Reasons why you shouldn’t use a website builder

I think these are 5 totally valid reasons, BUT it's not feasible for everyone to learn HTML themselves before launching their business. Sometimes you just need to get a website up and running. Focusing too much on creating a perfect website can be a form of procrastination in itself.

Disagree. It only took me 6 weeks to reach number 1 on Google and I used Webflow. They are very SEO friendly, they give you warnings and errors when you have missed something that effects SEO.

I'd call this a clickbait article.

Here's a look at the great builder Carrd.co with respect to the 5 reasons.

• Unsuitable for professional business - Simply not true. Bunches of people are making very good business on Carrd sites. Also nobody starts with a 'professional business' – a simple builder landing page can be a perfect stepping stone between an idea and professional business.

• Poor SEO - Wrong. Carrd is great for SEO: even if you use a FREE .carrd.co subdomain - because you'll start out with a domain authority of 75!

• Carrd does outstanding responsive design

• Not customizable - every builder has its limitations, yes. But this is a pro of builders, not a con. Building within constraints will make you focus on content and on getting the site out there. Tweaking a design for ages does not bring you more customers. It just eats time your business needs elsewhere when you start out.

• Easy enough to learn - Well true for HTML. HTML will only take you so far. To make a full site you will need to know so much more: CSS, JS, responsive, performance, SEO, server maintenance, SSL, hosting, caching, databases, ... Using a builder makes you free from all that.

Looks like the clickbait worked. Damn.

I agree to disagree. Website builders have enabled A LOT of individuals and Indie Hackers start off in their careers and business!

Disagree. I’m using Bubble.io and it’s much more powerful and fast than if I’d try coding my sites from scratch.

Disagree with the whole article @ZergLurker.

Use WordPress to build your website and Google will reward you. All my websites are built using WordPress, including my latest tech startup https://skilledup.life - free talent for tech startups.

However, if you use Wix, etc, they might not be great for SEO. You should have made this point clearly and not generalised all CMS.

Just Google "pre-seed pitch deck". Techcelerate comes on Google first page.

All the best
Manoj

website builder literally no-code approach and it have helps many businesses and founders around the world

I partly agree to this. Sure, building complex software mechanisms may require a certain level of coding expertise. But, having said that, If you are just starting out, focusing on one niche is probably the best thing you could do. Because all that matters end of the day is to get started and you should focus on what makes you want to get things done quick.

Since you only mention a couple of builders, and "learning HTML is easy...", I assume you're lumping WordPress into your thesis.

WP runs nearly (over?) 25% of the internet for a reason. WP theme design in terms of SEO has been solved. Search Google for "fast wp themes", pick one that suits your business, one-click install in your host dashboard, install a free SSL cert. Boom! Your site is live.

While it's true that HTML is relatively simple to learn at the lowest levels, you won't be building a secure, optimized, fast, SEO-friendly website without CSS and a host of other skills, let alone the plethora of necessary functions required for good useability.

As for Wix and other overpriced services, I agree. They tend to suck.

Shopify is a great solution for high-volume e-com, but it's not WYSIWYG or low-dev at that level.

Furthermore, Shopify's claim that it's a good starting place is total crap. It's anything but out of the box ready for any need. Just head over to Upwork and search for "Shopify developer" for proof of this. You'll find zillions of contractors. This wouldn't be necessary if this claim were true.

On the other hand, there are thousands of free and very cheap WP plugins ready to solve any imaginable problem.

I think it's silly for a non-dev indiehacker to learn to code, unless their business is substantially technical, and even then, it doesn't make sense until and unless the product concept is proven. Once that's established, learning at least the basics of the coding languages that your product depends on is a good idea. Unless of course you're too busy making money. 😍

this is easy for everyone because no coding.

I am a designer, web developer and also founder of multiple startups.. I wanted to give my opinion..Unfortunately I don't agree with anything in this article.. You mentioned Wix, let me share my opinions based on Wix, but what I am gonna write about is true for many other website builder platforms as well..

Your Reason #1- Unsuitable for Professional Business
It's not the platform that makes a website professional or not. It is your design! I can create a website super childish and also create a website super professional.. Depends on what I want to create.. A good design doesn't need coding skills 🤷🏻‍♂️

Your Reason #2- Poor SEO
Wix has improved its system alot in the last couple of yours to work with SEO principles.. It works great now, no reason to get scared..

Your Reason #3- Responsive Design
Its a joke right? Its super easy to create a responsive website on wix 🤣 An infant can do it..

Your Reason #4- Not Customizable
Its VERY customizable actually.. Especially with Velo..

Your Reason #5- Easy Enough with Practice
Drag and drop with Wix is MUCH easier than developing a website with html..

I believe this article was written by AI, but still wanted to share my thoughts on it..

ok

Not Even going to click on the link- I would completely disagree! I have used Wix for years now and I can quickly scale a website, change, update and more. Plus I rank top 10 for my 3 key search terms (and they're not my business name) SEO is a multi-pronged strategy that takes time and content is king! if your content sucks, your SEO sucks!

@ZergLurker agreed coder can use the shortcode which is required, but on the other hand, builder use a large code which is not required at that point!

I generally agree, except assuming that the code a developer writes is always better and clearer than the code an automated tool generates. The code generated by a tool is usually, at least, homogeneous and that facilitates maintenance work. IMHO.

dunno looks like you haven't tried a good website builder, like readymag.com
all points like seo, mobile version/responsiveness & etc are covered

it's a HUGE time saver

Honestly, go WordPress or any platform where you own the code.

GapScout is built on WordPress. It loads quickly, Google loves it, and I have complete control. My previous company was built on WP as well and millions of visitors per year used it without a hitch.

Whether you use WP or not is irrelevant. Ghost is good too, but just own the CMS/content.

Do you think everybody can abide by this? I am quite skeptical with his.

I think the only point I truly agree with is limitations in SEO and quite often some really messy underlying code. I think there is virtually no way around that compared to streamlined HTML/CSS for a specific website design.

After all, website builders are everywhere. People are clearly using them or that business model would have failed long ago. And not just a couple either, there are dozens. People are clearly getting some utility from them.

Agreed. Website builders make you look like an amateur. If you can't learn HTML then get someone to build a professional-looking website for you. I went for a cheap web-build option and it really held me back. Couldn't or didn't want to justify paying for something I could get for free. In the end, I changed my mind and it made a huge difference.

Something I've used which seems to be a nice compromise between a builder and full code is Hugo - it's a static site generator

https://gohugo.io/

Much like Geocities, site builder URLs are unprofessional looking, are likely to reduce your credibility as a business and ward off visitors.
https://errolallenconsulting.com/