Published November 2018
Websites. Websites. Websites. In today’s business world, they can be your worst or your best friend. It can be overwhelming thinking about how to put your company on the web with so many different options out there for developing it, designing it, hosting it, and optimizing it. We want to fill you in on some of the basic principals that you should understand when choosing how to create, or re-create your companies website. Basically, this is like first choosing to shop for clothes at an on or off brand store, and then choosing what on or off brand store that you’re going to go to with your business.
So, I am going to choose to shop at
1. An on brand store
and that store will be
2. Nike
Two simple choices there.
In the website building world, this is choosing what
1. Host
you will use, and then what
2. Platform
on that host you will use. The major choices out there being choosing a Kit Builder or professional CMS for your website and then choosing a platform to host it on.
Website Hosting
Kit Builder
Let’s start off with some of the consumer web platforms that are out there. Ever heard of Wix or Weebly.com? SiteBuilder or Square Space? These are some of the most popular website creators and are categorized under Kit Builder’s. This label is exactly what it says. Kit-Building. You can choose from very basic structured templates and plain lay-outs (their kits) to build a website with. There isn’t much freedom customization that you can create with these websites. They are very limited on capabilities to take your site to the professional level. There may be a select few personal blogs or businesses that can be successful on these sites, but they are not a smart choice for any serious or high-functioning businesses.
The companies and people that use these websites are often not looking for something great, but just something that will do the job. What they don’t take into consideration is that it is often worse to be in the race and behind, then not to enter it at all. Their websites are out there, but they are so behind in capabilities, design, and integration that they make themselves look worse overall. The companies that use these sites may think that they are cost effective or “cheap,” but they will end up costing them in the end. Websites are the center focus of your online presence, so the importance of having a platform that you can easily customize, personal design, build the layout with, and add optimization cannot be stressed enough.
CMS (Content Management Systems)
Now that you understand Kit Building websites, we’ll point you in the better direction. The only website host that we can suggest to you are CMS hosts. These are Content Management Systems. Just like Kit Builder’s, Content Management Systems speak for themselves. Want the best content management for your website you can get? CMS. These hosts allow you to develop exactly what you need, customizing content and design. They allow you to add endless SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so your website is well favored by search engines and advertised. There aren’t many limits on anything you can do with a CMS website. After choosing between your Kit Builder or CMS website, you get to find a platform for that website. We’ll focus on the CMS platforms for this, because those are what we recommend you use.
Content Management Systems
The Top Three CMS’s Professionals Use
Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress. Our suggestion? The most sophisticated sounding of the three…WordPress. What is up with those names, anyways? WordPress is our favorite platform because it is a very flexible platform that is still able to create complex sites. Drupal is the platform used mainly for very complex sites that need a grand scale of complex content organization, that most any site will not need. Without the need for complex content organization, there isn’t much need for it at all. Joomla, on the other hand, is for overly simple sites. It is a step up from a Kit Builder and qualifies as a CMS, but it lacks the customization and content control that any great site needs. WordPress is the platform that isn’t too hot or too cold, it is just right. WordPress acts as a great CMS website host and is the best option for a website that you want to be interactive, unique to your company, highly favorable, and especially “in.” In-fact, WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world and is used by nearly 75 million websites (Forbes 2016). If you don’t listen to us, listen to the rest of the world. WordPress is the way to go for your website.
Now, how do you get connected with WordPress and design your website? That is where a firm steps in and will do the connecting for you. They will take how you want your website to look, your brand, your content, and make you a finalized website. Most firms or agencies will do this through a WordPress hosting site, that you typically will not deal with at all. Just a matter of choosing a firm that uses a WordPress platform and then giving them the room to create it. Creative Factory specializes in making custom designed websites, and we use WordPress for those websites. We would love to work with you on building the website of your dreams, feel free to contact us today to get started!
However, if you decide to create your own website, and still want to choose using a WordPress platform, take a look at FlyWheel. It is a great website building tool and is easily customizable, easy to understand, and a great tool if you want a fully integrated site. You can get connected with them by clicking here.
Don’t want the hassle and management of all of this? Trust our team of designers, writers, developers and optimizers to take your businesses website to the professional level. Find out more by clicking to contact us.
