I use WordPress to create the websites for my clients. WordPress is an open-source platform, meaning that anyone can contribute to it and it’s free to use. It’s also easy to use, much cheaper in the long run than other alternatives, very flexible and you, as a business owner, retain control of everything.
The Importance of Control
What do I mean when I talk about retaining control? It means controlling your content and being independent from the whims of the algorithms in social media. Take Instagram, for example. Once you post a picture, or a video, you’re granting them a license to use your content as they see fit. Moreover, you have no control over how many users this content is shown to – even your followers may not always see all the content you post.
If you own your website, and you create your own mailing list, you’ll be able to reach your potential clients without depending on an algorithm that decides whether your content is worth showing and to whom it should be shown.
Platforms such as Squarespace or Wix make it easy to create your website and they offer beatiful starter layouts, but this comes at a price (pun intended): they’re more expensive in the long run and you’re limited in terms of functionality. That is, you cannot easily extend the functionalities offered by the platform, unlike in the case of WordPress.
Extending WordPress
On its own, WordPress is quite basic. It offers the minimum elements to create a blog. However, because it’s open source, many people and companies have contributed to the platform, by creating plugins that extend what WordPress can do. There are plugins for everything imaginable: membership sites, multilingual websites, online shops, integration with other applications, etc.
Having so many plugins available is great, because it’s possible to tailor each website to your needs, and avoid “bloating” it with unnecessary functionalities. For example, if you need a basic multilingual website, I’ll choose a plugin so that your content can be shown in different languages, but a membership plugin would be unnecessary in this case.
Visuals of the Website
To create the visual appearance of the website, I’ll start with a basic theme, which I’ll then configure and personalize to ensure a good user experience when browsing your website. I’ll also make sure that the website’s design corresponds to your brand.
Running Costs
In order to keep the costs of running the website as low as possible, I always try to find quality plugins and themes that are open source and free to use. Many times it is possible to have a fully functioning website using only free plugins. Bear in mind that if you wish to create a membership site or an online shop, it is likely that you’ll have to pay for some of the plugins, though.
My ultimate goal is that, once your website is up and running and I hand it over to you, you’ll be able to keep it up to date on your own, without the need for my help, which will save you money. Of course, I’ll be here if you ever wish to add extra functionalities or run into any technical issues – note, though, that these services are provided at an additional cost.