Nowadays, having a website no longer surprises anyone, as there are many ways to create one even without special skills. But why do companies still turn to specialists?
Let's look at the differences between CMS and builders and identify their pros and cons.
Website Builders
These are programs that allow you to assemble a web page from ready-made blocks without programming skills.
There are dozens of such builders. Among them are very simple ones and those with wide functionality, paid and free... But they all have one thing in common—they can be used by inexperienced users, not just programmers and developers.
It sounds very tempting, so why do 90% of websites use CMS (software designed for creating, organizing, editing, and managing a website)?
Features of Builders
Pros:
- Cost savings. A free service with ready-made templates—no need for a designer or programmer.
- Speed. Building a website is as easy as assembling a toy house—there are ready-made templates: structure options, popular blocks like "Contacts," "Feedback," convenient element placement, and intuitive functionality.
- Optimization. Fast loading speed—this is because the builder's functionality is limited, with no complex programs or scripts.
- Accessible to everyone. Assemble a portal from ready-made blocks like puzzles. No special knowledge required.
Are you already googling for a free builder? Not so fast—it's not all that tempting.
Cons:
- Limited rights. You have access to the account, the created website, and all content, but it remains the property of the company that owns the builder. If it shuts down, your portal will also become unavailable. If you want to download it and move it to another hosting for full control, the program will likely prohibit this or require payment. On a free plan, the web address will initially include the builder's name.
- No room for creativity. If you want to make the portal unique—create an original design, add new functionality, connect additional programs and plugins—the program will restrict you. A builder-made website has a simple structure by default, lacking flexibility. As a result, such portals look template-like, differing only in images and text.
- Potential promotion problems. If you plan to promote with contextual ads and SEO, a builder-made website will be an obstacle. Not all programs allow you to add meta tags or keywords to pages. Moreover, search engines dislike such resources due to third-level domains and template structures. Check for yourself—search for a key query in your business niche on Yandex or Google. How many competitors in the top 10 used a builder? Also, your resource will likely display a banner or someone else's ads, which can only be removed by paying a hefty sum.
- Reputation. Visitors don't trust builder-made websites. Potential clients may think your company is unserious or unreliable if it can't even make a unique one-pager.
DEVELOPMENT ON CMS
The second option is development on our CMS—Booster. CMS Booster is a content management system, the "engine" of a website. It offers broader capabilities that avoid the drawbacks described above.
Features
CMS is a complex system, so working with it requires professional skills:
- hosting setup;
- creating and editing databases;
- knowledge of programming and markup languages to work with page code;
- ability to connect and configure third-party plugins and additional modules to expand functionality.
Advantages
Developing a web resource on CMS has several advantages:
- ability to transfer the portal to another hosting;
- full ownership of the domain and all content;
- unlimited customization and personalization options: create any design, add different blocks, build deep structures, etc.;
- good reception by search engines;
- correctly working adaptive layout;
- proper functioning with hundreds of additional programs, widgets, and plugins;
- full functionality for online promotion and advertising;
- great SEO opportunities: analytics, meta tags right in the CMS, optimization.
Thanks to these advantages, most business owners choose CMS, as a content management system opens more opportunities for development.
CMS has its drawbacks, but in our opinion, these are just side effects of quality work:
- creating a website on CMS without a web developer is unlikely;
- development takes quite a while, depending on the desired result;
- CMS development is more expensive than using a builder;
- if the developer is unprofessional, pages may be heavy and slow.
What to choose?
Builders are a cheap (or almost free) way to present information online. Builder-made websites and pages are usually used for small promotions and temporary campaigns. Using them as a permanent address for online promotion isn't advisable, as they are trusted less and disliked by search algorithms.
CMS-made websites are more resource-intensive, but they are reliable, individual, and unique. They can implement any tasks and rank high on Yandex and Google.
In any case, the choice is always yours, and we offer to entrust the project to us, as we've been developing websites for over 8 years.
We create a unique solution for you, considering your individual features, inform you at every stage, and provide full reporting.