Whether you own a traditional brick-and-mortar store or you are looking to strictly sell items online, having a website is essential to almost every business. Why? In today’s highly digitalized world, the internet is the first place we go when looking for a product or service. Whether reviewing your products or services, looking to learn more about you, or actually purchasing from your site – if you don’t have a business website, you are missing out on potential customers.
To Get Your Site Started
Getting started on building a business website can feel overwhelming. However, there are several options that can help even the least technical-savvy of us to develop websites.
Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
DIY web builders are typically easy to use. These types of websites are often tethered to the platform on which they are designed. (These include companies like Wix and SquareSpace.) DIY web builders come with a range of website templates that make even beginner-level web designers create beautiful sites.
- Benefits: DIY web builders are amongst the cheapest options for those looking to make a website. Most reputable DIY web builder platforms include all the functions and integration tools you need to run a simple business website.
- Limitations: DIY web builders offer little in the way of customization. The templates you can use are the same templates offered to all other users as well. They are also hard to scale, leaving you with little options should your business grow. The biggest drawback, however, comes with the platform tether. Should you stop paying for your website or your platform dissolve – your site disappears forever.
Templates/Themes
There are a tremendous amount of templates and themes available online. These options provide you with already-designed starting points for your business website. When coupled with the use of an open source content management system, like WordPress, this option can have your website up and running in no time.
- Benefits: Using templates or themes offer increased flexibility for site owners. In addition to this, content and functionality is also superior to that offered by DIY web builders. Templates and themes range in price and can even be found for free.
- Limitations: Free sounds great but you need to be cautious with them! Free templates or themes can contain malware. Only download free templates or themes from reputable sources. While there are a great many more open source CMS templates and themes available than there are with DIY versions, they are still not entirely unique. Some developers may even limit the amount of customization possible with your specific template or theme.
Custom Websites
You can also build your own, custom website for use with an open source CMS. In fact, WordPress gives users a dashboard that allows them to create their own content regardless of their coding knowledge. Easy to use, these websites are a great option for those looking to create their own pages.
- Benefits: Custom websites on a CMS are flexible and entirely customizable. Because of the open source CMS community, you can add plugins, modules, widgets and more as you deem fit. Scalability allows you to grow your business when you are ready.
- Limitations: Failure to maintain and update your site and any plugins can lead to security breaches. Depending on your web hosting services, this option can also be costlier than other options.
Hire Professional Designers
Hiring a professional designer to create your website is also an option. This option ensures your website is 100% custom. They can also help handle any complex functionality or requests should you desire them. They are also professionally controlled – allowing you to request increased flexibility or scalability when you need it.
- Benefits: Highly flexible, these are the most custom options. They are also the most hands-off approach. Depending on your contract, you may also have built in support for any issues that arise.
- Limitations: Professional designers are not cheap. In fact, they are the costliest option when it comes to developing a website. In all likelihood you will be entirely reliant on the designer to update content.
Know Your Hosting Options
Your website will require web hosting services. This is the only way your website can be made available to the public. There are many options when it comes to web hosting, however, secure hosting is best.
Secure web hosting is essential to maintaining the security and integrity of your website. Not only can it help to stop hacker before they start, but it also helps to minimize other problems that can occur in the digital world, such as crashes.
Why WordPress is Best
WordPress is the most popular open source CMS in the world. From its easy-to-use dashboard and customization capabilities to its search engine compatibility and built-in flexibility, WordPress gives website owners everything they could ask for without requiring any coding experience.
Why You Should Choose BionicWP
BionicWP offers a range of web hosting packages, as well as several other services to enhance your business website. Our secure WordPress hosting packages include unlimited support, off-site backups, daily scans, updates and much more. In addition to this, our managed WordPress hosting packages offer advanced features, like simple widget generators, Lorem ipsum, and enhanced dashboards.
Why put off building your business website one more day? Contact BionicWP today!
