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4) Website Hosting with a Website Builder Service
In the mid to late 2000's people started to launch the first online services which enabled a person to use a website to build a website. Remember, up to that point, you had to build a website on your own machine with your own software tools, and then you had to FTP those files up to the folder you rented from your website hosting company.
This was a novel concept targeted at making it easier for individuals to build their own websites. The first versions of these sucked and they were very limited, but as with everything, as time went by they got better and better and better (and as time went by the affect of Microsoft's desire to con-volute a common java script library diminished as Google Chrome did what Microsoft refused to do and that helped out a lot with the progress of these website builders and all other types of online software).
At this point in April 2017, there are 4 or 5 major players in this industry as mentioned prior and there are hundreds of smaller ones trying to make a difference. In general, these companies and their tools have gotten more than powerful enough to make website builders of old obsolete for all but the most custom of needs.
When you use a Website Building Service, you are still using an empty folder on a computer somewhere on the internet. That part is identical. There are two primary differences...
This was a novel concept targeted at making it easier for individuals to build their own websites. The first versions of these sucked and they were very limited, but as with everything, as time went by they got better and better and better (and as time went by the affect of Microsoft's desire to con-volute a common java script library diminished as Google Chrome did what Microsoft refused to do and that helped out a lot with the progress of these website builders and all other types of online software).
At this point in April 2017, there are 4 or 5 major players in this industry as mentioned prior and there are hundreds of smaller ones trying to make a difference. In general, these companies and their tools have gotten more than powerful enough to make website builders of old obsolete for all but the most custom of needs.
When you use a Website Building Service, you are still using an empty folder on a computer somewhere on the internet. That part is identical. There are two primary differences...
- Instead of building your site on a PC or Mac and then FTPing those files to the server, you build your site with a website and that website stores your content in a "private" folder on the internet right next to that public folder that would contain your live website -- and then, when you hit a "publish" button, the website building service copies your files from your private folder to your public internet folder, and all of your changes are instantly available to the world.
- For those with small publishing interest and those less interested in branding their own websites, often times you can use a sub-domain name in front of the website builders domain name for your website for free. bobstreeservice.weebly.com instead of www.bobstreeservice.com
Free vs Paid Services
Some companies offer free services along with paid services and others offer paid services only. Those that offer free services have a great marketing tool as it enables people to experiment a lot with a service and it makes for a good marketing model. When you upgrade from a free to paid service you are typically doing that on a PER WEBSITE basis not a PER ACCOUNT basis.
- Weebly started out with a model in which you paid for an upgraded "account" instead of charging for services specific to one of your websites and that dramatically confused many who came along later and saw old information posted. And truthfully, in weebly's case, while it's clear their fees are website based to someone who knows lingo, they could stand to make all that a lot cleaner for folks new to this entire paradigm.
- You want to use your own domain and not a sub-domain for your website. You are paying for the private branding of your site.
- You want access to reporting that is hidden with the free service
- You want to use advanced website features that are not available with the free service (like website search and e-commerce tools)
Changing Vendors
If you want to go from one website builder to another, you need to kiss your website good-bye. You will need to totally rebuild your website in the new vendor's system. You can not take your files with you as it is the "file editors" in these website builders that are unique and each file editor creates text in a custom manner. (Note, WordPress sites are movable, but that is not a Website Builder at all). You can copy and paste text from your live website into the new website builder interface to dramatically speed up a recreation process.