Three options at a glance
If you want a website today, you have three basic options: build it yourself in a website builder (Webnode, Wix and similar), have a WordPress site made, or get a custom website. None of them is bad, each suits something different.
- Website builder: the lowest upfront costs and a quick start, an ongoing subscription, limited options.
- WordPress: a wide choice of templates and plugins, your own hosting, regular maintenance required.
- Custom website: a higher initial price, built exactly to your needs, fast, no subscriptions for templates and add-ons.
Website builders (Webnode and similar)
Builders like Webnode are made so that anyone can create a website. You pick a template, rewrite the copy, upload photos and can be online within an afternoon. The basic version is usually free, with an address on a subdomain and the builder's branding. You pay a subscription for your own domain and extra features.
A builder suits you when you quickly need a simple business card, have a small budget and do not mind your site looking similar to others. The limits come once you want something more: custom features, faster loading or a design exactly to your taste. Moving elsewhere then usually means building the website again, because you cannot simply take it out of the builder.
WordPress
WordPress is the most widely used content management system in the world. It is free, runs on your own hosting and thanks to thousands of templates and plugins can do almost anything. Even a non-technical person can manage the admin.
The price of that flexibility is maintenance. WordPress, the template and the plugins need regular updates, otherwise you risk security problems. Every plugin also slows the site down a little, and some are paid. Without someone looking after it, a WordPress site easily becomes slow and vulnerable.
It suits websites with a lot of content, such as blogs and magazines, and companies that have someone to look after it.
Custom website
A custom website is built exactly around what the business needs. It has no extra features that would slow it down, and it does exactly what it should: appointment booking, a price calculator, an e-shop with its own rules or a connection to company systems.
At the start it costs more than a builder, but there are no template and plugin subscriptions and the site is not limited by what some system offers. You edit the content yourself in a simple admin that contains only what you actually use.
You can try what a custom website can look like on my demo sites: Stavby Josef with a house price calculator, Autoservis Pepa with appointment booking or the Pražírna u Kamila e-shop.
How to decide
Answer five questions:
- How much can you spend at the start, and how much per month?
- Who will look after the website after launch?
- Do you need features that standard templates cannot do?
- How important is it that people find you on Google?
- Do you expect the website to grow with your business?
A short recommendation
If you need a quick business card and budget comes first, start with a website builder. If you have a lot of content and someone for maintenance, consider WordPress. If the website should bring in customers, do something extra and last for years, a custom website pays off.
Moving from a builder to your own website
Many businesses start on a website builder and outgrow it after a few years. When moving, it is important not to lose what already works: the content, page addresses and search rankings. Properly set up redirects from the old addresses to the new ones make sure that people and Google find the new page.