Why Every Marketer Needs to Understand Coding
Having the ability to read code is a necessity for anyone who strives to be a T-shaped marketer. Digital marketing is a techy field, and being able to understand the structure of websites is essential if you’re trying to optimize them and is huge part of SEO. Codeacademy is a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to learn how to code. The service is completely free and it covers nearly every topic and necessary skill for multiple coding languages.
However, unless you are a website designer or software developer, you probably won’t be able to build your website from scratch. Luckily there are multiple website builders available on the web that make creating a beautiful website quick and easy. The two standout leaders that I will cover and compare in this blog are WordPress and Squarespace.
Codeacademy
Codeacademy is a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to either learn to code, or brush up on old skills. The website is simple and easy to navigate, with courses split up by language and difficulty level. I took a coding class a few years ago in high school, but I wanted to brush up on my skills, so I selected the lesson called "Intro to HTML".
The lesson explained the background of HTML and walked me through the process of creating a web page with different lists, paragraphs, links, and pictures. If you can’t figure it out, Codeacademy will even walk you through making the correct answer. This course was a fantastic way to refresh my skills, and I felt a lot better about my understanding of HTML after completing it. The best part about it was that it was fun to do! I also decided to take the intro to JavaScript, because I had less experience in this language. Despite it being mostly new information, it was still easy to get the hang of.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a great design tool to use to save time on designing the perfect website for your business. The interface is simple and easy to use, and lets you pick from a number of predetermined themes/templates. These can be customized, but the options are fairly limited. The templates are grouped into several categories, from Fashion/Beauty, to Music, to Weddings.
There are two pricing structures for Squarespace, personal or business. The personal plan costs $12 per month, allows for two contributors on your site, but blocks the sale of products. The business plan costs $18 per month, allows for unlimited contributors, unlimited pages, eCommerce support, and allows for you to sell products for a 3% transaction fee. Squarespace also gives you the option to add in your own code in the “Custom CSS” section.
WordPress
WordPress is the #1 choice for people that want to start a blog or for small business owners. In fact, over 32% of all websites are created and powered with WordPress. WordPress is a bit more difficult to get the handle of and has a steeper learning curve for beginners, but offers a wider range of customization. It allows you to select from thousands of different templates, some free some paid. These templates are completely customizable, which allows you to use your own images and color combinations.
WordPress also offers over 54,000 free plugins to add new features to your website, with thousands more paid plugins on third-party websites. Unlike SquareSpace, WordPress is free to use and download because it is an open source software. The only thing you need to do to build your website is register for a domain name and create a web hosting account in order to get your site on the web. The cost of hosting a website varies depending on the domain name and the hosting provider.
Which One Do I Choose?
While both services essentially do the same thing WordPress stands as a clear leader once you compare the two. It may be more difficult to get the hang of, but it is worth it in the end. WordPress offers much more templates, more customization options, and is completely free to use. In addition to this, WordPress has a strong E commerce platform, allowing businesses the ability to link their website with Shopify.
On the other hand SquareSpace is a polished experience that is simple and easy to use, but costs more than traditional web hosting and has limited features. If you’re not tech savvy, want to create a simple and aesthetic website, and don’t mind paying a premium, SquareSpace is the service to use. Whereas WordPress is a better option for people that want to build a website with space to develop and fine tune what makes their website special.
