Website Building Services

Web Site Builders

Many people make thier fist website using a website builder like Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, or Canva. Services like these offer a web portal in which you can use existing templates and create a website without knowing any computer programming. Even so, sometimes it’s nice to have some help or advice on things like programming, writing content, website design, search engine optimization (SEO), or website performance.

Feel free to reach out if you’re interested in creating a site that you can manage yourself on a website builder like squarespace or wix, and you’d like some help or advice.

Static & Hybrid Sites

Static sites are sites that appear the same to all users. They can be very fast to load, especially if you use them in conjunction with a content delivery network (CDN) like Cloudflare. If you’re making a relatively small site, such as a marketing or informational site for a small business, you might be really happy with a static site. Even if your site may need to include some dynamic elements like a calendar, user comments, or a payment portal, you still might want to consider a static or hybrid site.

A hybrid site is a website that’s primarily or at least partially made up of static components. A site like this can benifit from the speed and performance benefits of a static site, while also allowing for some dynamic functionality where it’s needed or desired.

Static sites are often built with Static Site Generators or SSGs. A static site generator is a software tool that helps with building and maintaining a static site. While you can build and maintain a static site using only HTML and CSS (and maybe a little Javascript), doing so can be time consuming and cumbersome as a site grows in size. That’s where SSGs come in. Static site generators allow you to use templating and other tools to minimize the work required to manage a site. Some of the most popular SSGs right now include Astro, Eleventy (11ty), and Hugo.

If you’re interested in building a static site with a static site generator like Hugo, Astro, or Eleventy, or if your’re interested in discussing a hybird site, please get in touch.

WordPress Sites

WordPress is another popular option that people may consider when building a website for themselves or their business. If you’re thinking about WordPress, it’s important to know that wordpress.com and wordpress.org are two differeent things. Wordpress.com is a website builder like Squarespace, Webflow, or Wix. Wordpress.org is an open-source content management system (a CMS).

A content management system is a platform (often a web site or web portal) that allows you to manage and update the content of your site without knowing computer programming. In this way, a CMS is similar to a website builder. Often when people talk about WordPress, they are taling about the wordpress.org CMS, and that’s what I mean when I talk about WordPress on this site.

WordPress may be a good option for you or your business if your site needs extended functionality beyond what a static site or hybrid site can offer. If you’re comfortable with technology and computers, but you don’t know computer programming, you might be able to set up or maintain a WordPress site on your own. Creating and maintining a WordPress stie is a bit more complicated and takes a a bit more work than using a site builder, but it can also provide more flexibility and control. Given the added complexity of building and running a WordPress site, many people choose to get help from a professional when creating or maintaining a Wordpress site.

WordPress is very popular these days. Somewhere around 40% of today’s websites use it. Like anything, it has its benefits and drawbacks. For example, there are many WordPress plugins available that allow you to add varuios features to your site like SEO management, form building, search functionality, or analytics. It’s also possible to build a custom plugin for your site. On the other hand, these plugins need to be managed and updated from time to time. Feel free to get in touch if you’re interested in discussing setting up or maintaining a site with WordPress.

If you’re interested in putting together a wordpress site and you’d like some help, feel free to get in touch.

Custom Solutions

I’m available to discuss the various options with you, including building a custom or hybrid site, and I can help you find the right solution to fit your needs. We can also talk about any customizations or fine-tuning that you may be interested in.