WordPress.com is like the cute little sister with the big smile and dimples that boys think is very nice and cute. WordPress.org is the hot older sister with the leather skirt, red lipstick and killer body!
There are a gazillion sites that will allow you to have a website up and running lickity split. But they are not one size fits all. The most popular platform is probably WordPress. If you haven’t already heard, WordPress is the best thing since sliced bread…or at least that’s the buzz around town. But what you may not have heard is that there are 2. That’s right, 2, WordPress sites. There is WordPress.com and WordPress.org. They are very similar in that they both offer blog sites and have the same name. They are very different in virtually every other way.
WordPress.com is like the cute little sister with the big smile and dimples that boys think is very nice and cute. WordPress.org is the hot older sister with the leather skirt, red lipstick and killer body! I wont go into the whys, but WordPress has created 2 separate places that allow you to build your site from templates and have it go live in minutes. It’s a great feat to have one platform under your belt but to have 2 puts WordPress ahead of the pack.
So why would anyone ever build anywhere other than WordPress? Welp, there’s one easy answer… it aint easy! WordPress is not really ideal for the novice. It’s not a drag and drop, big friendly buttons, simple templates, type builder. So for those of you that know you need to hire a professional designer to build your website BUT want to be able to make changes yourself (i.e. add pictures as you get them or change an employees name from time to time) and you don’t want to pay to have it done, WordPress is NOT for you. And while we’re at it, Joomla isn’t either. Great builder, but not for the novice. You want something like Wix, Webs, Web and similar “drag and drop” website builders.
But be warned. Drag and drops may not have all the bells and whistles that WordPress has. Sometimes you are extremely limited in what you can add and do on your site. Colors, fonts, screen size, and many other options may be pre-formatted for you and unalterable. A website designer can build in any platform but we can’t create a masterpiece with a box of crayons. That’s not to say your site wont still look amazing, but you may not have the top of the line options or specific colors you had in mind.
If you want to maintain your website yourself, ask your builder to build your site in a easy to use “drag and drop” web builder. If you wont need changes for the foreseeable future or if you are going to have the builder maintain the site as well, WordPress is great.