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For years the question has come up of whether to use a website builder vs self-hosted platform. Some of the more popular website all-in-one builders (not plugins) include: WIX, Weebly, Shopify, Volusion, BigCommerce, etc., or use a self-hosted website such as WordPress. WordPress is actually the most popular self-hosted eCommerce platform created by simply installing the Woo-commerce plugin.
Perhaps the most searched keyword phrase about selecting a website platform is:
Wix vs WordPress
Website Builder vs Self-Hosted Platform
As we have referenced frequently in prior posts, the fundamental difference between the two types of online website creation lies in the fact that a website that is built on an all-in-one platform such as WIX, etc, though far easier to learn and create is not an asset years later. This means that the money and time you spend on the website is not growing a piece of real estate online. If you don’t continue the website with the company or should the company go out of business (very unlikely), you would have to transfer data and hopefully be able to keep your site intact. Just changing a hosting company is a lot easier.
Related Post: Is It Worth It To Host My Own Website
You own the website and once it is generating income you can sell your website for many multiples times the income it produces in one month. For example, if you create a website that generates $2000 a month, assuming it is a quality site with excellent content and manage by a good advertising company, currently, it can potentially be sold for up to 45 times monthly income or as much as $90,000.
Again, this website valuation relates to websites with valuable content. So if you have a content website making money through ads you would definitely want to build a self-hosted business website since no one can take that away from you. You own it outright!
After building and writing blogs with WordPress for 15 years, I feel strongly about self-hosted websites unless the site is a static business website or for certain e-commerce models. Bloggers who spend thousands of hours building their sites should always use a self-hosted site. Unfortunately, years ago when I used to consult with bloggers, the most unfortunate situation I would run into was someone who had built a highly successful blog for years on a platform such as WIX or Weebly.
Many clients were mom bloggers and if at all possible, depending on where they were in their blogging career, I would encourage them to shift over to WordPress. org, so they “owned” their blog. At the time even email lists acquired through all-in-one platforms were not transferrable. Fortunately, this has changed for many companies, though clearly a question you would want to ask an all-in-one hosting company at the outset. Building an email list through your blog is a tremendous asset and you never want to give that up.
Hopefully, this information will be helpful for those who are just getting started building a business website. Upcoming posts will be sharing a great deal of information learned over many years. Including email marketing, autoresponders, content creation software, and legitimate social media management companies for those who desire social media traffic in addition to targeted search engine traffic.
Website Building Tutorials
Finally, after discussing so many options for hosting, in this article and other posts, there is also the option of building a website within a hosting or domain company. This option is often aggressively offered once a domain name or hosting company is selected.
This includes Hostgator, GoDaddy, Namecheap, and many if not most other companies dealing with domains and hosting. Although this is an option, I would not recommend this over building your own self-hosted WordPress blog.
The hosting and domain registrar companies that have ventured into the website building sector may offer good products and make it super simple to get started, it is important to remember that you are still building your online company’s major asset on rented land!
Use domain registrars and hosting companies for what they were initially designed for and leave the website building, customization and apps to the WordPress CMS platform. Maintain full control over the website you will invest countless hours and money creating.
The ease with which one can create a website on an all-in-one platform is the reason so many new business owners are searching for a website builder vs a self-hosted platform. Try to resist the temptation!