How to create your own website: website builders for DIY projects

Less than a decade ago, having your own website seemed almost like science fiction. Small and medium-sized businesses operated primarily offline, while the few websites that existed were mostly informational or entertainment resources.
Today, however, the total number of websites on the internet exceeds 1 billion. That means there is roughly one website for every seven people on the planet.

If you don’t have a website yet but need one for your business or personal interests, this article will be useful to you. First, we’ll look at the most popular way to create a website yourself — website builders. Then, we’ll explore the pros and cons of this approach. Finally, we’ll try to determine what is more cost-effective and convenient: building everything yourself or leaving it to professionals.

Website builders are the first thing that comes to mind when you have no programming skills but need a website as quickly as
possible.


Essentially, website builders are ready-made web applications that allow you to create individual web pages and combine them into a fully functional website.

The files of such websites are stored in cloud-based storage on a remote hosting server.


The platform’s administrators take care of hosting and maintenance.


Sounds more than appealing, doesn’t it? But we’ll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this approach to creating a website later. For now, let’s take a look at some of the most popular website builders.

It is considered one of the most popular platforms for creating a website yourself. The “engine” has been around for more than 12 years. Its interface and functionality are designed primarily for inexperienced users. It supports websites of virtually any type and scale. Here are its key features:

• Technical capabilities. uCoz is built on a modular architecture: each of its 24 modules is responsible for a specific task. You can customize the set of modules yourself. They also allow you to expand a website and turn it into a large-scale web resource while keeping the functionality tailored to the specific project. There is also access to PHP scripts, page source code, APIs, and other advanced features.
• The ability to create a unique design. uCoz allows you to create a custom design template for your future website using a dedicated builder. You can also further customize it by editing the source HTML and CSS code. Some plans provide access to so-called “premium” templates.
• Comprehensive customer support. The uCoz team has developed a detailed support system: there are user guides, a community forum, an extensive knowledge base, and support across the company’s platforms.
• Cost. First, you can create and maintain a website completely free of charge and even get an official domain. However, the free plan comes with certain limitations, including storage space and SEO functionality. Paid plans are also affordable even for people who are just starting a business, with plenty of discounts and special offers.

Thanks to its reliability, well-developed functionality, and ease of use, this platform is often chosen for developing websites for government institutions.

This platform is considered highly specialized and is primarily aimed at creating websites for small and medium-sized businesses. Landing pages, portfolios, and business card websites can be created quickly and easily.

The main advantage is the built-in Drag & Drop visual editor. It allows you to move different blocks and design elements around with simple mouse movements. uKit’s interface is specifically designed with beginners in website creation in mind.

User reviews suggest that it is possible to create your own website in as little as one hour. The process is extremely simple: websites are assembled from blocks and widgets, and both the content and visual elements can be edited.

The website builder is paid, but its plans are reasonably priced, starting at $48 per year.

One of the most popular website builders in the world. The platform’s main selling point is its huge selection of ready-made free templates.

According to user reviews, it is an ideal option for creating bright and visually appealing websites, such as business card websites, portfolios, or blogs.

Wix is particularly well suited for small websites with a limited number of pages. The platform is designed with users who have little or no web development experience in mind. It offers an intuitive control panel, plenty of tools for improving the visual appearance of a website, an image editor, and its own app marketplace for expanding and enhancing your website’s functionality.

Customer support is also well developed, and the platform even has a mobile app. The only major limitation is that you cannot directly edit the website’s source HTML code.

For inexperienced users, however, this can actually be an advantage, as there is less risk of accidentally breaking something. Wix offers two main options: a free plan without the ability to connect a custom domain, and various paid plans with different sets of features.

One of the oldest website builders (it has been around for more than 18 years), yet it remains popular to this day. It is primarily used as a free service for creating fully functional websites.

The site builder has an intuitive interface and offers almost 500 ready-made templates. Its main feature is the ability to create a membership system for your website. In other words, you can give a specific group of users special access to certain sections of the website and allow them to view otherwise restricted content.

There are also several paid plans that unlock additional features and more advanced templates.

Over the past couple of years, this website builder has become extremely popular. It works particularly well for creating small projects — landing pages, informational websites, online stores, blogs, and more.

Users highlight Tilda’s extensive selection of ready-made templates and blocks, high-quality typography, and the ability to combine different elements independently. There are also ready-made designs and themed layouts for specific types of websites, such as cafés, stores, entertainment venues, and more.

Users can also add their own elements using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The main drawback is the rather limited free plan. For example, a website can contain a maximum of 50 pages, and you cannot connect your own custom domain. There are also two paid plans available.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of website builders. There are many other platforms that have their own strengths and may be better suited to specific projects.

Read more about how to promote your website here.

Now that we’ve looked at some of the most popular website builders, let’s highlight the main advantages of using them:

• Cost. Website builder plans are significantly cheaper than hiring professional developers to create a website. In addition, many website builders offer free templates, allowing you to create a website without any initial investment.

• Speed. As we’ve already mentioned, some website builders are an excellent option if you want to create a website from scratch in about an hour. The same applies to most other platforms: you simply work with a template editor, fill in the required fields, and enable the features you need.

• Ease of use. The main advantage of website builders is that you don’t need to hire a programmer or have any coding skills yourself. You get ready-made templates with a predefined structure and sample content. At a minimum, all you need to do is fill in the necessary fields and upload your images.

However, along with these advantages, there are also some drawbacks. Let’s look at the main ones:

• Lack of design uniqueness. Website builders offer ready-made design templates, often with limited options for customization. As a result, there is a high chance that many other websites will have a very similar design.

• Large page size. Website builders often generate a significant amount of HTML code. Individual pages can sometimes be around 10 MB in size, which can negatively affect website loading speed.

• Difficulties with manually editing the source code. Some website builders allow you to edit the HTML code of a website. However, the generated code is often overloaded with styles and tags, which can make it difficult even for experienced developers to work with. As a result, you either need extensive HTML and CSS knowledge and a lot of time, or you have to rely on the website builder’s built-in editor.

• Limited website structure. This depends on the capabilities of the specific template and website builder. Keep in mind that your options are often also determined by the pricing plan: the more expensive the plan, the more possibilities you typically have for expanding your website’s structure.

• Dependence on the platform. If you create a website using one website builder, moving it to another platform may be impossible or extremely difficult.

• Scripts.

First, you will still need to understand the basics of HTML and CSS, especially if the website builder you choose allows you to edit the source code.
Second, if you are creating a large-scale website or plan to expand it significantly, you will most likely need to pay for one of the builder’s more advanced plans.
Third, every website needs promotion. This means you either need to find a reliable contractor to handle it or learn SEO and online marketing yourself.

With an agency or web studio, things are much simpler: you pay for the service, and they create and promote your website for you. It’s not just a single developer working on the project, but an entire team of specialists, each responsible for specific tasks. As a result, you get a professional, user-friendly, and optimized website that the agency can continue to promote for you. This is why the cost of such a service is higher than simply paying for a website builder plan.

However, if you take into account all the costs and effort involved in creating, maintaining, and promoting a website yourself, the total expense may only be slightly lower than hiring an agency. The difference is that you also have to invest your valuable time and energy.

With such a wide range of website builders available, creating a website may seem extremely simple. However, there are several important factors to consider.

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