optimize some aspects of your web site's SEO, such as URL structure, meta tags, robots.txt, sitemaps, and canonical tags. This can affect your web site's ranking and visibility on search engines.

Many small businesses (including BetterView) use Square to collect payments from Credit cards and Interac cards. But did you know you can also build an on-line store with Square to sell your products?

If you already use Square to accept payments in person, you can easily create an online store with Square to sell your products on the web. Square online store is a free and simple e-commerce solution that lets you showcase your products, accept orders, and process payments online. You can choose from a range of templates and themes to customize your web site or use the drag-and-drop editor to create your own design. You can also add features like coupons, gift cards, shipping options, and customer reviews to enhance your online store. Square online store integrates seamlessly with your Square account, so you can manage your inventory, sales, and customers from one dashboard. You can also sync your online and offline sales data and track your performance with analytics and reports. Square online store is a great option for small businesses that want to expand their online presence and reach more customers.

Have a Food truck or restaurant? Square Online accepts and manages orders, both online (for pick-up) and in-person from back of house, front of house. Sell on social media and mobile. Add ordering to your Google Maps profile to really boost sales!

Level 1 is ideal for companies requiring a website ranging from a single page up to around ten pages. These sites are fully optimized for mobile devices and perform just as well on desktop computers as they do on mobile phones.

We can also implement basic animations like size adjustments when hovering over an item or scrolling through the page. The objective is to launch your site swiftly while maintaining high quality. This can be done in as little as one week!

A simple one-page website offers numerous benefits, particularly for businesses looking to establish a strong online presence swiftly and effectively. It provides a seamless user experience by consolidating all essential information into a single, easy-to-navigate page, which can significantly reduce bounce rates. Additionally, one-page sites are often faster to load, enhancing user satisfaction and improving search engine rankings. Their streamlined design also facilitates effortless updates and maintenance, ensuring that your content remains current and relevant. Moreover, the clean and concise nature of a one-page site can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates, as visitors can quickly find the information they need without the distraction of navigating through multiple pages.

Below are examples of websites created by BetterView Software.

LIVE Level 1 website samples
• Lighthouse of Faith
  A few simple pages with a Google Calendar, and pop-up PDF/Image links.
• Saint John Fundy Heritage Zone
  This has been re-created from a WordPress site.

Prices start at $250 + $100/page

This is one of the most flexible ways to create your own website as the developer has full control over all features of your website. With the CSS and JavaScript libraries that are available now, it is possible to support every device from Desktop to Mobile phones and tablets. As we mentioned earlier, over 80% of the people will discover your site on their smartphone first, so it is very important to support all mobile devices.

The trade off is that even though the monthly cost of hosting an HTML web site can be very low (starting at $5 to $10/month) you need to hire a professional web developer to create the web site. A Single page web site can normally take a few weeks and most firms will charge over $1,000 for that.

Putting together a multi-page web site will vary greatly in cost depending on not only how many pages, but how advanced you want it to be. Projects like this normally take 1 to 3 months or longer.

Also, once a new web site is published in can take 48 hours to a week for it to star appearing in the search engine listings. And of course, then the challenge is to get it listed as one of the top 10 sites before people give up finding your site. All changes or additions you want to make will be done by the developer.

The BetterView web site you are currently viewing is an example of some of the things we can do for you on your custom website.

LIVE Level 2 sites
• Kangaroo Cove Publishing
  This site has moving text and custom borders between sections

Prices start at $500 + $200/page

Normally when you fill out a form on a web site it is just sent to an email address. However sometimes there is a need for more complex options such as a shopping site that maintains an inventory balance, or an accounting web site such as QuickBooks. Putting together a web site like this involves not only the visual part of the web page but also scripting, programming, and a database to save your information into.

This can be the most complex type of web site to build as a lot of planning goes into it. A normal web site is only concerned with how well it looks and responds, but a Data web site is a lot more as you also have to map out all the data tables and calculations. There is also an added monthly cost of storing your database. This can grow if your site has 1,000s of users!

With decades of experience in office and web software development, BetterView excels at what we do! You'll enjoy the advantages of using the latest tools and technologies to create your ideal site. Monthly hosting for a data drive site starts at $50.

There are a number of these sites in development at this time. Let us know if you have a special need and we will make it come true for you!

LIVE Level 3 sites
• Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ of Canada (ALJCC)
  Complete with member sign-in. Members see different pages/features based on roles assigned.

Prices start at $750 + $500/page