Building a Website these days is easier than ever before. The fact that you a reading this article means that you are probably thinking about doing it yourself.
So what do you need?
- A Domain Name
- Hosting
- A Content Management System (CMS), also known as a Website Builder
- Most importantly Content.
Free CMS Platforms
For simple websites there are free CMS alternatives. Examples include:
These Free alternatives are proprietary platforms. They are great for simple sites. However, they do have their limitations.
The main one being that they are proprietary platforms. Meaning, if you build your website on one of these platforms.
- You can never move it elsewhere . Even if you are not happy with the CMS. We had one client who spent 2 years building a site which had to be completely recreated to move it.
- You cannot extend it. If you want to do something that is not a current feature of the CMS, you simply cannot do it.
- It can only be supported by the CMS vendor.
WordPress CMS Platform
In contrast, WordPress is an Open Source CMS. It can be used for everything from very simple sites through to very complex sites.
The main benefits of being Open Source:
- The site can be moved to any host
- There are thousands of existing Plugins (Add-ons/Extensions) to add functionality
- Developers can extend it by writing new Plugins. So the Website can be customised to add new functionality
- There are thousands of support resources and developers that can support WordPress websites.
WPEasy specialises in supporting people using the WordPress CMS platform.
Content! Content! Content!
Content is often the last thing considered, when it should really be the first.
To save yourself from hours of redoing pages, layouts etc. Firstly spend time working out what you want to say, how you want to say it, finding photos/images that support your message. Believe me, the more time you spend doing this, the less time you will need to spend building the website.
