This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up for Showit through https://showit.com/r/1f9jw8vd and continue after your free trial, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I also share affiliate links for Northfolk templates I personally use and love.
If you’re a service-based or creative small business owner, you’ve probably heard people rave about Showit… and then immediately thought:
“Okay, but what actually is Showit? Is it hosting? A website builder? Is it good for SEO? And will I be able to use it if I’m not techy?”
This post is your simple, researched guide to Showit—without the jargon.
We’ll walk through:
- How Showit started and who it was built for
- What Showit is today (and what’s included in terms of hosting)
- How it’s different from other website platforms
- What SEO looks like on Showit
- How you can test it yourself with a 30-day free trial via https://showit.com/r/1f9jw8vd
- And where Northfolk templates fit into the picture
A Brief History of Showit
Showit didn’t come from a big tech corporation. It started back in the mid-2000s with a simple goal: help photographers build their own websites without needing to learn code.
The early version of Showit was built specifically for photographers, letting them create custom-looking sites and online portfolios when most platforms still felt clunky and rigid.
Over time, two important things happened:
- The internet moved away from Flash and toward responsive, mobile-friendly design.
- Showit’s audience expanded from photographers to creative entrepreneurs and small businesses of all kinds.
Today, Showit calls itself a drag-and-drop website platform for creative business owners and personal brands. In other words: it grew from a niche photography tool into a flexible, visual website builder for a much wider range of businesses.
What Showit Actually Is (Builder + Hosting)
The easiest way to explain Showit is:
Showit is a visual website builder and a hosting platform, with WordPress powering your blog.
In practical terms, that means:
- You design your site inside the Showit app using true drag-and-drop controls.
- Showit hosts your website for you on their servers. You don’t have to buy separate hosting if you’re on a paid Showit plan.
- If you want a blog, Showit connects to WordPress behind the scenes, so you write posts in WordPress but control the layout and design in Showit.
What Showit doesn’t do directly:
- It’s not a full, complex ecommerce system like Shopify. You can still sell services, digital products, and small offers—you just integrate external checkout tools or simple commerce solutions.
- It doesn’t sell or manage your domain name. You still buy your domain from a registrar (like Google Domains, GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) and connect it to Showit.
For many service-based businesses, this is actually ideal: you get a powerful, flexible design tool plus hosting, without dealing with all the extra tech of a DIY WordPress setup.
If you want to see what the platform feels like, you can open a 30-day free trial with Showit here: https://showit.com/r/1f9jw8vd, click around, and test it with zero pressure.
How It’s Different From Other Website Platforms
A lot of Showit’s growth has come from people moving over from Squarespace, Wix, or traditional WordPress themes. Here’s why creators and designers talk about it so much.
1. True drag-and-drop design
Most website builders say they’re drag-and-drop, but they still lock you into strict rows and columns.
Showit gives you real layout freedom:
- You place text, images, and shapes exactly where you want them.
- You can overlap elements, layer sections, and create layouts that feel more custom and “designer” than most templates.
- It feels more like working in Canva or a design program than editing a rigid theme.
2. Separate desktop and mobile layouts
With Showit, you design desktop and mobile views separately. That means you can:
- Adjust spacing and font sizes just for mobile
- Hide or rearrange elements on the mobile version
- Make sure the phone experience feels intentional—not just “shrunk down”
Since so many of your potential clients are browsing on their phones, this is a big deal.
3. Built with creatives and service-based brands in mind
Showit’s templates and messaging are very focused on:
- Creative entrepreneurs
- Personal brands
- Service providers
- Small businesses who care a lot about visual identity
This is also why designers like Northfolk build such strong Showit templates: the platform is set up to support strategic, story-driven layouts for creatives, agencies, wellness brands, and more.
Is Showit Good for SEO?
Short answer: yes—Showit can rank very well in Google when it’s set up properly.
SEO on Showit is more about how you use it than the platform itself. You’ll still want to:
- Write clear, helpful page titles and meta descriptions
- Use headings (H1, H2, H3) in a logical way
- Add genuinely informative content to your key pages and blog posts
- Make sure your images are compressed and have alt text
- Blog consistently if organic traffic is part of your strategy
Because your blog lives on WordPress, you can also use familiar SEO tools like Yoast or Rank Math for posts. Showit handles the layout; WordPress handles the content management and SEO plugins.
Are there technical differences between Showit and something like Squarespace or a traditional WordPress theme? Yes. But for the average small business, the deciding factor is usually:
“Am I (or my designer) doing the basic SEO work?”
If the answer is yes, Showit gives you everything you need to show up in search.
Using Showit With Northfolk Templates
One of the most powerful ways to use Showit—especially if you’re not a designer—is to pair it with a premium template.
I personally love and use Northfolk Showit templates, including:
- Crestone – which I use for my own Showit website template shop
- Heirloom – which I use for a more story-driven, elevated brand
Northfolk designs their templates specifically for creative entrepreneurs and service-based businesses, so you get:
- A strategic, conversion-minded layout
- Beautiful design that doesn’t feel cookie-cutter
- A structure you can customize to fit your own niche
If you want to see exactly how I use Crestone and Heirloom—and grab my Northfolk discount code—you can read my full post here:
For many of my people, the “dream combo” looks like:
- Showit as the website platform and host
- Northfolk for the template and design foundation
- Then layering in copy, photos, and SEO on top
Try It for 30 Days, Risk-Free
If you’re curious about Showit but nervous about committing, the safest next step is simply to try it.
Here’s how to do that without stress:
- Start a 30-day free trial using my link: https://showit.com/r/1f9jw8vd
(This gives you extra time compared to the usual trial.) - Choose a starting template inside Showit or install a premium template (like Northfolk).
- Spend your trial:
- Swapping in your own words and photos
- Getting a feel for the drag-and-drop editor
- Testing what it’s like to update pages yourself
- If you get stuck, use Showit’s built-in support chat and help center—they’re genuinely helpful and used to working with non-techy users.
- Before the 30 days are up, decide:
- “Yes, this feels like a platform I can grow with,” and keep your subscription
- Or “No, this isn’t for me,” and cancel before you’re charged
Either way, you’ll be deciding from experience, not guesswork.
Showit FAQ (Simple Answers for Non-Techy Business Owners)
Is Showit a website host or just a builder?
Showit is both a website builder and a host. You design your site in Showit, and they host it on their servers. You still buy your domain (your www address) from a registrar and point it to Showit, but you don’t need separate web hosting.
Can I use my own domain with Showit?
Yes. You purchase your domain from a provider like Google Domains, GoDaddy, or Namecheap, then connect it to your Showit site. Showit has step-by-step guides and support to help you with this, and you can always ask their support team if you get stuck.
Is Showit good for SEO?
Yes. Showit gives you control over titles, meta descriptions, headings, and page content—the key pieces you need for SEO. Your blog runs on WordPress, which is very SEO-friendly when properly set up. The main thing is making sure your content is helpful and your basic SEO settings are filled in.
Is Showit harder to use than Squarespace or Wix?
Showit can feel a tiny bit more complex at first because it gives you more design freedom. But that freedom is exactly what lets your site look less “templated.” If you’re using a good template and willing to learn the basics, most non-techy users find they can manage Showit with some initial guidance.
Do I need to know code to use Showit?
No. You don’t need to know any code to design and manage your site in Showit. Everything is drag-and-drop. If you ever want advanced customizations, a designer or developer can add them—but it’s absolutely not required for a beautiful, functional site.
