Why not a consumer platform for a professional site

Here are some examples of consumer website platforms

  • WordPress
  • Wix
  • Squarespace
  • Weebly
  • Google Sites
  • Godaddy Website Builder

I know there are many professional sites built on these platforms, but I don’t believe they’re the best solution for most uses.

Strategy First

The most common problem with these sites built on WordPress or whatever is that the strategy is low priority.

Imagine you have a closet with lots of little shelves and nooks in it. You just moved in to this place, so you start trying to find items that fit these shelves. I guess the dustpan can go above the cereal, even though I don’t want dust falling on the food. I guess I need to buy a new vacuum because my current one doesn’t fit quite right. My one toaster fits so well here, but there are three identical spots. Maybe I gotta buy two more toasters.

The shelves are supposed to support your stuff. You’re not supposed to serve the shelves.

When we’re using website templates, we get tempted to have more pages because their available or pushing the crucial content to a backburner because the template dictates it. There are buttons for all my social networks, but what if my instagram has 20 followers and makes me look terrible? Obey wordpress and add that button.

Responsiveness

Most templates for the consumer platforms are mobile responsive – they work on phones and computers, but the response is not necessarily great. A hand-coded website can adjust intentionally and predictably on multiple devices. When I build a site, i’m particular about getting each one to look right. WordPress doesn’t care. Things will be cropped weird and certain things might be invisible.

Cobwebs

I wrote a little about how people make dead sites and this is an issue. People get really into the updateability of these platforms and their site is dependent on constant updates. Problem with that: we might not want to always be updating.

Inspiration

We get inspired to change something on our site and these platforms make it easy. Easy is great, right? Well, maybe it’s not that easy after all. If we start with a strategy that took a lot of thinking and we build a great site that conveys our message to our people, the web building platform can’t redo all that work for us. Our brains and our time and our advisors have to do that redoing. Doing quick updates can break the tons of work that we put into the original. Starting with a new brand and strategy and message is probably not going to be something we have bandwidth to do.

The Effort

This stuff can all be corrected with more effort. These are not dead end problems with the platforms. They can be fixed with more work and creative problem solving. It’s just not really that cool.

You want a car that is huge for cruising around smoothly and a car you can take on quick trips and park easily. You get two cars, or you get a car that’s a compromise. You don’t get a custom built car that can be size-adjusted at a whim. That car’s gonna be expensive, you’re gonna have grease under your nails everywhere you go, and it would probably not even work very well in the first place.

Written for folks who want to attract and energize groups

Scot Nery is an emcee who has helped some of the biggest companies in the world achieve entertainment success. He's on an infinite misson to figure out what draws people in and engages them with powerful moments.

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