Why Our Custom-Coded Websites are Better Than CMS Websites like WordPress or Wix
The Bottom Line: If you're serious about growing your online presence, Sumner Web NZ's custom website development and design for small businesses in Christchurch and across New Zealand will yield better SEO results and security than any CMS like WordPress or Wix at affordable costs.
Key Takeaways:
- If your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, more than 60% of visitors will abandon the site, losing customers. The average website in 2024 takes 8.5 seconds to load on mobile - our hand-coded sites take less than 0.5 seconds.
- Your website ranking on search engines is based largely on your website performance and load speed. Our websites typically score 97+/100 on Googles Performance metric, while it is common for WordPress sites to score less than 50/100
- 60% of web browsing is done on mobile devices, so Google prioritise mobile website performance in their rankings. Our hand-made static sites are coded mobile first, meaning we write the code starting with mobile screens, then adding code for tablet and desktop. This means our websites are truly responsive and scale for all screen sizes.
- CMS platforms like WordPress are notorious for security vulnerabilities exposing their users data. With our static websites there are 0 entry points so your personal data is 100% safe
The Bottom Line: If you're serious about growing your online presence, our meticulously developed custom websites will always outperform websites made in Content Management Systems like WordPress or Webflow in page speed and Google Performance.
What is the difference in a custom-coded 'Static' website and a 'dynamic' CMS website?
Our custom-coded websites are all coded from scratch, by hand. A static website is built with basic code (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) and displays the same content to every user. Our static sites are lightning fast, completely secure, fully responsive to fit every device size and optimised for mobile devices.
A dynamic website like one made my WordPress, Wix or SquareSpace uses additional server-side technologies to compile your website from a database. They offer greater flexibility than static websites, but are slower than our static websites, less secure and less mobile friendly.
In modern website development it is easier than ever for anyone to throw a website together with a Content Management System like WordPress, Wix or SquareSpace; however the easier entry point is not without its' drawbacks. While CMS offer convenience and ease of use, hand-coded websites have the upper hand when it comes to speed, performance, search engine optimisation and design flexibility, making them the clear choice for businesses prioritising performance, optimisation and the growth of their online presence.
Website Performance/Google Performance Metrics
Our Hand-coded websites have a distinct advantage when it comes to performance optimization. Every line of code is purposefully written, allowing us to completely eliminate unnecessary code and ensure efficient resource utilization. This results in faster load times and smoother user experiences, crucial factors in today's fast-paced online environment.
While a lot of websites made in Content Management Systems WordPress, Shopify or Wix struggle to even score 60/100 in Googles' website performance metric. Our websites are meticulously loaded and often score a perfect 100/100 in Googles' performance metric.
Studies have shown that over 60% of users will leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. The average load speed for a website in 2024 is 2.5 seconds on desktop and a staggering 8.4 seconds on mobile. Our hand-coded sites are lightning fast and typically load in less than 0.4 seconds on both mobile and desktop.
Search Engine Optimisation
When indexing your website Google prioritises the faster loading websites in its' ranking algorithm giving well developed custom websites like ours a significant advantage. A faster, better optimised site means Google have to spend less time and resources going through your website code, saving them time and money. Hence why the faster, better optimised websites win. While we control every single line of our code to ensure full optimisation and 0 bloated code on our websites, CMS sites are weighed down by plugins, databases and bloated code to cover every possible use case.
With our custom static sites, we have complete control over technical SEO aspects like meta tags, header tags, and sitemaps, allowing for precise optimization for search engines.
Over 60% of web browsing is done on mobile devices, as a result, Google prioritise mobile website performance first. Our websites are lightning fast on mobile and desktop, and built from the ground up with mobile responsiveness in mind, ensuring optimal user experience and search engine visibility across all devices.
Google prioritise the faster, more performant websites; particularly on mobile devices. Our websites are lightning fast across all devices, helping your website to outperform all of your competition.
Security
Our Static websites have no complex databases, plugins, or server side scripts for hackers to exploit. Even if someone wanted to hack you; there is nothing to hack
Content Management System are vulnerable due to their reliance on frequently updated plugins, themes, and core software, creating several potential entry points for attackers.
Summary
While Content Management Systems provide certain advantages in ease of use and flexibility, their limitations in speed, performance, SEO, and security might not be ideal for businesses aiming for significant online growth. Our custom-coded static websites offer an alternative solution, addressing these concerns by delivering superior speed, performance, search engine optimization, and unparalleled security, allowing your business to thrive online.
The Bottom Line: If you're serious about growing your online presence, Sumner Web NZ's affordable website development and design for small businesses in Christchurch and across New Zealand can help you.