wordpress vs custom

so there are so many people asking me about using wordpress and doing it themselves as opposed to having their site custom built and maintained that i just had to write this down for everybody. using wordpress as a platform is not that bad of an idea, if you know what you're doing that is.

i can't count how many times i've visited a site for a client that they built themsleves and there are dead-links, mis-matched fonts, no alt's on images, etc. etc. etc. there are many things that go into a website that are very important that if you don't know what you are doing can be detrimental to the look and most importantly, your seo results.

so what do you do? there are a couple of options. i could easily just say 'have us build you site', but that's not what this blog is about. if you're planning on building your own site, make sure you do a little bit of research first. utilize the crap out of wordpress' support page. it's a lot of reading, but it's very well worth it. if you start to get confused, or eyes start to go crossed, there are a couple of other really great resources out there that'll help you learn how to code. try w3schools.com as a great source for some simple (to complex) coding help. believe it or not, as easy as wordpress has made making websites, there are a couple of things that you'll still have to code if you truly want a customized site. also, if you are wanting to get a little deeper into the coding world after you've started out, take a look at codecademy.com as a place to learn everything from html - python.

but, i've gotten a little off subject. why is it better to have a custom site built sometimes? when you have somebody create your very own site, you have the complete freedom for the site to do what you want it to. also, most of us programmers and designers have the skills to put in some good seo mojo while building the site, so if you're a brand new company, you'll have a little bit of head start. however, it does cost more money to have your site custom built. so that's the drawback of it.

so, you just have to ask yourself, do you want custom designs or less expensive. your call. havik marketing