An Honest Showit Site Review

If you’ve been following along this past week, you might have noticed that my main site got a bit of a facelift! I spent three days in front of my computer ALMOST non-stop, crafting the perfect look for my website until I finally felt that it conveyed my brand – dreamy, romantic, and heartfelt.

Although three days in the trenches while designing and tweaking can certainly feel like a long time, in reality that is a pretty fast turnaround to create and publish a site from start to finish!

Listen up: I could not have done this on my own without the Showit platform!

I started paying for a Showit subscription pretty much as soon as my doors opened for business and I haven’t looked back. People tend to either love or hate Showit, but my feet are firmly planted WITHIN the Showit camp for lots of reasons. Let me share with you my top five reasons why I love my Showit site:

1. Cost effectiveness. Compared to the cost of hiring a great web designer which could cost you thousands of dollars (and rightfully so), Showit is extremely cost effective. The monthly subscription fee of $39/month is nothing considering that your website is essentially your storefront. From there, basic templates are free, and even if you opt to purchase a premium design, you’re still only out maybe an extra $350. (Hint: there are LOTS of amazing designers out there who sell premade templates!)

2. Mobile compatibility. I am still working on building this part of my site, but so far I am totally blown away by how easy it is to create a carbon copy of your website that makes the mobile experience THAT MUCH BETTER. And even if you haven’t created a specific mobile site just yet, the version that Showit automatically publishes for mobile browsing honestly isn’t terrible at all.

3. Ease of design. What?! You mean I don’t have to know Flash?! One of the biggest reasons I was sold on Showit was the fact that it was a drag-and-drop editor that required me to have no knowledge of site design. I love that it is totally WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), so I know just what it will look like, AS I am editing.

4. SEO. This is where Showit gets a lot of flack. People tend to think that because Showit is a flash-based site, it doesn’t get crawled as much by search engines. This is definitely not true – as a matter of fact, I am ranked on the first page for many of the highly desired keywords in my area! Showit has several different areas within the interface that allow to to input various SEO parameters. Also, it automatically publishes an HTML5 version of each page, which Google eats right up.

5. The ability to change it up. When I was younger, I used to love putting on an outfit…then changing into another one for the afternoon…and another one for the evening. (Okay, maybe I still do this.) Point is, I love changing things up pretty often, be it a different font/color/photo/wording. With Showit, small changes AND larger scale changes are a breeze. I can simply open the interface and even start from scratch, if I like. No problem!

For me, Showit is totally worth it. If you’re thinking about it, go ahead and take the plunge. The best part is that you don’t actually have to PAY for your Showit site until you hit that publish button. Take all the time you need perfecting and tweaking, but you don’t pay a dime until it goes live. But I’ll give you fair warning – you might find it a little addicting!

Emily Chappell is one of the premiere Dallas wedding photographers specializing in timeless, romantic, and joyful imagery. From engagement photography in the Dallas area to wedding day photography, she has a passion for couples and their unique love stories.