What Type of Website is Best for Your Business

If you try to get a quotation for website development for your business from multiple agencies, I am sure each of those quotations could be significantly different. I won’t be surprised if some of those quotations vary more than 500% in the cost. 

Let’s see why the website development costs by different agencies vary so significantly.

Before we dive into the costing part, let me explain the types of websites.

Websites are broadly classified into a few high-level categories:

1. Static websites
2. Dynamic websites
3. Web applications

In this article, I am excluding the very basic websites created by freelancers or small agencies just for the sake of having a web address. I am discussing only professionally developed websites.

Before getting deep into the type of website that is best for your business, let me introduce myself. I am Tony John, Managing Director of SpiderWorks Technologies. I began my IT journey in 1996 as a software developer using the "C" language and later launched my first blog in 1998. Simultaneously, I started with blogging and website promotions in the same year. Leveraging my strong technical, analytical, and SEO skills, I propelled hundreds of websites to success, including my own portals and client websites across the world. With my technical expertise and optimization skills, I created several blogs and websites that garnered millions of monthly readers. Today, I want to guide those who work on websites providing a deeper understanding of the type of website that is best for your business

Let us dive into the details of different types of websites.

Static Websites

As the name indicates, static websites are websites that have static or fixed information. The content on the website rarely changes. In case the content needs to be changed, a web developer or a person with HTML/Javascript knowledge is required. This means the business owner or non-technical staff cannot easily change the content on the website. Even if you want to change a phone number or image used in the website, you need assistance from a web developer. 

While static websites were common several years ago, it is no longer common for business websites. Static websites are still used as landing pages for advertisements, showcasing information about some events, etc. For example, if your company is hosting a music show on a particular date, you can develop a temporary static website with all the details about the show and the website probably becomes outdated after the show. 

Dynamic Websites

Dynamic Websites are websites that allow the staff to regularly add/edit content using an Admin dashboard. For all dynamic websites, there will be an admin dashboard to which the non-technical staff can log in and add more pages to the website or modify content without any technical knowledge. 

Dynamic websites will have the capability to change any text, image, or video content on the website using the admin dashboard. 

Most companies choose the “Dynamic Website” option for developing their corporate website since it gives great flexibility in changing the content at any time and also refreshing their website with up-to-date information. It also gives the flexibility to publish news, blogs etc so that the company can connect and engage with their users. 

Web Applications

Web applications are technically websites since they are developed using web development technologies like HTML, Javascript and CSS, just like other types of websites. However, web applications are specialised applications developed for specific purposes. Some typical examples of web applications are ERP software, CRM solutions, Gmail, Hotmail, Google Search, etc. Each of these applications is developed for a specific purpose and has in-depth functionality behind it instead of simply providing information about a business. 

Advantages of Dynamic Websites

For the purpose of developing a corporate website for any business, we should consider only “Dynamic Websites”. While static websites are simpler, cheaper to develop, and faster to load on browsers, such websites are highly limited in functionality and will stop the business from leveraging the opportunities for business growth. So, let us skip the static websites and discuss more on dynamic websites.

All dynamic websites have 2 aspects:

• The front end

• The CMS (back end)

The “front end” is the website that the public or users of the website see. This includes all the pages on the website, images, videos, and text content. 

CMS stands for Content Management System. This is also called the “back-end” or “admin dashboard”. The regular users or the visitors to the website will not see the CMS. Only the website admins will see the CMS and it will be protected with a login and password so that only the authorised people can access the backend and make changes to the website. 

Admins will use the admin dashboard (CMS) to make changes to the text, images, videos, and all other data displayed on the website. The same dashboard can be used to add more services or products to the website, add new blog posts, add additional pages, change the contact details of the company etc. 

Dynamic Website Development Options

If you choose to go for a dynamic website for your business, there are many options:

• Choose a pre-developed CMS system (like WordPress)

• Develop your own custom CMS website

There are hundreds of pre-developed CMS solutions available in the market. Some of the most popular CMS solutions are:

• WordPress

• Shopify

• Wix

• Joomla

• Drupal

• Webflow

WordPress owns about 63% of the overall market share in CMS systems. There is no one else close to this. So, you can see that WordPress has a kind of monopoly when it comes to CMS-based websites. 

Ref: https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management 

Now, let me go back to this question - which CMS you should choose for your business website - whether to go for a ready-made CMS like WordPress or develop your own CMS website?

Let us see the advantages and disadvantages of both options.

First, let us talk about WordPress:

WordPress was originally developed as a blogging platform, which allows publishers to add new blog posts easily from the admin dashboard without any knowledge of HTML.

I started blogging in 1998 and created my first blog using a platform called “Tripod”. I still have that blog online but I am not going to show that here since it looks so embarrassing to look at the way it was done 25 years ago! Anyways, at that time, when I wanted to add a new blog post, I had to develop a new page using HTML and add it to the website. There was a lot of effort involved in adding new pages to the blog. It was a kind of static blog where I had to develop each page separately and add it to the website. 

By around the year 2000, some of my blogs became globally popular and managing blogs using a static platform was not feasible any more. In 2001, I launched my own custom-developed CMS platform and replaced all of my blogs with my own custom-developed CMS platform. This custom CMS was developed using Microsoft’s ASP platform, later replaced with Microsoft’s ASP.NET technologies. 

WordPress was launched in 2003 and it changed the way blogging works. It came up with a very simple interface using which anyone can install WordPress, choose a pre-defined template that defines how the website will look and then start adding pages from the admin dashboard without any technical knowledge. I considered switching to WordPress from my own custom CMS but skipped that idea since WordPress was still not mature enough and didn’t have all the SEO features I built into my own CMS.

Anyway, even though I continued with my own CMS development, WordPress became a leader in web development platforms very quickly and it remains the top choice for website development even now.

Now the big question is, should you choose WordPress as your web development platform or should you go for a custom-developed CMS?

Let us discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both options.

Faster Development

WordPress is a ready-made website software. You can have your website ready in a few days or weeks, depending on how sophisticated it is. The typical WordPress website development involves installing WordPress software, buying the right template for you, developing custom content and images and making the website ready after the basic customisation and configuration to use your specific content like phone number, email integration, logo etc. Typically, a simple WordPress website can be launched in 2-3 weeks unless it involves major content development and customisation.

WordPress websites can be developed by people with very basic technical knowledge. That is why most development companies and freelancers recommend WordPress for you. Making a WordPress website for you is very easy for them. As I said earlier, just install the WordPress software, buy the best template, and add your business content.

Many freelancers and small agencies choose free templates or non-licensed templates and generate content using AI. This will allow them to build a new website in 1 or 2 days and without any cost. 

This is where many companies go wrong when choosing WordPress. I will talk about the limitations of WordPress later in this article but before that, let me warn you. If you decide to go for WordPress-based websites, go for a professional agency and ensure you are buying a paid, premium template for your website that is fast, attractive and provides a very good user experience. Do not depend on AI-generated content except for marketing taglines, headings etc. Build custom content to steal the hearts of your visitors that is convincing to make your visitors your customers.

While WordPress allows installing software and configuring the website in a few hours, it also gives great flexibility in customising it for each client. It is an open-source platform, developed using PHP. Any developer with PHP knowledge can customise WordPress and adapt it to the specific needs of the website. This is where things start getting complex. While you try to make the website powerful by customising it, you start losing the advantages and flexibility of WordPress.

While WordPress has many advantages, the custom CMS is a clear winner in the following aspects:

• Ease of maintenance

• Flexibility

• Security

• Advanced SEO

It does not mean that WordPress is always a loser. WordPress has the following advantages over custom CMS-based websites:

• Quick development & deployment

• Low cost

• Basic SEO features built into WordPress through plug-ins

Ease of Maintenance

Fundamentally, WordPress is a blogging platform and not a website platform. It becomes a website platform with the use of “plug-ins”. A plug-in is a small piece of software, developed by the WordPress company itself or other companies. Each plug-in is meant to add a specific functionality to the WordPress website. 

For example, if you want to have a Contact Form that captures leads from the WordPress website, you can install one of the available “Contact Form” plug-ins.

If you want to develop a website for a hospital using WordPress, you can install a plug-in that adds “departments”, “specialities” and “list of doctors” to the website. You can even install another plug-in called “appointment booking”.

In short, you can keep adding a lot of plug-ins to the website to make the WordPress website more and more sophisticated and add functionality.

But here is the catch; each plug-in comes from different companies and each one could add problems to the website. Many business websites are made with a large number of plug-ins. I have seen websites with 50+ plug-ins installed. Remember, you are now dealing with 50 different pieces of individual software within your website. Many of these plug-ins are developed by small companies and they may go outdated any time. When you try to upgrade your plug-in, the plug-in developer may not be available any more. At that time, you will have to consider replacing it with another similar plug-in and it may affect how the website works. You may encounter compatibility issues while upgrading plug-ins.

In my opinion, this is a maintenance nightmare. While you can quickly develop a website using WordPress and add functionality using Plug-ins, you could face a lot of maintenance issues in keeping the plug-ins up to date. 

On the other hand, if you custom-develop the CMS, there are no plug-ins involved. The entire website is a single source of code developed using one of the programming technologies. There are no compatibility issues and no maintenance nightmare. This is one reason why we recommend custom-developed websites over WordPress-based websites for our clients. 

Maintenance of the website is relatively easy with custom CMS since you do not have to deal with external plug-ins and software from other providers. Once developed, tested and deployed, custom websites can keep running for years without any active maintenance. 

During the initial stages of our company from 2005, even though we had our own custom CMS, we developed a lot of websites using WordPress for our clients who were looking for quick and low-cost websites. But over a period of time, we found it very challenging to keep these websites alive and up to date due to the issues caused by the plug-ins we chose for them. We tried to develop our own plug-ins for WordPress instead of third-party plug-ins but eventually, we figured out that custom CMS is the best solution in terms of maintenance, flexibility and security. 

Flexibility

While there are hundreds of plug-ins available for WordPress that give you the flexibility to add a wide variety of features to the website, you are still limited to what is built in the plug-ins. In many cases, while you can change the content and images, you may not be able to change the layout, design and appearance of a page. If you want any specific, custom functionality, you may not be able to achieve it with WordPress, unless you “customise it” for you,

But here is the big problem - the moment you start customising WordPress, you may lose many advantages of WordPress. Future version upgrades of WordPress may no longer work. You may not be able to replace your plug-ins with other ones. You may not be able to switch to another theme or template of your choice.

On the other hand, if you have a custom-developed CMS, you have the freedom to change anything the way you want it. You do not have to worry about version mismatch or compatibility issues between different aspects of the website. You have 100% control over your website and anything that is technically feasible can be developed into your website. 

If you have a very active business, I am sure you will have active requirements to adapt your website to the ever-changing scenario of your business. For example, if you are in the healthcare business and if there is a new law in the country regarding how you can store medical data, with custom CMS, you can instantly modify your website using your development team. On the other hand, if you are using a WordPress plug-in, you will have to wait until your plug-in developer gives you an updated version, which may never happen as well.

Also, to stay competitive in the market, you will have to continuously improve your website, adapt to new technologies and keep improving various aspects including the user interface and user experience. With pre-developed solutions like WordPress, it is very difficult to improve the user interface and user experience. On the other hand, with a custom CMS website, you can improve any part of the website at any time, giving you greater flexibility.

Better Security

Next, let us speak about security. One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is that it is open-source. It is coded using PHP and any developer can change the code to customise the website. This is a disadvantage as well. How WordPress works is open to everyone. People who discover loopholes in the system will be able to take advantage of it for any WordPress website developed in the same manner. 

This applies not only to the framework of WordPress but to the plug-ins as well. While WordPress is a stable platform, that may not be true for all the plug-ins. Many plug-ins that are available to buy and install may not be foolproof. If hackers discover a loophole that allows them to hack a website, they can instantly hack hundreds or even thousands of websites using the same plug-in. These hacking issues are very common for WordPress websites due to the issues found in the plug-ins. 

The ongoing hacking issues are one of the other reasons we stopped supporting WordPress development for our new clients.

Unique Website for Your Business

As I mentioned earlier, WordPress is a template-based CMS. This means you can buy one of the available templates that match your requirements and install it to quickly build a website. This also means, there could be hundreds of other websites that bought the same template and have a website that looks very similar to yours. While WordPress allows developing custom or unique skins for your website, by doing so, you will lose many of the benefits of WordPress.

On the other hand, when developing a custom website, you have 2 choices:

• Buy a pre-developed template and customise it

• Design your unique website

If you buy a pre-developed template and use it to customize your website, you can speed up the development process. Even though WordPress also uses pre-defined templates, in the case of custom-developed websites with predefined templates, you have the complete freedom to customize the template and adapt it according to your requirements. 

But if you decide to go for a custom-developed website, I would recommend you custom-design your website so that you will have a very unique website that stands out from the rest and gives you an upper hand in front of your competitors. 

Custom-developed websites are much more expensive than readymade CMS-based websites. However, you can reduce your development cost to an extent by using a pre-defined template for your custom-developed website. 

Conclusion:

If you can afford to pay a higher amount for a custom-developed, unique website for your business, I would recommend you should go for a custom website for your business. Custom websites give you great flexibility in adapting the website according to your brand guidelines, building specific features that match well with your business goals, and relatively low maintenance requirements.

WordPress is still a great choice if you are looking for a low-cost website developed in a short period. 

If you're seeking a solution that goes beyond WordPress but a fully custom-designed and developed website is out of your budget, consider opting for a custom-developed website using a predefined template as a middle-ground approach.

The Cost of Developing a Website Depends on Several Factors:

1. Are we using a readymade CMS like WordPress
2. How much functionality is built into the CMS
3. How flexible is the CMS in terms of changing the content and features
4. What level of auditing features it has. For example, does it show reports like which users changed which content and when.
5. Which technology and platforms are used for developing the dashboard
6. How mature is the CMS? Usually, the CMS platforms evolve over a period of time and newer features and security features are always added to it.
7. Whether the CMS has only basic SEO features or it supports advanced SEO features like Schema implementation

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Website?

Considering several factors, the cost of developing a new website can vary significantly. That is why you may get website development proposals from different agencies with significantly different pricing. However, considering this is a very common question asked by a lot of business owners, let me try to give a general figure regarding the cost of website development. Please keep in mind that this is the general pricing followed by SpiderWorks for a premium website with a modest level of features and functions.

Cost for WordPress website: AED 5,000 to AED 12,000

Cost for WordPress website with e-commerce: AED 10,000 to AED 20,000

Cost for Custom CMS website with pre-defined UI template: AED 15,000 to AED 20,000

Cost for Custom CMS website with unique, custom UI: AED 25,000 to AED 50,000

If you are looking for any help with website development to take your business to the next level, feel free to contact us any time. Whether you want us to develop the website for you or not, we will be happy to guide you with the right approach. With a strong team of 70+ professionals and 28+ years of software development experience, I can assure you the best in class website development service for you.