A website has become a general demand either for personal use or business purposes. Before thinking of having a website, someone might have thoughts of learning HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT, PHP, or some other languages that will take a lot of time to learn. But learning all those languages just for creating a personal or business website will be worthless, costly, and almost impossible by maintaining regular tasks as a BBA student or as a non-professional in this technical area.

To have a website, there are three options-

• Easiest way is building and maintaining a website by own. The cost of hiring a developer is saved.
• Now the most apparent is maintaining the website by own after hiring a developer to build it. Cost is more than building and maintaining by own but less than hiring the developer for maintenance.
• Maintaining and building the website by a developer. Cost is incurred frequently as the developer will charge after each minor or major change in the website.

If the website is built with coding, the maintenance will also require programming knowledge which will be very difficult for non-professionals. And hiring a developer just for a personal portfolio website or for a small business will be inefficient regarding cost. Considering all these, many people do not think about having a website.

But there is a good news! Websites can also be built without writing any codes. There are lots of free software resources with where websites can be built for free with just clicking, dragging, and dropping functions. Those software are called Content Management Systems (CMS). Using a content management system is like using PowerPoint or Excel. Someone just has to watch basic tutorials for a day about installing it on a web hosting and using the options. You can just jump into creating a website after watching tutorials for maximum one or two days. If you face any problems while building the website, just search the problem on YouTube/Google and you will get your solution available (especially for WordPress). It is that easy as described in this paragraph. 

Choosing the proper CMS for creating a Website depends on your needs and budget. If you want to build a website for blogging, you can use WordPress.org, Wix, Ghost, SquareSpace, Blogger, Textpattern etc. If you want a website for your business, you may go for WordPress.org (with wooCommerce plugin), Hubspat CMS , Shopify, Magneto, SquareSpace etc.

Cost

Most of the CMSs are free or provide us with a free version. You will have to buy the domain name (example: www.google.com) and hosting. You can buy a domain name from any company but you will have to buy the hosting that supports your chosen CMS. Most hosting providers support the common CMSs. It will cost you from $17 to more (per year) depending on your requirements. So with free CMS, you can have a website with tk1500. Even some CMSs provide free hosting and subdomain making it totally free. Their subdomain contains the name of their main domain (example: www.yourChosenName.wordpress.com). But you can buy a customized domain from them for which you will be charged.

Mostly Used CMSs

1. WordPress (https://wordpress.org)

WordPress.org is the best content management system for web development. 42% of the world’s total websites are built with WordPress. It provides the maximum level of freedom for the developers. WordPress also gives you the option to use your additional Html or CSS. In that case, you can search on YouTube or google for the Html/CSS code as per your need. You will readily get the code for your use. You can also ask for help on many Facebook pages if your required code is not readily available. Usually, you do not have to worry about using any codes if you are satisfied with the theme. Some characteristics of wordpress.org are-

• Easy to use and free
• Used for any kind of website
• Mass Customization
• Lots of available plugins and themes (with free and premium versions)
• Used by a huge community

WordPress itself is free but you will need a domain and web hosting for this. If you just want to start with it and do not need a professional domain, you can start with ***https://pantheon.io***. You can build a WordPress website without buying any domain and hosting from them.

2. WordPress (https://wordpress.com)

WordPress.com is different from wordpress.org. WordPress.com is not as good as wordpress.org. If you use the free version of worpress.com, you cannot use the plugins you want. The free version only provides you access to creating a basic website. Characteristics are-

• Easy to use
• Free domain and hosting
• Provides both free and paid version
• Limited themes and plugins than wordpress.org

If you use the free subdomain and hosting, it is completely free.

3. Wix (https://www.wix.com)

Wix has a lot of limitations. It does not provide as much freedom as WordPress.org does. You can build a website using Wix without any cost. Features-

• Easier than WordPress and Free
• Specially used for simple websites in free version
• Do not require to buy a domain or hosting and thus making it totally free (with an unprofessional URL)
• Limited themes and plugins

Though it can be used for free, buying a customized domain will make your site more professional.

4. Blogger (https://www.blogger.com)

If you want to create a website for blogging, blogger is the easiest. Blogger.com is maintained by Google and it gives space for images as much as your google drive’s storage. Some features-

• Totally free
• Easy to build and maintain
• Provides free subdomain and hosting (but the free subdomain does not have a professional look)
• Paid domains are available

5. Ghost (https://ghost.org)

Ghost is especially suitable for a blogging website. But other types of websites can also be built with it. Some features-

• Ghost is free to use
• Easy to create websites
• Domain and hosting has to be bought

6. Shopify (https://www.shopify.com/)

Shopify is a paid CMS specially used for eCommerce websites. If you are looking for an eCommerce website, it is one of the best CMSs. Characteristics-

• It is a paid CMS. Only trial versions are available for free
• Pricing starts from $29 to $299
• Provides free hosting
• Easy to Use
• Huge community support

7. BigCommerce 

(https://www.bigcommerce.com/)

It is also used for eCommerce websites. Some characteristics-

• Paid CMS (from $29.95 to $299.95)
• Can be integrated with WordPress.

Though there are a lot of CMSs other than those mentioned above, these are the most popular and beginner-friendly CMSs. Choosing one CMS depends on your requirements as every CMS comes with some differentiation specialty. But WordPress.org (do NOT mix it with wordpress.com) is always the best regarding the freedom of customization and availability of themes and plugins. WordPress.org can be used in building any kind of website such as blogging, eCommerce, or portfolio etc. But you have to buy a domain and hosting for it. When you want a free website, you can go for Wix or blogger (for simple websites) where buying domain and hosting is not necessary unless you want professionalism. You can also use WordPress.org in pantheon.io for free.