Why let someone create a website and not do it yourself?
This is a question webdevelopers hear on a regular base. True, there are different ways to create a website yourself: you’ll find lots of website builders and you can get WordPress for free. So why would you pay someone to make you a website?
In this article I’ll go over the pro’s and cons of websites builders or creating a website yourself with WordPress.
Difference between website builders and WordPress
To start I’ll explain the most common differences between a WordPress site and a website builder.
Website builders can be found in all different sizes and shapes. In general they are provided with your hosting provider (the firm that gives you the space to place your website). Different hostings offer free website builders to build a website fast and easy.
WordPress is what they call a Content Management System, in short CMS. This is a software package dat manages all content of your site and you can have multiple admins, editors. In the background it uses a database. This software package runs on a hosting server and needs to be installed or it’s pre-installed by your provider.
Pro's of doing it yourself
Doing it yourself can sometimes be cheaper then using a developer.
If you are technically skilled and you can use your website builder fluently or WordPress it could be faster then having to wait on your developer to update your site.
Cons of doing it yourself
Website builders
The big disadvantage of website builders is you depend on them. If your provider decides to use a different one or just decides to not offer a builder anymore you’ll lose your website.
Website builders also offer a lot less possibilities then a CMS like WordPress. You can’t just add functionality like you do with WordPress.
A login function for your clients is usually not provided or possible to add.
Most sitebuilders also don’t have lot of options regarding design.
Optimizing your site for search engines (Search Engine Optimization or SEO) is nearly impossible with most site builders. You can have a site but it’s impossible to get it on page one of the search engines.
A site builder is usually hosted on a shared hosting making it slow. Slow websites are punished by search engines like Google.
WordPress
If you want to work with a CMS like WordPress you’ll have to consider the learning curve to get the hang of it. It’s not just copy/pasting.
Because WordPress is the most used CMS in the world you’ll have to keep in mind it’s prone to attacks, bots and viruses. You can compare this with the difference between Windows and Apple. Securing your site the right way is imperative and you have to know what you are doing.
Both
Depending on the kind of site you want/need you have to meet certain legal requirements. Every site has to have a cookie policy and a privacy policy. Do you want a webshop? You’ll need extra documents and you have to keep in mind you are responsible for the data your clients provide on your site. Site security is even more important. A good and valid SSL certificate is very important.
SEO is very technical to get it right. Do you want your website to be found on search engines you’ll have to know what you are doing.
Conclusion
If you just need a basic website for your personal project or a simple blog you can start of with a website builder.
Do you need more functions, do you keep data from your visitors (email addresses, IP addresses,…) it’s better and more safe to find a website developer.
If you want more information about the prices of WordPress websites you can always have a look here.
