For Web Business MKT 250 at BYU-Idaho this week we learned about different site builders and hosting platforms for websites. I was familiar with the basics before, so coming into the discussion I felt like I already had valuable things to contribute without doing a lot of research. Our discussion focused on what factors should be considered in picking your own site builder or hosting platform. Each student considered three site builders and three hosting services and determined which to suggest.
For site builders I considered Wix, Shopify, and WordPress. The three factors I ranked them by were complexity, familiarity, and features/pricing. I decided that although WordPress was the most complex, it scored the highest on features and price, and is the site builder I’m most familiar with.
For hosting services I looked into Bluehost, HostGator, and GoDaddy. Using speed, support and features/pricing as my factors, the rankings favored Bluehost for excellent speed, support, and excellent features for the price. GoDaddy had higher prices and weaker support, while HostGator had lower prices and weaker features.
Ultimately what I got out of the week was that different site builders and services can be right for different people and different projects. Taking the time to find out what will do the job best at your price point is an important step to seeing a website project succeed.