Building A Website From Scratch?
What Are Your Options?
So, you’ve decided to create your very own website. Fantastic! You’re about to make your mark on the world, and set up your online presence. Whether you’re running a moving business or setting up a blog, there’s never been a better time to get online. It’s quickly become a necessity for any new business, and you certainly don’t want to get left behind. But, you don’t want to use the popular website builders and find yourself staring at a blank screen, and wondering where to start? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Let us show you the way. Here are your starting options.
WordPress
WordPress is the world’s premier website builder. In fact, 25% of the entire Internet is built on WordPress. The best thing about this platform is its simplicity. You simply choose (or buy) a template design that you love. From there, you can tweak and amend until you’re happy with it. You’ll also need to buy yourself some web hosting (this is essentially ‘renting’ a corner of the Internet to build your site on). A popular option is WP Engine; you can see for yourself by looking at WP Engine reviews.
Choosing the best WordPress hosting for your blog is an important decision to do because, the hosting service must be reliable, provide good loading time & must be up to date to current standards of the internet. There are tons of providers out there to choose from, but they all offer different packages and features so you should dip your toes in checking out which one suits your needs the most.
Drupal
Drupal is similar to WordPress, but typically used by more experienced and professional site builders. It gives you a good deal more power and options under the hood. You can do more with the code and the backend. However, it will feel overwhelming for some beginners. In the last six months, Drupal has installed a redesign which is now much more intuitive. It certainly competes with WordPress, and it’s a thorough option if you’re looking for maximum flexibility.
Adobe Dreamweaver
If you’ve got a creative touch, then you may want to start with Dreamweaver. This option is ideal if you’ve got a very specific idea of how you want your website to look. By drawing and designing it yourself within Adobe, Dreamweaver will then help you turn it into code (but you’ll want to learn the basics first though). The software works seamlessly with both WordPress and Drupal. So, if you’ve designed your perfect website, you can quickly upload it to your WordPress account as a ‘theme’.
Code The Whole Thing From Scratch
There is of course a much bigger option. It is possible to code the entire website from scratch. If you’re considering a website with bespoke functionality, this might be your only option. For example, a social media site like Facebook requires very specific algorithms and data. You can’t get that from a WordPress theme. If you have very complex functionality, you’ll need to build it yourself.
Hire An Expert
If all these options seem overwhelming or difficult, then there’s another route entirely. By handing over your website design and implementation to an expert, you can cut the hassle. You’ll simply consult with them about the general themes, design, and content. But, they’ll do all the heavy lifting, and get your site up and running. It will cost money, but sometimes it’s worth it to avoid the hassle.
