The 5 Best Website Builders for Your Equipment Rental Business

If equipment rental is your business, you already know that it’s a pretty competitive space to work in. Fortunately, a professional-looking website is a great tool that can help you stand out from the crowd by boosting your online presence. That’s especially true now that most people are shopping online and want to know what types of safety and health measures businesses have put in place during COVID-19.

So how do you decide which website builder to use for your equipment rental business?

There are countless options out there, yet many lack essential features like product-focused themes and user-friendly booking systems. Make the wrong choice and you’ll end up losing time, sitting on idle inventory that’s taking up space and not making you any money, while you try to rebuild your website from scratch. But rest assured, whether you’re providing custom bikes or hiking supplies or even construction equipment rental, there’s a website builder for you! Ready to jump in?

1. Wix

The beginner-friendly alternative for a functional website

Wix is a drag-and-drop builder made for beginners. Its intuitive user interface comes with hundreds of templates to help you create a website in no time. Your site should not only showcase your products, but also differentiate your business from competitors. Wix helps you achieve that by allowing you to save and reuse high-quality media – a great feature in any case, but especially useful if you’re renting out equipment that goes in and out of season – in addition to superbly customizable page design. A free plan is available but you will need to upgrade to a paid account to make the most of the ecommerce and customization.

• Read more details about what Wix has to offer

2. SITE123

The quickest way to launch a site without breaking the bank

SITE123 has taken all the guesswork out of website building with their ready-made styles and layouts. You can create and host a simple website at no cost, and even find great ecommerce functionality in their free plan for as long as you want. The biggest downside is that you can’t switch to a different template once you’ve started creating your site, so make sure to start with a clear idea about the look of your site. Here’s something from SITE123 that many other builders don’t have: you can display your site in multiple languages. This is great if you’re renting equipment to a broad base of customers or in a location with a diverse population.

• Find out more about SITE123’s features here

3. Squarespace

The best layout to showcase your rental products

Although it does not feature the largest collection of themes, Squarespace is visually impressive with modern, attractive, and responsive design. There is no free plan option, but you do get a free trial and great support with your website. Is business booming and customers asking for additional services that complement your rental equipment? Not a problem, as Squarespace lets you easily switch your theme to keep up with business needs.

Squarespace also has no product limit and works with a good number of plugins and integrations to make rental management less of a hassle. You will need to upgrade to the Basic Commerce plan or Advanced Commerce plan to have inventory tracking included in the features.

• To learn more about Squarespace, read this

4. WordPress.com

Complete control and versatility at your fingertips

WordPress.com combines website building and web hosting into one platform. It offers the largest selection of themes and plugins by far (we’re talking thousands!). It also has some really affordable plans, including a free option, but you’ll need to upgrade to the third tier at least to access plugins and theme uploads.

The sheer number of options and potential for customization means that you’ll need a bit more time and knowhow to set up your site. However, the payoff for all your hard work is a unique website which can be widely integrated – regardless of the ecommerce plugin or rental management system you use.

• Click here for tips and tricks to help you get the most out of WordPress.com

5. Weebly

An affordable ecommerce standout

Weebly’s ecommerce tools make it a top contender for equipment rental businesses, especially considering that popular options like inventory management, quick shop, and more are available with the free plan. Going the paid route won’t break the bank though, because Weebly boasts some of the most affordable plans on the market. Select a premium plan and enjoy advanced ecommerce functionality with unlimited products and a wide variety of payment options – perfect if your rental business caters to unconventional customers like tourists or pop-up shops. And speaking of not losing any opportunities, Weebly’s second- and third-tier plans allow you to run advanced marketing campaigns too.

• Find out everything you need to know about Weebly here

In conclusion

Don’t panic if you don’t think you have the coding skills to create a stunning, functional website for your equipment rental business. There are great website builders out there offering the tools, along with social media, to make a splash online. Need a little extra help? Check out this DIY guide to building your website!

If you’re looking for an easy and functional alternative, choose Wix. SITE123, on the other hand,  gives you the most straightforward process to launch fast. If you’re more concerned with having an attractive site, stick with Squarespace. For versatility and an unlimited array of plugins, WordPress.com could be the way to go. And finally, Weebly has the robust ecommerce capabilities to take your business to the top.