Introduction
Creating a website has never been more accessible.
Whether you're a business owner, blogger, or creative professional, there are multiple paths to get your presence online.
I created this guide to help you make an informed decision about which platform is best for your needs, budget, and technical comfort level.
There should be 2 outcomes after reading this:
- You get a website for your brand paying others, but making an informed decision that matches what you need
- You get increase your knowledge enough to create your own website
Im not trying to sell you any kind of magic.
You can achieve your goals in life with a combination of: knowledge, time and money.
Without trying to get philosophical, it all comes down at how much you rate your $/h compared to other peoples $/h, how you assess your current levelof knowledge and you fast you think you can learn new concepts.
This ebooks is aimed for you to increase the knowledge part and leverage better the time you spend to actually get a cool website running for your brand.
As it requires you to read and focus, you are paying, mostly with time.
If you really want to, there is nothing stopping you today to been locked into instagram/tiktok (or whatever platform will come next to get your clients), nor to have a custom website that looks like we are on year 2003.
There is not time to waste before you get a Website for your brand.
Just how you want it.
Lets get started.
Table of Contents
- Comparison Table: Mainstream Platforms
- Part 1: Mainstream Website Builders
- Part 2: Custom Websites That Impress
- Choosing Your Path
- Conclusion
- Best Addons for your Websites
Comparison Table: Mainstream Platforms
WordPress, Wix, and Ghost serve different needs and audiences.
Just make sure to have the right expectations for them.
I Would summarize that for getting the servers, domains and SSL certificates:
- WordPress: ~100$/year + setup time = probably not the look and feel you want
- Wix ~200$/year + lower setup time than WP = if you like the look and feel, you are good to go, consider that you are locked in
- Ghost ~180$/year + subscription working = great if you are a blogger with an audience
With the right knowledge on servers and domains, you can get Wordpress or Ghost for less than 100$/year.
You will be the one taking care of the infrastructure.
In these days, you can get a server+domain for ~70$/year.
| Feature | WordPress | Wix | Ghost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Medium | Very Easy | Easy |
| Customization | Excellent | Good | Good |
| Cost | Low-Medium | Medium-High | Low-Medium |
| Performance | Variable | Good | Excellent |
| Scalability | Excellent | Limited | Good |
| SEO | Excellent | Good | Excellent |
| Community | Massive | Large | Growing |
| Learning Curve | Moderate | Minimal | Minimal |
Using wordpress or Wix is kind of easy to get started.
But the cool themes out there will require you to pay more or spend many hours customizing.
The result?
You will probably end up with a website that's slow, bloated, and hard to maintain.
Dont trust me, see for yourself how performing the wordpress official site is:
You might be sold that wordpress is not the way, maybe if I pay more, for other propietary tool, it will get the job done.
But even then, you'll still end up with a bloated, slow website that's hard to maintain.
The price to migrate?
It does not even exist, you are locked.
So, does the Wix one at least offer better performance?
Not much better, actually:
I am sure that what you are expecting to have for your website looks more like this:
If you are concerned about helping the planet, static site generators are not only fast, secure, and great looking, but also very energy efficient.
You can check how much CO2/energy optimized a website is at:
Remember that less energy also means snappy and fast performance for your users.
There is a correlation between low waiting times and increased user satisfaction and retention.
Aim for that for the win-win.
Part 1: Mainstream Website Builders
This could be a good starting point for many people. Most certainly, you have been looking for Wordpress or Wix to create a Website.
There are tons of services where you DIY a website by dragging and dropping elements.
Later you figure out that what you really need, is somehow different.
WordPress
WordPress is the world's most popular website platform, powering over 40% of all websites.
It offers DIY flexibility via drag and drop and a massive ecosystem of themes and plugins.
Pros:
- Extensive customization options
- Massive plugin library (58,000+)
- SEO-friendly architecture
- Large community support
- Self-hosted or managed hosting options
Cons:
- Steeper learning curve than other builders: How much time are you willing to watch youtube videos on elementor or gutenberg?
- Requires more maintenance
- Can become slow if poorly optimized
- Free themes look like 2003
- Paid themes are not that good and still need setup
Best for: Bloggers, small businesses
Dont trust me, check how much google measure any website performance: https://pagespeed.web.dev/
Getting Started: Choose between WordPress.com (managed) or WordPress.org (self-hosted), select a theme, install plugins, and start creating content.
Just be aware that Wordpress is open source, so if you are paying someone, you do for the infrastructure, domains, SSL certificates etc.
Without additional custom themes or guidance, I would not pay today more than 100$/year for such kind of default wordpress setup.
Wix
Wix is a cloud-based website builder known for its drag-and-drop simplicity and stunning design templates.
Pros:
- Extremely user-friendly interface
- Beautiful, modern templates
- All-in-one solution (hosting, domain, SSL included)
- Excellent customer support
- Mobile-responsive designs
- Built-in SEO tools
Cons:
- Limited scalability for complex projects
- Higher pricing compared to alternatives
- Difficult to migrate away from Wix
- Limited third-party integrations
- Can feel restrictive for advanced users
Best for: Small businesses, portfolios, creative professionals, and beginners with no technical experience.
Getting Started: Sign up, choose a template, customize with drag-and-drop editor, add content, and publish.
We can summarize as Wix being better than Wordpress at the UI experience and default themes quality.
But you are completely locked into Wix.
Backing up a wordpress to migrate to other provider is not straight forward unless you take the time to host it yourself.
With Wix?
They do the backups for you, but you are locked into them.
No migration path.
Ghost
Ghost is a modern, lightweight platform designed specifically for content creators and publishers.
It emphasizes speed, simplicity, and membership capabilities.
It's great for newsletters and blogs.
Pros:
- Lightning-fast performance
- Clean, minimal interface
- Built-in membership and subscription features
- Excellent for newsletters
- Strong SEO fundamentals
- Modern tech stack (Node.js, unlike wordpress PHP)
Cons:
- Smaller ecosystem compared to WordPress
- Limited built-in features (less plugin-like)
- Requires more technical knowledge than Wix
- Fewer design templates available
- Smaller community
Best for: Bloggers, newsletter creators, independent publishers, and content-focused websites.
Getting Started: Use Ghost(Pro) for managed hosting or self-host on your server, choose a theme, configure membership settings, and start publishing.
The mission of Ghost, which is also open source, is so great for me not to mention it on this book.
But if you are looking for a business like theme, you will have to build your own or pay for a premium theme.
Part 2: Custom Websites That Impress
For developers and those seeking maximum control and performance, custom websites built with static site generators offer a modern alternative.
These tools combine the simplicity of good old HTML with the power of modern development workflows.
What Are Static Site Generators?
Static site generators (SSGs) are tools that convert source files (Markdown, templates, data) into a complete static website. Unlike dynamic platforms, they generate HTML files at build time rather than serving pages on-demand.
Key Benefits:
- Speed: Pre-built HTML files load instantly
- Security: No server-side vulnerabilities
- Scalability: Easily handle millions of visitors
- Cost: Minimal hosting costs (CDN-friendly)
- Version Control: Entire site in Git
- Developer-Friendly: Use modern tools and workflows
Popular Static Site Generators
Hugo is the fastest static site generator, written in Go. It's ideal for large sites and blogs.
Next.js is a React framework that supports static generation, server-side rendering, and hybrid approaches.
If what you need is a Web Application (not a website), like an e-commerce, NextJS is for you.
Astro is a modern framework for building fast, content-focused websites with minimal JavaScript.
Highlights:
- Multi-framework support (React, Vue, Svelte) - Friendly with AI development!
- Built-in optimization
- Great for content sites
- Excellent SEO, performance
- Modern interface for desktop and mobile devices
Use Case: Content focused sites, marketing pages, portfolios, business pages
Deployment Options for Static Sites
Key Benefits:
- Speed: Pre-built HTML files load instantly
- Security: No server-side vulnerabilities
- Scalability: Easily handle millions of visitors
- Cost: Minimal hosting costs (CDN-friendly)
- Version Control: Entire site in Git
- Developer-Friendly: Use modern tools and workflows
GitHub Pages: Free hosting directly from your Git repository
Netlify: Continuous deployment, serverless functions, form handling
Vercel: Optimized for Next.js, global CDN, serverless functions
AWS S3 + CloudFront: Enterprise-grade scalability
Cloudflare Pages: Fast, global CDN with Workers support
Choosing Your Path
Choose a Mainstream Platform if:
- You want to get online quickly with minimal technical knowledge
- You need built-in features (e-commerce, memberships, analytics)
- You prefer managed hosting and support
- You want a visual editor interface
Choose a Static Site Generator if:
- You're comfortable with code and Git workflows
- You want maximum performance and control
- You need a scalable, future-proof solution
- You want to minimize hosting costs
- You value version control and developer tools
Conclusion
There's no one-size-fits-all solution.
For those seeking custom, high-performance websites, static site generators offer a powerful alternative that combines modern development practices with exceptional speed and security.
Start with what matches your current needs, and remember: you can always evolve your approach as your website grows.
Best Addons for your Websites
- Booking Calendar System
There are many options out there, but for me, the best one is Cal.com.
It is free and open source, and you can register:
The cool thing about Cal.com is that it is not locked to any platform.
You can use it within any website you choose to go with and it will work.
This is how it looks:
Cal.com provides an awsome UI so that you can sync you Calendar for availability and book an appointment.
- Email subscription System
For email subscription, I enjoy using Mailerlite: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/dashboard
These platforms normally have a free tier that ends around 1000 subscribers.
You cna potentially migrate/export the users to other platforms, should you need to.
Cal.com Setup
Cal.com has many features and configurations.
For payments, there is a Stripe app link that you can also have, so people can pay you in advance and so on.
Follow cal.com and stripe docs to make that setup if you are interested.
I just prefer that people pays in advance, example: https://cal.com/jalcocertech/consulting
It's all about skin in the game.
What you need to embed cal.com into your website:
- Create an event
- Hit the 3 dots and click embed: I would recommend you to provide the Floating pop up version if you want to have an additional bouble like the whastapp one and the pop up via element click, if you want me to use it when a button is hit
Then this HTML code will appear - I need you to copy paste that and tell me for which option it was, then it can be added to your site
Mailerlite Setup
You will need to authenticate that you own the email and also the domain (with DNS).
Go to your mailerlite dashboard UI
I am using Cloudflare for that domain, and the DNS were updated automatically via UI.
There are some CName and txt records and they will be DNS only, not proxied.
Create a new form and you will get the JS to place before the </head> of your web.
<!-- MailerLite Universal -->
<script>
(function(w,d,e,u,f,l,n){w[f]=w[f]||function(){(w[f].q=w[f].q||[])
.push(arguments);},l=d.createElement(e),l.async=1,l.src=u,
n=d.getElementsByTagName(e)[0],n.parentNode.insertBefore(l,n);})
(window,document,'script','https://assets.mailerlite.com/js/universal.js','ml');
ml('account', 'some_acount_id');
</script>
<!-- End MailerLite Universal -->
You can also get MailerLite working with a button, so that it opens as pop up:
<a class="ml-onclick-form" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="ml('show', 'some_id_here', true)">Click here to show form</a>
and use it with your components, for example
<form id="simple-newsletter-form" class="input-container" method="post" action="javascript:void(0);" onsubmit="ml('show', 'some_id_here', true); return false;">
<input type="submit" value="Ready to Know?" class="ml-onclick-form" style="appearance: button; -webkit-appearance: button; cursor: pointer;">
</form>