I love the fact that online site builders make adding a website easy and fast. At Web Host Pro we have seen our site builder grow with the times and I love how anyone can build a nice-looking site with it. My concern is more with locked online builders. They keep popping up more and more. Companies like Weebly, Wix, and Godaddy all have these template-based locked online site builders. Once you learn a little about them they are kind of scary when you find out later that you are stuck in them for life. The idea for these companies is to make a website builder that you cannot use outside of their business. This is done in hopes that you will not leave them when you realize you want more than what these companies can offer.
Don’t get me wrong, I love our easy website builder and I know you can make a nice-looking website in minutes with it. The problems come up when you realize your site looks like a lot of other websites and all the new options that websites are adding, you cannot use. Our web builder is a little more flexible but the Wix, Weebly, and Godaddy site builder locks you in with no choice but to use what they offer.
The only way to truly be able to evolve with the Internet is to use your own web builder from a program on your computer. The most popular one is DreamWeaver but there are hundreds of others that range from free (like NVU) to around $100. When you learn how to use one of these, you take full control over your website. You can host it anywhere, you can change the website design to anything, and you can add anything you want to the website. All things you cannot do with Wix, Weebly, and Godaddy.
If you dare step out of the monotony of online template-based web builders then you are ready to experience all that web design has to offer, with millions of templates constantly changing with new trends or stubborn favorites that you can’t help but stay with. You can change your entire website just because you feel like it. You can learn a new skill and help others with their website. I see so many benefits to learning how to build a site with a web building program is almost saddens me to see them so underused nowadays (almost).
Of course, simplicity is a beautiful thing and time is money. There are unquestionably two sides to the coin when it comes to choosing your favorite way to build a website.
Need a little more help to decide which to choose? Try our how to build a website page.