How to Build a Website with Apple Website Builder
It would be great to say that with Apple’s new Website Builder program, creating a website has never been easier. But, as usual with Apple products, not quite. The truth is that despite its ease of use, Website Builder actually makes the process of creating a website more complicated. And that’s a problem. Let’s take a look at why.
Complexity Comes From The Product
The first thing you’ll notice about Website Builder is how complicated it is. To create a basic website with a few pages, you’ll need to open up a few panels, enter a bit of text in a box, and click a few buttons. This is actually a lot of work. So much so that you won’t be able to do it all in one go. You’ll need to come back to the app later, once you’ve created the foundation of your website, and revisit some of the pages you’ve already made, in order to fix them. This is all too familiar to anyone who’s used Apple products before, and it shows that even though Apple may have improved on things, they haven’t completely changed the way they make software.
Why Not One Tool To Rule Them All?
It would be great if Website Builder let you create a fully functioning website in one fell swoop. But, if you think about it, this would be like asking Photoshop to edit videos for you. Or having GarageBand make you a complete music studio right inside your iPhone. These are the kinds of things that these products are designed to do, and they do them really well. But they’re also the kinds of things that make you want to go back and edit the results of your work, because they’re not perfect.
So rather than having one tool to rule them all, you’ll need to have several apps on your phone, some for individual tasks, and some for combining tasks. For example, did you know that Apple’s Keynote presentation software can also be used to edit videos. Or that Pages is a word processing app that’s also used to create artwork for print? Because these are the kinds of things that you’ll need, instead of having one tool that does it all.
More Work Is More Better
As we’ve established, creating a website with Website Builder is quite a bit of work. Work that you’ll have to go back and do over again. If this sounds like a hassle to you, you might want to consider creating a static website instead. These are websites that you don’t need to update often, like WordPress.com websites, and they’re the perfect place for your basic information. Plus, they’re free.
Speaking of free, you’ll need to pay for Website Builder. But since you’re creating a website for your personal use, you can get the standard plan, which costs $1,299. (This is the monthly price, not including the cost of the device.) You’ll also need an Apple ID to create a Website. So in total, you’ll spend just under $2,500 on Website Builder alone.
A Bit Of A Learning Curve
The great thing about creating a static website is that it doesn’t require you to learn a whole new set of skills. You don’t need to know how to code or design websites. You just need to know how to use WordPress.com, which is a completely free, content-management platform. So instead of having to spend thousands to create a fully functioning website, you’ll only need to spend a few hundred to build a basic one.
WordPress.com is fairly easy to use, and it has a ton of pre-made templates you can use to get started. It also has a built-in SEO tool that can help you make your blog posts more SEO-friendly. This is important for getting your blog posts to appear at the top of search engine results. (SEO or search engine optimization.) So if you’ve never done so, static websites may be the perfect place for you to start. You can get the basics done very quickly, and then you can spend more time taking care of the details, such as making your site look more professional.
Final Takeaway
Overall, we think that if you’re looking for a tool to create a basic website, then WordPress.com is the perfect choice. It’s free, it has a ton of pre-made templates you can use, it’s incredibly easy to use, and it doesn’t require you to have any technical skills. Plus, you can use its built-in SEO tool to make sure your blog posts show up in the search engines.
But if you’re looking to make your site stand out, then you might want to consider investing in Website Builder. Just remember that the more you put in, the more you’ll get back. So even though it’s tempting to just enter some text and click a few buttons to get your basic site going, the more you put in, the more you’ll get back. And if you’re looking to create an entire site, including videos, images, and more, then it’s worth the extra effort.