Conclusion

As a business owner, you’ll already understand the importance of which your website has in terms of your success. Any customers or clients who are interested in your business and working with you will visit your website, so whether you’re a brick and mortar company or an online retailer or service, getting your website right should be a top priority.

However, when it actually comes to how to build a website from scratch, you’ll soon notice there are two approaches you can choose between; using a website builder vs web developer. The question is, which one is right for you?

In today’s guide, we’re going to explore everything you need to know when it comes to figuring out the winner of the website builder vs web developer fight, and which you should choose for your business.

Who Actually Needs a Website?

Just so we’re on the same page, everyone in the modern age who wants to succeed will need to have their own website. Think about your own life and how you approach using new businesses, companies, or services.

Do you dive straight in and make a purchase, or go into town and look around? The chances are, like many people, you probably don’t. Instead, you’ll take to Google, you’ll have a little look around, you’ll get some ideas of what you’re looking for, where to go, and then you’ll make your decision and spend your money.

This is what the vast majority of people will do, and if they access your website during the research stage and it’s not ticking the boxes of what they’re looking for, they’ll go elsewhere.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an online store, a retail business, a service website, a freelancer, a restaurant, a sports gear shop, or even a charity organisation, there’s no denying that getting your website right is essential.

Building Your Website

All websites need to be built, and once they’re built, they need to stay updated, fresh, and looking their best. Just like your business itself, having a website is all about giving your customers the very best experience you possibly can.

The two approaches we’ve mentioned above is the classic website builder vs web developer. One approach is where you can build the website yourself, whereas the other is hiring a professional to do the job for you.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and it’s important to ensure you’re taking your time as a business to make sure you’re spending your money, time, and other resources in the right places, so let’s dive into both.

What is a Website Builder?

A website builder, also commonly referred to as a CMS (Content Management System), is a platform that aims to take the stress out of building websites yourself. Whereas in the past you would have had to code your website from scratch using HTML coding, something that would take years to learn properly, you can now just drop your content into the boxes however you like, rearrange your boxes based on themes and templates (or create your own), making it easier than ever for anybody, even people with limited technology skills, to create great looking websites.

Typically, using a CMS platform will take you three to five days to create a website from scratch, and you’ll simply need to follow the process it provides you. You’ll be creating a homepage, several sales pages, a contact page, and then you’ll usually have a space to upload things like store items you want to sell, or for writing your own blog posts.

Of course, while this may seem basic, you’ll always have the opportunity to take things as far and as advanced as you would like.  This includes investing in more advanced templates that add more functionality to your website, adding an online store where you can make sales or make bookings, or just create sales pages as you please.

What makes using a website builder so special is the fact that the entire website creation and launching processes are handled, and you’ve taken step by step from start to finish.  All you need to do is fill in the boxes, add your own content, optimise your website, so it ranks highly in the search engines, and then launch.

The Dos and Donts of Using a Website Builder

When it comes to creating and launching websites, generally speaking, using a website builder is the most affordable approach. Since you’ll be doing most of the work yourself and you’re simply using the resources and assets that the website builder provides, the cost is minimal.

In fact, the only things you’ll really need to pay for is the hosting for the website, in which prices can start around the $3.50 per month mark, and then the price of the assets you use. Some assets are free, whereas others can cost several hundred dollars, depending on how professional and how many features these templates offer you.

The truth is that you can always start with a free template and then build it up and invest more and more as you grow over time, which is another advantage since the cost of your website can be spread out over time, and you can invest as you grow steadily, rather than paying one risky lump sum.

Of course, there are some downsides to be aware, the most obvious of these being that you need to do everything yourself. From setting up the accounts and hosting to writing your website content and filling out all the space, you need to have the patience and time to carry out these tasks.

It can easily take a week to get everything how you want it, especially if you have a large website and you want to make edits and perfect your content, and if you don’t really know what you’re doing, this can take much longer. What’s more, if you’re trying to run a business at the same time, you may not have a ton of time to invest, which may make it take even longer.

What is a Web Developer?

A web developer is a professional person or company who has the ability to create your website from scratch. Typically, web developers will be fluent in programming languages, such as HTML, and will have the experience to know what works with a website and what doesn’t.

By far the biggest benefit of using a web developer is the fact you can have whatever you want. Whereas with a website builder, you’re somewhat restricted to the templates you have access too, especially if you have limited know-how on how they work, a web developer can create whatever you ask for.

Whether that means having a basic website with a few pages or a fully integrated online store where you can manage everything from shipping and inventory to blogs and marketing, a web developer can create it all.

Another benefit a web developer has in the website builder vs web developer conversation is that everything is handled on your behalf. This means that you don’t need to do anything except telling the developer what you want and what you want things to look like.

They’ll come back to you time to time with a plan for you to approve, and asking you if everything is okay, but this will just involve you looking over your project to choose what you like and whether you’re happy with the final outcome.

This gives you more time to focus on all the other aspects of your business, and the website will take care of itself. Moreover, web developers tend to be much faster at delivering you a fully operational website in a couple of days, making this approach great if you’re in a rush for a website fast.

The Details of Using a Web Developer

While beneficial in many ways, this doesn’t mean that using a web developer doesn’t come without its disadvantages. Perhaps the most important you’ll need to think about is how much hiring a web developer is going to cost. Even for a basic website with hosting, several pages, and perhaps some kind of custom functionality, such as a manageable online store, this could end up costing thousands of dollars.

What’s more, once the website is built, web developers tend to close the contracts stating the job is complete. This means that if you want to update the website or make changes in the future, you’ll need to pay to have it changed. However, more commonly, you’ll still be able to edit website content, add blog content, and change basic information yourself whenever you want, and a web developer should tell you how to do this.

You’ll also need to think about how you’re marketing your website and gaining traffic. There are plenty of ways to do this. Still, while a CMS platform like MOTOCMS will help you with certain techniques, if you use a web developer, this is all in your hands, unless you hire a marketing company, which is easily going to cost you another couple of thousand dollars.

When you consider that using a website builder is probably going to cost you a maximum of $400 for a pretty standard website with a lot of functionality opportunities (a really basic website of just pages of content costing around $200), this is definitely the most expensive approach.

Defining Your Approach for the Future

It’s important to think about your approach to your website. So far, we’ve focused on building your website from scratch, from zero to a fully functional website. However, if you’re not building from the ground up but rather updating your website, you’ll need to think about what you’re doing and how you’re approaching this in the context of website builder vs web developer.

If you’re completely overhauling your website and you’ve used a web developer, you’ll need to pay for a completely new website to be designed, which is going to be very expensive. Of course, if you’re just updating certain aspects, such as content and images used, you’ll be able to do this yourself or pay a small fee for the edits.

However, if you’ve used a website builder platform, completely overhauling your website to get it a fresh new look has never been easier. Especially if all your content is in set places, you can simply pay for and upload a new theme or design template, and all the changes will be made automatically, with perhaps only a few small edits needed to tidy things up.

When you’re looking into the long-term for your website, this is such an important point to consider, especially when you consider the fact this is something you’re going to want to do at some point.

Website Builder vs Web Developer; Which is Better?

All in all, the approach you take in the website builder vs web developer comparison really depends on what kind of website you’re after and how many resources you’re able to invest.

If you’re ready to invest thousands of dollars on a custom website, you know exactly what you’re after, and you need the website delivered quickly, then go for a web developer. This is ideal if you’re an established business looking to rebrand or update their website, or you have the investment ready to go, and a website is a core part of your business.

However, if you’re a smaller business, a freelancer or you lack investment and want to grow steadily over time, always use a website builder. Website builders like MOTOCMS have come a long way over the last few years, and never before have they offered so much variation and customisability in such an easy and affordable way.

It doesn’t matter what kind of business you have, or for what kind of purpose you’re creating your website for, a website builder can help you achieve it. This is also such a great approach because you can learn the process of what goes into making a website and what people like and don’t like, which is an ideal business skill to have when it comes to running businesses in the 21st Century.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, narrowing down your website creation options to just the website builder vs web developer approach is the best way to move forward, but it’s important to take your time to see what works best for you. Choose what your priorities are and make the best decision that maximizes your investment and gets you the best result.

Molly Crockett is a marketing blogger for Ukwritings and Boomessays, who focuses on how businesses can protect themselves from industry, advancement and legal threats. She is always seeking ways to help develop writing and research skills in young people, and contributes to the Essayroo.

Any activity that people undertake on the internet, whether it is for recreation, entertainment, or business leads to data generation. All business processes from finance and accounts to human relations to materials management, manufacturing, and sales and distribution generates data. Similarly, when you are running a digital content management system or recording any transactional information, it results in data generation. Since data contains information that is vital for recording the history of business, aids decision making, and helps to understand the process performance, it is necessary to store data in databases for future use. Therefore, it is only natural that every digital application makes use of databases. 

Databases have been in use since the early days of computer applications, and depending on the requirements of collecting and disseminating data, the primary choice is between centralized databases and distributed databases. Although databases have evolved through the years, the broad classification still holds good.

Centralized databases

Centralized databases are centralized systems that store data gathered from multiple data sources and applications stored at a single place. The applications depend on some authentication processes that allow users to access data safely and securely. The Central Library in a college or university that acts as a central database for all other libraries of the college or university is an example of a centralized database. 

It is easier to manage data in a centralized database without affecting the core data while maintaining data consistency. Centralized databases provide better data quality, but maintaining the database is costly because it requires the services of database administrators of RemoteDBA.com to manage the database efficiently. However, centralized databases have slower speeds due to their large size, and updating the system is not easy. 

Distributed databases                                                                                                 

As the name implies, data remains distributed within several databases in the system that stay connected via communication links.   Distributed databases may be homogenous databases if it uses the same application process and hardware and even the same operating system. Heterogenous distributed databases make use of different operating systems and hardware and different application procedures. 

Distributed databases allow modular development, which is an advantage, and a single server failure will not affect the entire database.

We will now discuss the types of databases from the application perspective. Depending on the data type and structure, data model, and the manner of use of data, there are two types of databases that you can consider – relational databases and non-relational databases. During database selection, you must also consider the querying mechanism or schema required, latency and consistency requirements as well as transactional speed.

Relational database management systems (RDBMS) / SQL

RDBMS is the most widely used database system as compared to NoSQL database systems.  Relational databases that were introduced during the 1970s store data in a way so that it can be displayed in the form of a table containing columns and rows. It appears like a collection of tables with each table having a schema that represents the data types and fixed attributes that the items in the table will have. The database systems have the functionalities for creating, reading, updating, and deleting data with the help of SQL or Structured Query Language statements.  

Relational databases have tables that store only key-value pairs and providekeys associated with it that are useful for identifying specific rows or columns of a table for faster access to any specific table, column, or row of interest. To address the concerns about data integrity in relational databases, RDBMS uses several constraints to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the data contained in the table. 

Oracle, My SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and DB2 are some of the most popular relational database systems.

Advantages of RDBMS

Relational databases are mature technologies, well documented, and several established corporations sell and maintain it.  A large pool of qualified developers has experience in RDBMS and SQL, and the systems satisfy the requirements of Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability (ACID).

Disadvantages of RDBMS

The schema type of RDBMS does not work at all with unstructured and semi-structured data and unsuitable for IoT event loads and extensive analytics. One-to-one mapping of the tables with a class or object representing the same data is not possible. Complex data sets or data with variable-length records are not easy to handle in RDBMS.

Non-relational databases / NoSQL

As web applications became more complex, NoSQL databases started gaining popularity as an alternative to relational databases. The most glaring difference between NoSQL and RDBMS is that the schemas of RDBMS rigidly define how to type and compose data for inserting it in the database. Still, NoSQL databases are flexible and allow storing and manipulation of unstructured data as well as semi-structured data.

Types of NoSQL databases

There are many types of NoSQL databases, but some can be a hybrid type and belong to more than one category. A typical example is the Couchbase, which is a hybrid of a document database and key-value store.

Key-value stores – Databases like the Amazon Dynamo DB and Redis are simple DBMS that store key-value pairs only and provide the basic functionality for retrieving the value attached to a known key. These databases suit the embedded databases due to the simplicity of the key-value stores because the data is simple, and operations are speedy.

 Wide Column Stores – HBase, Scylla and Cassandra are systems that are independent of schema that enables users to store data in tables or column families, a single row that represents a record which is a multi-dimensional key-value store. These databases are highly scalable for managing petabytes of data across thousands of commodity servers in a massively distributed system.

Document Stores – Couchbase and Mongo DB are schema-less systems capable of storing data as JSON documents. Document stores are like Wide Column Stores and Key-value Stores, but the document name is the key, and the contents of the document are the value. 

Graph databases – Graph databases like Datastax Enterprise Graph and Neo4J represent data in the form of a network of related objects or nodes to visualize data and graph analytics. Free form data contained in a node or object is connected by relationships and grouped according to the labels. 

The way you want to utilize the database will influence your choice.

Author bio –

Kristen Smith is a web developer and experienced professional in database management and administration. She says you must deploy credible companies like database administrators of RemoteDBA.com to help you maintain and secure any database system with success!

Digital signage marketing and content marketing have been combined before, but not everyone knows that they can be used with mind mapping. Here is how to mix and serve digital signage and content marketing using mind maps.

What Is Digital Signage?

To put it simply, digital signage are the advertisements you see being displayed usually on the streets but also indoors that come in the form of digital installations. For example, these can be the running electronic sentences in public transport or over the shops. But these can also be other forms of displays that have advertisements on them.

Strategic digital signage and digital signage advertising are both considered to be digital signage marketing which is done on purpose. But there are also times when digital signage becomes unintentional marketing like when the news is reported in the electronic sentence running and a brand is mentioned in a positive context.

Digital signage technology has evolved over time, so your digital signage and marketing efforts will need to be coordinated in a way that fits current trends. In addition to that, you should also understand that digital signage is made up of three main parts that work together:

• Content: This is what appears in your digital signage installation. For example, the text and images in the installation are considered to be content just like the audio and video compounds.
• Hardware: This is the technology you use for your digital signage installation. For example, the screens on which the content is displayed and the speakers that the audio is played through are all considered hardware.
• Software: This is the digital framework or the programs that allow your digital signage installation to come to life. The software helps you at all stages of your involvement with the installation from creation to deployment to management to analysis.

How Has the World of Content Marketing Changed?

First of all, content marketing has become a more extensive notion. Now, even an essay writing service review site can give you an idea about where to find a suitable writer to create your content because so many professionals are actually competent to write different kinds of content no matter what kind of texts they usually write.

Secondly, most of your audience is now constantly on the go. The world is a busy place and most people are always out of time. This is why content marketing is trying to adapt to these new circumstances by creating content that can be consumed quickly, accessed easily, and processed effectively.

Content marketing is now more focused on smaller pieces of content like short articles and blog posts or even social media posts. All three can be accessed online at any time from anywhere and don’t require a lot of attention or time from your audience. This is why content marketing has transformed this much.

Consequently, digital signage is now being integrated into content marketing. The difference is that content marketing is usually used online while digital signage marketing is used offline. This is exactly why their combination creates a unique mix that targets audiences both online and offline.

What Are the Benefits of Combining Digital Signage and Content Marketing?

So, how exactly is digital signage being combined with content marketing, and what are the benefits of this mix? Here are just some things you can consider as advantages of combining digital signage and content marketing:

• Integration: Of course, the first thing you will notice is that you will be able to improve your integration. By integrating digital signage marketing with content marketing, you will learn how to combine different types of marketing and be able to improve your overall strategy. In addition to that, this kind of integration can actually strengthen your advertising campaign because all of its elements will now be working together towards a common aim.
• Innovation: What could be more innovative than integrating digital signage marketing and content marketing? This is one of the more recent trends that hasn’t become very widespread yet but already has a lot of potential. This means that if you try integrating digital signage advertising with your content marketing, you will be one of the first to do so. In fact, you might even become one of the innovators in this sphere and one of the most respected experts in the long run.
• Exposure: Because you are combining offline and online marketing tactics, you will be getting double the exposure you usually get when focusing solely on online or offline (traditional) advertising. For example, if you are a local business operating in a particular area, your content marketing strategy will probably rely greatly on local SEO. This also means that it is easier for you to decide where to place your digital signage installations within the area where you are located. As a result, the people who see your marketing online will also see your digital signage installations offline prompting them to engage with your business.

What Are the Best Practices of Combining Digital Signage and Content Marketing?

You could use a writing services review site to write the content for your digital signage installation, but you could also write it yourself. No matter what you choose though, a good digital signage and content marketing combination will need to be created by using some of the best practices to make it effective:

• Bringing Awareness to Your Cause and Your Content: One interesting thing about digital signage installations is that they can actually become overbearing in places where they are too common. This means that attracting the attention of your audience becomes more difficult. Luckily, you can repurpose your digital signage strategy in a way that will still promote your business but will also bring awareness to your cause and your content. For example, if your business supports a non-profit organization helping homeless people, you could incorporate that into your content marketing and digital signage marketing.
• Putting Forward Content That Is Socially Relevant: As mentioned above, you need to find something important to focus the attention of your audience on rather than only trying to market yourself and your business. Think about the content you can put forward that will be socially relevant to your audience. Are they concerned with the prices for the kinds of products you sell? Offer them a discount! Are they wondering whether there is animal abuse involved when making your products? Have your business tested and officially label your products as animal cruelty-free (then, promote this aspect in your marketing)!
• Creating A More Professional Brand Profile: Proper marketing is actually the foundation of your brand identity and brand image. This is why it is so important to keep in mind that when you combine digital signage marketing and content marketing, you can actually create a more professional brand profile. Improving your reputation will impact the way your competitors and your audience see you making you a way more serious business on the market that is serious about what it does and wants to improve the world (while also selling its products or services).

How Can You Use Mind Mapping for Content Marketing?

Lastly, it is important to understand how to use mind mapping for content marketing which you will then use for digital signage. Here are some ways you can use mind mapping for content marketing:

• For Brainstorming Ideas: The most obvious way how you can use mind mapping to improve your content marketing and digital signage marketing is by brainstorming ideas. You can take a general topic and then move out to more specific subtopics and themes that you want your digital signage installations and online content you publish to cover.
• For Creating Outlines for Content: Next, you can also use mind mapping to create outlines for your content. For instance, once you have chosen a specific topic to cover, there are still different points within you will want to go through. By using a mind map, you will get a general idea about the outline or structure of your content.
• For Creating Checklists and Templates for Various Processes: In addition to that, you can use mind mapping to create checklists and templates for various purposes. Imagine that you want to provide your audience with a free checklist of your products they need for their kitchen. You can then use a mind map to select all of these products one by one.
• For Repurposing Old Content into New One: Lastly, you can use mind maps to repurpose old content into new one. You can do this just for your content marketing and you can do this for digital signage marketing. If you have an old article about how to complete a nighttime skincare routine with your products but you have released new products by this point, you can use a mind map to recycle the old article and add new products to it.

Final Thoughts

All in all, digital signage and content marketing can work hand in hand if you know how to use them correctly. Read this article carefully and take notes before deciding how you will mix the two my using mind maps.

Author Bio

Jamie Fry – Purposeful and promising author. Confidently goes to his goal. He has a talent for writing original content. The main conviction in his life: «To be the best in the field in which you are developing». Always in search of fresh ideas.