Create a website : A comparison of site building tools
A common question among our clients and friends: "I'm looking to create a website for my organization. What do you recommend to get started?"
In this post, we aim to create a resource for our friends and neighbors and to compare the most popular options for getting started on the web.
Wordpress.com
What we like
Beautiful Themes. The simplicity of WordPress attracts more designers than any other CMS available. If your organization values aesthetics and design, WordPress themes will make an impression.
User engagement & Community tools are top-notch. If user feedback and social media is important to your organization, WordPress.com provides a compelling offering of tools to 'make it happen'.
Professional Services. Design services are available to help you customize your site.
Room to Grow. If you ever find it advantageous for your organization to host your Wordpress site via another hosting provider, Wordpress.com allows for easy export of your entire site. Images, Comments, and all your Pages are easily moved to another server to host your site.
What's missing
Monetization Opportunities. If your organization is looking to sell products online, you'll need more than a Wordpress.com site. Consider using Wordpress for your organization's website and in conjunction using a dedicated e-commerce solution.
Advanced customization. Because Wordpress.com is a shared hosting environment, sites cannot be customized using Plug-ins* nor does it allow JavaScript from 3rd parties such as TypeKit, Mobify, or even Google Analytics.
* Wordpress Plug-ins can be downloaded from Wordpress.org. These plug-ins cannot be installed in a Wordpress site hosted on Wordpress.com Learn more about the relationship between Wordpress.com & Wordpress.org.
Blogger
What we like
Ease of Use. Simplicity reigns at Blogger. The capabilities of this service are easy to recognize and understand for all audiences.
Collaboration. Its easy to add other users to help you write posts and manage the comments.
What's missing
Built for Blogging. It is difficult for brands to create a web site via Blogger that doesn't appear like a blog. While capable of offering many website-like features, Blogger is still best at building blogs.
Social Tools. While available, social media tools, such as Share and Like buttons, remain limited. Features available reflect a bias toward other Google products, namely Google+.
Tumblr
What we like
Beautiful themes. Tumblr themes offer a very new, in-style look to any blog or website. Easy to customize & offer snazzy features such as infinite scrolling right out of the box
Easy media sharing. If your organization will be primarily posting photos, videos, and links to other websites, Tumblr makes it easy to do.
Free Custom Domain. If you own your own domain (ex. kevinskoffeekart.com), you can easily point your domain to your Tumblr for free.
What's missing
Social Tools. It takes a little more work to add the familiar Share and Like buttons to your posts.
Google Sites
What we like
Integration with Google Apps. Users can login with their current Google Apps account. Themes and features are geared toward the kinds of organization that use Google Apps; schools, non-profits, and the like.
What's missing
Social Media tools.
Business class themes. Themes offered fail to shine when compared to that of other services.
There are many more services out there that are worth checking out that we didn't mention. Drupal Gardens, Virb.
With what services has your organization found success?
For further guidance & strategy with any of these services, ask us a question here or, via email, say [email protected].