Websites

Weebly or Wordpress? 

Weebly and Wordpress are content management systems.  "A content management system (CMS) is a software application that enables users to create, edit, collaborate on, publish and store digital content.  [It] provides ... tools to create, edit and publish web content without the need to write code from scratch." (techtarget.com) .   ​

Weebly sites: 

• Fast to build and easy to maintain
• Great for people who want to take over the maintenance of their own content
• Storefront and blogging extensions are built in​ ​

Using Weebly will get you a great-looking custom website at the lowest possible cost, and also save money on maintenance in the long-run. ​​  Storefront and blogging extensions are very user-friendly.  If you are an artist, activist or author, have a product or service to sell, or want a website for any reason at all, this is the cheapest possible way to do it. Even if you only need the site for a short while, for example to sell your house or promote an event, it is still affordable.

Wordpress sites:

• More blogging features
• Enhanced storefront extensions
• Individualized, data-driven content

Wordpress is  built on a more sophisticated platform.  It is enormously popular -- over 60% percent of all CMS  websites are built on the Wordpress platform.   Their extensive library of plug-ins and add-ons offers unparalleled opportunities for customization and growth, and database integration allows you to provide custom content to individual subscribers.

Websites have four cost components:

• Development: Building the site is the most significant (and variable) cost.  The first page is the most expensive, because that's where we create the  unique "look and feel" that flows through rest of the site.  Weebly's drag and drop web tools speed up building the basic structures, allowing us to focus on the customizations that make the site distinctly yours.  
• Domain Name Registration:  Every website needs a unique address.  Registering the address keeps it available  to the public.   It costs about $20 per year to maintain  domain name registration. 
• Hosting and Service Plan:  Web hosting allows you to post your website on the Internet.  The service plan defines the supported features, such as site search tools, video support, etc..  Services like Weebly combine hosting and service plan fees, which range from free to $25/month depending on the services you need.

Once your site is published...

It is important to keep your site be up-to-date with the information and features you want your visitors to see and use.  As your needs evolve, so should your website.  The amount of maintenance your site will need depends on your goals and the nature of the site. 

I will give you access to the site during development and I can teach you in how to maintain it.  Then you decide how much support you want.