When launching a business website one can doubt what platform to choose for it. This decision depends on your website building experience, programming skills or their absence, your aims as for your website development, and much more aspects. Today we resolve to speak on HTML vs WordPress for your business website and which is better to select.
WordPress and HTML – Let’s See!
As we all know WordPress is a Content Management System allowing you to manage your website from an intuitive user interface. It requires no coding knowledge because you can make changes to your website right from the admin area which is clear and simple to understand.
There are a lot of free and premium plugins available for WordPress, so you can easily extend the functionality of your website by installing the plugins and managing their settings.
You can download any free theme or buy a premium readymade design for your website and then build your pages with one of available modern drag-and-drop page builder plugins. It’s easy ‘cause you should just move and place content elements to create the structure of your pages as you personally see it. WordPress uses database to store and retrieve your content.
What is a static HTML website? Originally, HTML is a markup language which is used to display web pages through a browser. Most of the websites use HTML together with various scripts to create web pages.
If choose HTML for building your website, there are two variants of making it real:
1. You should be a developer yourself;
2. You can hire a developer to create a website for you.
Such technologies as CSS, JavaScript or some other ones will be also required for creating your website. That is why programming skills are compulsory for building such kind of website.
Every time you need to make changes to your website, you’ll need to edit static HTML files where your content is stored. Of course there’s a possibility to “resharpen” your HTML website for any specific CMS but again it will need a lot of effort and of course coding skills.
Pros and Cons of Using WordPress
Let’s talk of some obvious advantages that a WordPress website provides:
1. WordPress is a user friendly and simple platform so even a beginner can work with it.
2. WP is easy to update. You’ll just have to login to your dashboard, and easily add any content, install plugins, create pages, and change your website up to your needs. You don’t have to pay to your developer to add any new piece of content or make any other updates on your website.
3. Readymade templates are available. No need to pay to a professional designer to get them create a design for your website, there are thousands of WP themes developed by professionals from all across the globe and offered either for free or on a paid-for basis.
4. You get full control over your website which means you own a domain name and your website’s content. You can grow your website as you want, increase its traffic and make it as popular as you wish.
To make it clear, we should speak about disadvantages of using WordPress, and they are as follows:
1. If you are a beginner, you should spend some time to learn WordPress to understand how to use the software. Of course it’s not tough to learn but you will have to watch some guide videos, read some tutorials, and try all of that in practice to make it clear.
2. You will be responsible for maintenance of your website by yourself. This means you will have to update plugins time after time and think of your content optimization.
Pros and Cons of Using HTML
It’s time to see what are the advantages of using HTML:
1. HTML website needs almost no maintenance. Once your website is launched you won’t have to install updates or make regular backups. If you don’t make global changes, you’ll have to just backup your website once, and nothing more is required.
2. Low requirements of HTML websites are the advantage. Such websites don’t need any servers with PHP or MySQL installed. No databases to store your content are required, all is stored in HTML files.
If we think about disadvantages of HTML, they are as follows:
1. Beginners can’t update their websites by themselves. If you need to upload new images, add new pages or just add an article, you’ll have to address a developer.
2. No extra features are available. HTML website is mostly appropriate for building a small one-page business card on the Web ‘cause such website requires no regular updates as, for instance, a blog or a corporate website does. Features as a gallery, a shop, or a small survey will be possible to add just with a developer’s help.
What about the costs?
To launch a website on WordPress will cost you about $100-200 depending on a hosting plan you choose, a domain name you prefer and a price of a WP theme you’d like to buy. You may also start from using a free WP theme and then change it into premium one later.
If you prefer to create an HTML website it may cost you up to $800-1000 depending on how many updates you will need to make, what design you choose and what the studio’s or a freelance developer’s services price is.
So what is better for your website: HTML or WordPress?
If you’re about to run a small business card with pages like About, Our Mission, Our Team, Services and Contacts, this is a simple website with a purpose to provide your visitors with basic information on your business. Such website doesn’t require immense and regular updates and it can be created with HTML.
If you’re certain about creating a big corporate or business website with pages like Gallery, Video Archives, Client Testimonials, Blog, and more, of course, WordPress is the right choice here. Regular content updates are also great for SEO and for your target audience interests.
