Step 2 of 7Choosing a Platform
Choosing a Platform
You are a farmer that specialises in organic produce and you are in need of setting up an online presence to promote your business. The aim of your online presence is to showcase your farm, products, and your produce to prospective distributors.
Based on what you’ve learnt so far, what is the most appropriate online presence to achieve your goals?
There are three methods you can choose from to set up your website:
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Use a website/blog builder service
A website builder is a program, or tool, that helps you build a website. The programs are very user friendly and use a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface with drag and drop elements (copy, images, etc).
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Use a content managament system (CMS)
A web Content Management System (CMS) is a system designed to support the management of the content of web pages. You can easily manage text and embedded graphics, photos, video, audio, maps, and program code (e.g. for applications) that displays content or interacts with the user.
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Doing all the setting up yourself
Setting up a website for yourself involves lots of skills such as being able design and code. Although it might be the cheapest option in the long term, it might be time consuming.
To enable you to best showcase your products and give full details of your business, you will be better off setting up a website. How do you want to go about setting up your website?
You chose to set up your website yourself from scratch. What are the PROS and CONS of this method?
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Cost-effective | Time consuming |
| Total Flexibility | Requires design skills |
| Easy to publish | Requires coding skills |
What about the other methods? What are the PROS and CONS of each of them?
Continue| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| You don’t need any coding skills | Usually comes with strings attached |
| You don’t need any design skills | |
| Quick turn around | Less flexibility |
| Easy to publish | |
| Usually includes hosting and domain names for a premium cost | Expensive |
| User friendly: WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) |
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Flexible | Regular updates are required to make the site safe from hackers |
| Advanced features | |
| Easy to publish | |
| User friendly | The CMS stores everything separately, then assembles it on the fly when the web client requests a page, which means they can be slow |
| Usually includes hosting and free for basic websites | |
| Content can be updated rapidly |
You chose to set up your website using a website/blog builder service. What are the PROS and CONS of this method?
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| You don’t need any coding skills | Usually comes with strings attached |
| You don’t need any design skills | |
| Quick turn around | Less flexibility |
| Easy to publish | |
| Usually includes hosting and domain names for a premium cost | Expensive |
| User friendly: WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) |
What about the other methods? What are the PROS and CONS of each of them?
Continue| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Flexible | Regular updates are required to make the site safe from hackers |
| Advanced features | |
| Easy to publish | |
| User friendly | The CMS stores everything separately, then assembles it on the fly when the web client requests a page, which means they can be slow |
| Usually includes hosting and free for basic websites | |
| Content can be updated rapidly |
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Cost-effective | Time consuming |
| Total Flexibility | Requires design skills |
| Easy to publish | Requires coding skills |
You chose to set up your website using a free Content Management System (CMS). What are the PROS and CONS of this method?
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Flexible | Regular updates are required to make the site safe from hackers |
| Advanced features | |
| Easy to publish | |
| User friendly | The CMS stores everything separately, then assembles it on the fly when the web client requests a page, which means they can be slow |
| Usually includes hosting and free for basic websites | |
| Content can be updated rapidly |
What about the other methods? What are the PROS and CONS of each of them?
Continue| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Cost-effective | Time consuming |
| Total Flexibility | Requires design skills |
| Easy to publish | Requires coding skills |
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| You don’t need any coding skills | Usually comes with strings attached |
| You don’t need any design skills | |
| Quick turn around | Less flexibility |
| Easy to publish | |
| Usually includes hosting and domain names for a premium cost | Expensive |
| User friendly: WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) |
