In the last couple articles, I went over some of the things that you need to know before you build your own website and some of the most common website building methods. Those methods include:
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DIY build from scratch- you’re building your website by creating individual web pages using some type of web page building tool like Expression Web, iWeb, or Dreamweaver and HTML.
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Professional web designer or developer- you work with a skilled web designer or developer create your website for you.
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Turnkey web builder service- you use some kind of service like Big Cartel or the website builder software provided by many web hosts to develop your website.
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Open source e-commerce or web software- you’re building your website using free or low-cost web building systems like WordPress, Joomla, or Zen Cart.
Now after being online since 1996 and using all of these methods to build a variety of websites, my recommendation for building your own website is to use the free open source blogging software, WordPress.
Why WordPress? Because WordPress has some pretty impressive options and features that make it a great choice.
1. WordPress is free to install and use- Unlike some of the other paid software and services like Big Cartel, you can install and use WordPress to build your website for free. Well, almost for free, you still have to pay for the hosting account that you install WordPress on. But you can get good reliable hosting for $12 or less per month. Now compare that to some services that charge $20, $30, or $50 or more per month, $12 or less is a pretty good deal.
Plus, there are a lot of hosting services that allow you to run more than one website on one account. Since WordPress is free, you can use multiple installations of WordPress to run multiple websites all for the same $12 or less per month. If you have the need to run more than one website this is a definite plus.
Finally, you can easily transfer your WordPress website from one host to another without losing the design of your website or any functionality which can be a problem when using a third party web building service.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
There is no doubt that WordPress is the way to go. When I first started in 2007…WordPress was in it’s infancy. I was trying to get a site built and all webmasters wanted to build a static site. I finally put my food down and found someone who would put up a WordPress site for me. It was more techie then… but now it’s so easy… anyone can do it with great success.
One important thing: host your site directly in wordpress,com (the hosting service, not the wordpress.org that is where you can get the software) had one important downside: you can’t install external plugins (you can’t even use javascript!), so your blog will be more limited if you stay there in spite of going elsewhere to host.
Thanks for the info,
What is the best eCommerce Software today ?
I’m looking for top 10 eCommerce Software for my reviews and ranking site .
Thank you,
Nis