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The Best Investment in Website Security
October 12, 2016
WordPress vs Website Builders: Ease of Use
October 26, 2016
There are so many options out there for how to create a website. Depending on your budget, your website goals and your business type, not every option will meet your needs. In this series, we aim to look at WordPress versus Website Builders to see how it stacks up in various areas. First, let’s explain a little about what WordPress and Website Builders have in common – they are all CMS platforms.
What is a CMS?
Imagine your website is like your body. Every person, no matter their age or how they look, has a skeleton that holds their body up. This skeleton is like a CMS (Content Management System) for your website. It’s the structure of the website, but it does not determine how your website looks. A CMS manages your content. It’s a way of organizing the content on your website in a way that makes editing your content as easy as using a word processor such as Microsoft Word.
Websites used to be made using simple HTML which required an FTP program to make changes to the website. This was tedious and only those with coding knowledge were able to make changes to the website content. A CMS is now used because it puts the power of content updates in the hands of the client.
If you are creating a website, there is no reason not to use a CMS. The question really comes down to – which one should you choose? Before we dive more into this topic in the coming weeks, let’s give a brief overview of the competition.
Words to Know
The Competition
WordPress.org
First, let’s get something straight. When we talk about WordPress, we aren’t talking about WordPress.com. WordPress.com is a hosted service by Automattic that gives you a very limited set of themes and functionality and usually involves advertising in exchange for free hosting. WordPress.com is very limited in scope.
Rather, we are talking about WordPress.org where you can download the WordPress CMS for FREE. We really like WordPress because:
- It’s open source which means it’s free to use and has a large community of very talented, knowledgeable people maintaining the code.
- It’s easy to use even for a non-computer person. Once we give you your set of training videos, most clients have been pleased to find out just how easy it is and are excited to have the ability to make edits to their website content themselves.
- It’s flexible. This, perhaps, is the greatest strength of WordPress. We have not found a website yet that didn’t work using WordPress. There are thousands of ways to expand the core features of WordPress and we have achieved every dream a client has brought to us.
- It’s a chameleon. You can create thousands of different designs that work with WordPress so no two websites look exactly alike – just like people.
There are many other reasons, but that will get you started and ready to read more in this series about how WordPress compares to Website Builders.
Website Builders such as Wix, SquareSpace, Weebly, Blogger, and GoDaddy’s Website Builder are also CMS platforms, but they integrate the content with built-in tools that allow a person to create the design of a website based off a template. Unlike WordPress, their platform is proprietary meaning that it’s owned by a specific company who may give select functionality for free, but usually charges for premium features. Many of the free accounts come with banner ads. These Website Builders also require hosting with the company that created the builder. Some of the reasons people choose Website Builders are:
- They are easy to use because of their drag-and-drop interface and simple structure.
- They are a one-stop shop. You can get a domain name, sign up for hosting, create your design and add your content all in one place.
- The fee structure is often fairly reasonable allowing people with a limited budget the ability to create a professional website fairly cheaply.
- Non-technical people can create their own website quickly all by themselves (theoretically – more on that in the coming weeks).
- They are visually appealing both in the websites they create and the way they market their services.
We’ll peel back the layers of these builders in the coming weeks to reveal what’s behind the shiny exterior and why these builders may or may not be a good fit for your next website.
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Testimonials
D3 Website Solutions came as qualified referral from trusted tech provider, Carolinas NetCare. Previously, we were a loyal, 15 year client of another provider. Service subsequently declined with the provider eventually failing. Laura took on our renovation project with undivided attention. She is always very patient in understanding our needs. Her guidance & insight is invaluable in building our site to best reflect our business. We greatly appreciate the excellent service & tremendous value we received.
We sought out the expertise of Laura and D3 solutions based on the recommendations of trusted colleagues and the need for a web developer who could understand our unique needs. Laura’s reputation is well earned as she was able to deliver a truly incredible product that exceeded all of our expectations. Her communication was timely and through a balanced combination of expertise and creativity, she was able to transform rough sketches and basic ideas into a captivating website that now serves as the centerpiece of our mission and work. Laura was patient with our questions and sensitive to our concerns. In every possible way, D3 Solutions demonstrated the highest level of customer service. In the end it became increasingly clear that for Laura and D3 Solutions, the people they serve are far more than clients, they are partners.
D3 Solutions is my go-to company for web development and website hosting. They provide solutions I can feel confident in, stable and secure servers and responsive customer service, all at a price I find very competitive. I could not do what I do without a partner like D3 Solutions.
We reached out to Laura at D3 Solutions after our website had a security breach. She was extremely responsive and had the issue cleared up right away!
It has been a true joy working with Laura! She was involved from the initial thoughts and concepts of what we wanted in a website to then seeing our vision fully realized in a very professional and attractive site. Laura helped us work through ideas, and offered expertise in how to best implement them in a manner that made sense and was best utilized by our target audience. We are thankful that the relationship is ongoing with advice and troubleshooting being just a phone call or email away. I highly recommend you consider Laura for your website design and development!
A couple of years ago I hired a company to rebuild my website, and when the process stalled out, Laura came in and salvaged what could have been a disaster. Since that time she has worked to maintain my website and has proven to be highly skillful in what she does, responsive, and ethical. I would recommend her without any hesitation.
Laura is a fantastic web developer! She’s developed three websites for me and it’s unbelievable how quickly she can get a project done! She’s decisive and thorough, but also creative and understands the whole process and how everything fits together. One of the things I appreciate most about working with Laura is that she’s very dependable and responds to emails within the hour. Her training videos explain things clearly and easily, even to a novice like myself. Thinking of creating a website? You can’t find anyone better than Laura.