Website Building using Simpler Means?

Richard

Richard

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Good afternoon everyone.

I'm going through the materials on this site, and it's more than informative. On top of that, topics I don't know much about all of a sudden make more sense to me- thanks for making it possible.

I'm still crafting a vertical, but I'm curious about the site building portion of creating an online business.

On a serious note, how come it's stressed to build a site using a more technical methods? For example, buying a domain/ go through registrar-host it- then word press etc.

My question, again, is serious. How come something like Square Space for all types of sites (branding etc) isn't mentioned when building a website?

I think I need to grasp this concept.
 
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I think it all comes down to customization power and ownership. Yes, sites like Square Space offer an easy way to create websites at the cost of customization. If you set up your site on your own, you'll be able to modify the appearance and the functionality without restriction while the branded options don't give you that freedom (well, they do, but at a certain degree).

What happens if the service suddenly goes offline? What would you do if they close your account just because the want to? (ToS, etc.)

If what Square Space offers is a good fit to your strategy, go ahead. Not all people need the same level of freedom/customization when building websites.
 
LiamGallagher said:
If what Square Space offers is a good fit to your strategy, go ahead. Not all people need the same level of freedom/customization when building websites.
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Nice, man. I'm understanding the idea behind what makes building a site on your own more appealing- customization. I'm thinking ahead more than anything.

I think It'll be cool to learn how to build a site. I figured I ask about it anyways.

I read up on the topic, and I'll do what building pros on here and elsewhere recommend. Word Press is the way to go.
 
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@Richard, something like Wordpress can literally be installed on most cPanel servers in "one click." It's called a One-Click Installation actually.

cPanel makes it so you have a user interface for your server so it's all buttons, dropdown menus, and toggle options instead of connecting through the terminal.

Wordpress has Themes you can install so you don't have to code anything. The widgets, the menus, the colors... nearly everything can be changed with zero knowledge of HTML, CSS, or PHP. You can then install Plugins with one click that can even let you drag and drop to change the design, among a nearly infinite variety of other options.

As a beginner, that's the direction you should probably go, if only to be starting to get on the same page as others in this game. That will set you down the right path, where as something like Square Space takes the absolute simplest thing in the world and bundles it to make it braindead simple (with no other choices).

But, @LiamGallagher nailed it, in my opinion. Whether you think it's likely or not, they might shut down. You'd never build a house you intended to provide safety and shelter for you and your family on someone else's property. It's been long enough that I can't even remember the name, but Twitter shut down this giant, long-lasting Web 2.0 platform. Squidoo and Hubpages and those types started mass deleting articles and changed their monetization platform on everyone. Incomes were destroyed. Recently, one of the biggest websites on the net that hundreds of thousands of people had contributed to globally decided to shut their doors, and just like that Examiner.com was gone. No 301's, no warnings... we're talking about a site that likely was making a shit load of money daily too.

You should not be comfortable with the idea of an impending doom of somebody else being able to destroy your business without warning on a whim. You won't have your backups, you won't have control of your domain, you won't have access to the code of your site, you won't have your database full of content, etc. It'll all be gone.

Or you can be in control.
 
I get it now @Ryuzaki , thanks. It's like keeping all your money under your bed by using the braindead simple method. I'm good I'll use a Swiss Bank.

Wordpress It is for my projects. I appreciate the feedback.
 
Posting as a reminder to myself. I WILL respond later tonight with more info about strategy, high level insights, and more importantly the potential pitfalls of various choices. There are actually multiple truths on this subject, the most relevant of which may be highly variable and dependent on your niche, goals, and business model.

The most annoying part about this subject is the fact that it's a foundational component of many if not most businesses these days, and when the foundation starts off on the wrong foot, it is so easy for it to get MUCH worse from there.
 
The Vision​

To be truly entrepreneurial, you want to own as many of your resources as possible. Resource ownership = control and flexibility. This is the essence of Builder Society; learning to build the infrastructure of your future success.

On the other side of things, the more heavily leveraged in third party resources, the greater the constraints on business. This is, of course a spectrum. This also doesn't mean that leveraging third party resources is a bad thing, but simply a tool to be used wisely and sometimes sparingly.

As far as when third party leveraging can work well, an increasingly common tactic for aggressive brands is actually operating at a loss while heavily reinvesting profit in the company. Think of some of the big name brands out there, turning out 50-70%+ year over year growth for years on end. It can be a useful tool....if it means exponential growth that will enable the brand to "brute force" through an industry. Just look at the "big 4" brands that currently rule our world... Φ

Considering that, in the right context for the right business, there are times when it may actually make sense to heavily leverage third party resources, like VC's, so you can dump gasoline on that fire and blaze past the competition. This won't apply to all though, and maybe sometimes not even to most. Many of us are better off rolling our own and exercising full control.
 
So by this point you're probably thinking, "Bro, do you even website?!" I'll get to the point. When it comes to digital marketing, "The Website" is one component that can be a significant risk factor for perpetual indecision and lack of productivity if you're not careful. An example is an unhealthy and excessive time spent "over-optimizing" one's site at the expense of forward progress. I know because I'm guilty of it myself. A mantra I keep repeating more and more is, "Perfect is great. Getting the job done is better." So, with that in mind, on to the website stuff.

There are about a million CMS' and website platforms out there right now. It's actually perfectly representative of one of the more serious issues facing our modern societies these days. In other words, an over-abundance of choice leading to perpetual indecision. Well forget that noise. Let's look at some of the high level types of website/CMS offerings currently available:

  • Dynamic, Database-driven CMS
    • Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, many others
    • Typically PHP-based, although there are others in Ruby, .Net, and many other mainstream languages. PHP-based is typically going to be the most accessible for most people.
    • Great for productivity, especially at scale. Typically less dev time/resources needed than some of the other options.
  • Flat File CMS
    • Not database-driven. Stores content in static files. Site code is typically dynamic and many are PHP-based, or even Javascript-based.
    • Typically takes more manual work
    • Typically more secure due to the lack of a database
    • Can work well for some sites (not all) that are small to medium-sized, where dev time/resources are not an issue
  • Static Site Generator
    • Purely static files. No dynamic site code, no database.
    • Downside is limited site functionality. What functionality you do want is going to typically require more Javascript
    • Fast, light, highly secure by nature, cheap to host
    • Can take similar dev time/resources to flat file CMS', though sometimes more
    • Can work well for small to medium sites. If JS development isn't an issue, you can build the functionality you need, and you come up with a workable solution, SSG's can be awesome for small, highly content-focused sites that are relatively simple.
  • Mainstream Hosted Platforms
    • Examples: Ghost, Square Space, managed Wordpress... I'll just stop there because there are literally THOUSANDS.
    • Typically the server side is managed. Some offer limited back end capability, like FTP. For some, even the front end is heavily managed and may only offer limited customization based on a handful of templates.
    • Often a lot of good options here for small to medium sites, maybe some larger sites if the niche and business type is right for it. Can be good for productivity.
    • More expense, less freedom.
  • Enterprise-level Hosted Platforms
    • Often a symptom of budgetary waste. If a company is enterprise-level, more often than not, they'd probably be better off investing in their technical resources as opposed to willfully paying to become enslaved and restricted by someone else' proprietary platform.
 
Well damn, just lost a whole post. Let me summarize the point I was getting at.

Productivity is the key. You really want to try and figure out just how productive you can be for your needs, relative to the options available. For example, managed vs. unmanaged Wordpress (or any other CMS). If you need to get from start to GO immediately, a managed Wordpress host like WP Engine, Siteground, etc. is just going to be so much easier. Managed backups. Managed security. Managed dev sites. Just easy. Some of them aren't too terrible to migrate from either, when you outgrow them. I find the more indecision people have, the more they should probably just stop thinking, go managed, and start actually doing and creating things vs. focusing on building their ivory tower of a self-hosted site.

On the flip side, if a person has the time and resources, and/or has the actual business requirements that necessitate a self-hosted setup, then that might be worth simply starting out with the minimal restriction of a self-hosted setup. With a self-hosted setup, I would budget more time, and particularly money to outsource whatever you need to to reduce build time and get to production faster.

Regardless of the decision, the thing people need to keep in mind is the state and pace of their niches and industries. Everything is increasing in pace, in volume, machine-learning driven, deep insights through expansive and highly complex analysis. All of this pressure and competition, and yet people spend WEEKS debating which Themeforest theme they're gonna use! Pick one and get to BUILDING. The goal is to figure out the most acceptable compromise from start to GO that will meet your business requirements.
 
I am going to trying to give you a simple to the point answer. For over eights years I have professionally developed websites using the traditional static method, CMS (Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress), etc. From my experience I highly recommend Wordpress for someone with a strong technology background. You will find yourself spending countless hours struggling through what visually seems simple. If this works for you go for it.

If you have some money to spend initially with monthly up keep cost, hire someone to build your first website. Learn from them. In the case that technology and time intensive do it yourself projects is not enjoyable to you. Then I would suggest using Square Space or a solution similar solution where you can create a nice looking site without having to get involved with web programming. You can always start simple with Square Space, then port your website to Wordpress when your company can justify the expense.

Is Wordpress better in all ways than Square Space? Certainly not. Someone can write several pages on the features and how they compare. Some are listed here.

Start with what is going to make life easiest and most fun for you. The better experience you have the higher chance of success.
 
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