Shopify made headlines in 2018 when both Ontario and British Columbia chose the platform for their retail sales. Both provincial governments chose Shopify thanks to its “proven record of on-time service, user-friendly design.”
If you are an online dispensary, licensed cultivator, cannabis services provider, or any other plant-touching business, what is the best cannabis web design platform?
WordPress, Drupal, Joomla Wix, and Squarespace are all great platforms, but which one is best for cannabis-based businesses?
Every platform has pros and cons. Your budget, size, and type of products/ services offered will all determine the best option. Here is a quick review of the top website platforms perfect for cannabis.
WordPress for Cannabis
By 2018, WordPress was powering at least 30 percent of the entire internet, including the websites of cannabis companies.
WordPress makes it possible to create a simple design from the thousands of free templates. But, more than likely, anyone selling goods or services in the cannabis space will need the help of a developer to perfect the design and user experience.
Part of the beauty of working with a platform like WordPress is the extensive catalog of free and premium plugins available. Whether you plan to run a shop, host events, want to optimize SEO or offer other cannabis services, there is very likely already a plugin for that.
WordPress works seamlessly with Woocommerce, a WordPress-specific eCommerce plugin. WordPress is perhaps the best platform for content creation like blogging and other media.
Joomla for Cannabis
Joomla was the second-largest web platform according to the 2018 survey listed above. But is Jumal any use for cannabis companies in Canada? Joomla has much more to offer companies building an online store because of its integration with eCommerce and social media.
Although very supportive of eCommerce, Joomla is not as user-friendly as WordPress. If you decide to use this platform for your cannabis site, you will need to work with a web developer to build it.
Also, there are not as many out-of-the-box options either, but it supports cannabis-centric web design.
Drupal for Cannabis
The third most popular website platform worldwide is Drupal, but it is another platform requiring professional cannabis web design work. The average person won’t be able to pull together a website with a compelling user experience and refined SEO without one.
Still, it’s a valuable option for cannabis companies because it is fast, much faster, and lighter than WordPress or even Joomla. When speed is a concern, Drupal offers one of the fastest platforms.
Wix for Cannabis
Wix is frequently advertised as an easy way to launch a website for free. While this is true, it fails to mention the downsides of operating a business through Wix.
First and foremost, the free Wix services don’t include using your domain name, which means all your traffic is technically under the Wiz authority. With the free Wix, you are doing nothing to build your own domain authority.
Second, there are few templates to choose from, and the platform is not very customizable. Finally, the foundational aspects of a Wix website are not as driven by the same caliber of SEO-best practices as WordPress or Drupal. If you want to rank, Wix isn’t a great option.
Shopify For Cannabis
Shopify has quickly become the internet’s darling for all things eCommerce. It’s a one-stop-shop for anyone selling products online, including cannabis.
Now selling cannabis for both the Ontario and BC provincial governments, Shopify is clearly trying to mark the Canadian cannabis world.
For those unfamiliar with building an online dispensary from the ground up, you’ll want the guidance of a Shopify expert to get started with
Cannabis-Friendly Website Platforms Supportive of Cannabis web design
What’s most important with Cannabis web design? Focus on the basics in the early stages of your business. As the company grows, work with a professional cannabis website developer to build a user-friendly and attractive website.
Finding the perfect website platform for your cannabis business is the start. Next, you need a cannabis-friendly host, and even more complicated, a cannabis friendly-payment system. But that’s a story for another post.