Should I Host My Own Website? Once you have developed a business plan, your first step will be to create a website that will be the hub of your business venture.
Should I host my own website? For many, the answer is YES!!!! Although this is preferable in most circumstances, it is not necessary to be successful online. Many online businesses are successful with all-in-one website building platforms. However, if you decide to build and host your own website there are a number of benefits aside from the fact that you will “own” your website. Another way to put it is that you
will own real estate online. Self-hosted websites are most often also the least expensive option, assuming you do not purchase any additional features (plugins, selling apps, etc.). In addition, you will learn about website building and hosting since this will be the foundation of your online business. As I will mention many times, your website will be your primary asset. The value of your website will be a result of the time (1000 + hours) and money you spend creating quality content.
If you buy your own domain name and hosting: You are the sole owner of your website and can do whatever you want with the website. Once you have your website making money, the sale of your website can be very lucrative. You do not have to deal with the issues that can arise on a hosted, done-for-you, website-building platform. Your website is your parcel of real estate online. If your business website is part of a website-building company or is solely represented by a social media platform you are subjected to the many problems that businesses can run into if not fully controlled by the owner. It is essential to remember that your business is an asset that you will spend thousands of hours building. If a websitehosting company closes or (for whatever reason) does not let you host your website with another server or does not give you full control over your email list (which you will hopefully have transferred to your own email list provider) you will feel you have been working your business on rented property. Fortunately, many of the companies realized this was a significant downside to their product and have changed many of their rules about what you can do with your website. I have seen this transition over the 15 years I have been working online. Even though this problem has been somewhat resolved,
it is important to ask the right questions before investing your time and money in a website that could be gone if the platform you are on no longer exists.
The most important questions when considering a hosting company are the following: Can I transfer my website to a different web hosting service? What platform do you use (WordPress, Drupal, etc.) or is it built solely for your company? Security and downtime of websites hosted by the company. Can you take your email list with you if the emails are harvested by software within the platform? How much access do I have (if any to the code on my website? Some developers are able to develop apps on some of these platforms. *** When choosing a hosting company, the cost is not necessarily indicative of the best quality company or service. Having said all this, I want to take a moment to say that there are countless individuals who have tremendous success with done-for-you website platforms. This option is chosen because building a website with a builder is easier. It is important to keep in mind that the successful people you are seeing online are among millions who are trying. You are not seeing the > 90 percent of online businesses that never make life-changing money. In most cases, even the very successful individuals you will see featured on YouTube, Shopify or Amazon, have a personal hosted website that they literally own as I have discussed above. Keep in mind that there are countless online businesses doing very well that no one knows about. Many individuals are making a substantial salary and keeping their businesses private. They have no interest in claiming to be a guru while making
literally millions of dollars. Once your business is established and is generating income, if you want to venture into the many upgraded hosting companies or switch to a website-building platform, that is a choice you will be free to make based on your goals and not the limitations of a particular company that is hosting your website, email integrations, etc.
So why are there so many businesses on all-in-one website builder platforms? I may sound like I am contradicting myself but it is important to reiterate that many may choose an all-in-one company (Wix, Weebly, Shopify, etc.) in order to focus on other ventures. Furthermore, these platforms are easy to get started and can have your website up and running in no time. In addition, security is less of a concern. It really comes down to what matters most to you over the long term and how you feel about building your online presence on “rented land”. In addition, options will vary if you are hosting an eCommerce site, or content blog to ultimately join an advertising company such as Mediavine, Ezoic, Adsense, Adthrive, etc. NOTE: If your goal is a content blog, definitely consider hosting your own website. Ecommerce can be easier with selfhosted platforms, though it is important to note that WordPress is still the number one eCommerce web platform using Woocommerce. I am simply offering my opinion to those who are on a limited budget and are willing to put in the time to essentially start from scratch. Time is valuable, so if money is not holding you back, you can go as far as to buy an established website or seasoned domain name that already has ranking and traffic. One of the most popular sites for purchasing websites is Flippa and for finding aged domains, you can check out GoDaddy.
Another website option for simply blogging or to use as a static business website that is completely free is WordPress. com (not to be confused with the paid hosting platform WordPress. org. In terms of running a business with free platforms, there are a lot of things to consider. Monetization is limited though this would be a way to get familiar with the process of website development and blogging. Since it is free, as you would expect, your options are very limited. This being said, free blogging platforms do offer the opportunity to build landing pages, sites.google.com being one such platform. I hope this has addressed some of the pros and cons surrounding the question: Should I host my own website? Entrepreneurs have been successful with every approach that has been discussed. The main point of this article is to keep in mind how much time and effort you will be putting into your website (business). The “cost of entry” is far more affordable when starting an online business compared to a brick and mortar business. Your business website will be your primary asset as your business grows over the years and as discussed may be able to be sold years down the line for many multiples of its monthly revenue (up to 45 times the monthly income). For over 15 years, I have used many hosting companies and feel strongly that HOSTGATOR is among the best hosting companies for new businesses, largely because of the outstanding customer support and very reasonable pricing. As one’s business grows, there are many options to then take your hosted website to another company that may be more capable of handling your company’s specific needs.
Email List Building – The Money Is Truly
In The List! Once you have a website you own that is generating targeted traffic. Collecting a valuable email list is yet another asset that no one can take from you. All-in-0ne website builders may have limitations so you will want to look into this if collecting emails and leads will be a big part of your company’s business plan. Your email list can then be connected to an autoresponder to send out information to those interested in your company, be it one hundred people or one hundred thousand. For eCommerce marketing, getting leads, etc. GetResponse is one of only a few companies that have withstood the test of time. I was a member of GetResponse over ten years ago so this company is not likely going anywhere!