How to choose a website platform

There is a derisive expression in English called “off the rack”.  It means to buy something premade, and it more specifically refers to men’s suits.  There are two ways to buy a suit:

• Custom tailored, so that every measurement exactly fits your body.
• Off the rack – premade at a factory in a number of sizes, one of which should be pretty close to what your body requires.

I don’t know about you, but I have never bought a custom tailored suit.  For starters, it costs a lot in time.  In addition to choosing the fabric, you have to stand there to get pinned.  Then you have to return to the store to pick it up.  Two trips to a store instead of just one – not fair!  More importantly, a custom tailored suit costs more money.  The price for custom-tailored is measured in thousands of dollars; the price for off-the-rack is measured in hundreds of dollars.

That’s a big difference. What does all this have to do with building a website?  You can get websites off the rack or have them custom built, too.  And the same factors apply to building a website as apply to buying a suit.
Some people will scratch their heads and ask, “Are you nuts?” to get a website built from scratch, because the cost is so much higher.

Other people will scratch their heads and ask, “Are you nuts?” to buy a ready-made website, because their discriminating eyes can see a difference in quality that many people would not notice.

The fact is that most websites these days are a hybrid of off-the-rack structure and custom-tailored design.  Many sites are built on WordPress (originally just a blogging platform that has recently been adapted to other types of websites), Drupal, Magneto or Joomla.  These content management systems (CMS) have all the structure in place; you just have to add your own custom design, and choose features to add as modules or plugins.

Many other sites are offered as ready-to-use programs, or “hosted solutions”, such as IM Creator, Weebly or Shopify.  In other words, you take one of their templates and customize it with your graphics, maybe pick-and-choose from certain features, and you are ready to go.
To the end user, a website built from scratch, a website built on a CMS, and a website built from a hosted solution don’t look any different.  What is different is the back-end, the amount of effort required to maintain the website and the pricing. According to Erez Zundelevich, VP Online Marketing of  IM Creator.

“Our users create websites that look and feel just like they have been custom-built, without all the hassles of actually having to build a website. Our market is people who don’t want to spend money and time running a website, so that they can focus on running their business.”

Custom built website

Obviously, the most expensive option is to build from scratch.  There are some excellent reasons to do this, and if you have the financial means, why not?  Like getting a custom suit made or like designing your own house to your exact specifications, why not design your own website?  Assuming you have the money.  And the time.

It is not just the upfront cost to factor in.  You will also have to manage your own hosting and look after your own security, you will be fully responsible for your own SEO and whenever you want something fixed, changed or added, you will need to hire someone to do it for you.  If you have the money, these are not issues, of course.

A custom-built website is not always just a matter of prestige, as is a custom-tailored suit.  Nor just a matter of preferences, as is a custom designed house.  There are things you might need to do to run your business that just don’t come in a box.  Just as exceedingly tall people or very portly people might need to have custom-tailored suits, some businesses are doing things differently enough that they just need a custom-built website.
Joshua Alexander, who does custom coding, explains the advantage of building to custom specifications:

“It allows them to build a system with understanding of potential growth into the future. I always ask clients what they can see themselves needing in the future so I can see if we can plan that into the initial design and development.”

Custom coding is ideal for someone who wants to do something really different and can afford to do so – someone who doesn’t mind being fully responsible for all aspects of the website, and can afford to be.

CMS based websites

CMS based websites cost less than custom-built websites, because the architecture is already in place.  If you use WordPress, the platform is 100 percent free, and most of the optional features (called “plugins” in WordPress) are also free, although there are some that cost money.  Drupal, Joomla and several other lesser-known CMS platforms operate on a similar basis.

Although the structure of the website is free, there is still some tailoring involved.  You will still have to hire a designer, and in most cases you will want a “theme”, which might be free or might cost money, and  which is not always easy to install without some basic programming knowledge.  A “theme” in WordPress is more than just the look; it is a coding structure of how elements of the page appear.  Some themes are easy-peasy to use, others hijack your interface and actually require some pretty advanced programming skills to navigate.  Yes, I’ve been there.

If you have some coding skills, and are willing to spend the time, a CMS based website might be for you.  You will still be responsible for your own hosting and for the site’s security.  If you want to make changes, you can always get plugins or hire somebody to do custom coding.  The CMS is free, but customization of both the design and the features still requires hiring somebody (or learning a fair amount).  Basically, it is a lot like taking a huge short cut to a custom coded website

Source seo-wiriter