3 Questions to Ask Before You Switch to a Low or No Code Website

As a marketing leader, you need your website to be up-to-date, engaging and optimized so you can reach your audience effectively. And in a fast-paced digital environment, responding quickly and nimbly to market opportunities is absolutely paramount. 

So if you can’t easily add new content to your site — or if you’re constantly submitting tickets to your developers or IT department for even the simplest menu changes — you’re probably at the end of your rope. And you might be tempted to reach for an out-of-the-box, codeless solution that promises to empower you to manage your website yourself. 

Don’t make any big moves yet. 

Before you invest in a website building solution or new CMS, you need to understand the ramifications of your decision. Because yes, low or no code websites can serve some organizations well. But if your needs are likely to change over time — or if your website is the hub of a complex automated marketing program requiring multiple integrations — a do-it-yourself option might not get you where you want to go.

Low/No Code Vs. High Code Websites — A Primer

Maybe you’ve heard the buzz around low/no-code versus high code websites, but you don’t really understand what this terminology means. 

Put simply, a low/no-code website is typically an out-of-the-box, pre-built solution like Wix, Hubspot CMS, or Squarespace. The then-ubiquitous-but-now-defunct Dreamweaver sites of yesteryear would have also been considered low or no code. 

Although we call these sites low/no code, there is still HTML code behind the scenes. But for you as the end-user, what you see is what you get — and you can work within the framework provided to make your website work for you. 

By contrast, a high code website is a fully custom CMS. It can be built from scratch by a professional developer or crafted using open source plugins that others have already created. In theory, a person with little-to-no coding ability could create a Drupal or WordPress website using available open source plugins. But in practice, a developer is needed to create a website with the complex functionality most enterprise websites require. 

Ask yourself the following 3 questions to make the best possible choice for the future of your marketing website.

1. Will a Low/No Code Website Give Me Flexibility to Meet Future Needs?

Solutions like Wix, Hubspot CMS, and Squarespace are attractive because what you see is what you get. And the ability to self-serve is a clear benefit.

For example, even if you have zero or limited knowledge of HTML, you could:

• Choose from a variety of pre-designed templates and themes to create your site
• Customize your site with your logo and brand colors
• Drag and drop from a library of pre-built features to create new pages or modify existing ones
• Embed common elements like pictures, videos, and pull quotes
• Quickly update content much as you would in a word processor
• Paste in scripts from third-party services like JavaScript to add features such as chatbots
• Make use of included integrations to connect your site with a payment gateway or event planning application

If your marketing needs are fairly simple, these DIY solutions can not only be sufficient, they can also feel like a breath of fresh air. 

But the minute you need something that’s not included in the standard package, you might find yourself longing for the flexibility higher-code solutions offer. If you choose Wix or Squarespace, for example, and you want to change how your site looks and feels based on user feedback, you’ll have to submit a request to the company. They’ll consider it in light of other customer requests and make a decision whether to fulfill your need or not. And if they choose not to, your hands are tied.

By contrast, an open source CMS like WordPress or Drupal is inherently flexible and allows you to customize your website down to the smallest detail. And if you want to incorporate new innovative features that become available over time, or configure your website based on your organization’s changing business objectives, a higher code solution gives you that freedom.

2. Does My Site Require Complex Integration?

Your website isn’t just about your information architecture, visual appeal, and user experience. Those things are important —and many low or no-code solutions will give you good front-end functionality. But when you’re using your website as your primary marketing tool, it’s also crucial for it to operate the way you need it to on the back-end. And that’s why you need to consider whether an out-of-the-box option can handle the integrations you may need over time.

Good marketing websites are two-way communication portals. You need to give your users what they’re looking for while also gathering information from them and storing it in systems connected to your website. The more complicated your marketing program is, the more integrations like this you’ll need to support.

For example:

• A nonprofit organization will likely want its website to integrate with its event software, donor database, and gift processing technology. Custom scripts allow all of this confidential information to flow back and forth between systems. 
• Businesses who use their website to generate leads and conversions need to gather information about their prospects that then lives in their Customer Relationship Management system (CRM). Good integration from the website to a CRM like Salesforce gives the business development team the personalized information about prospects they use to drive results. 
• Higher education institutions’ websites must integrate with programs that enable everything from prospective student applications to student loan information to course selection. And that’s just on the student side. They also need integrations for alumni engagement, special events, and giving. 

These are just a few examples, but the message is clear. The more you need your website to foster two-way data sharing, the more you need a robust system that can be set up to meet your requirements. 

3. How Can I Best Position My Organization to Stay at the Forefront of Market Demands? 

Good marketing leaders stay on top of current opportunities and ensure their organization is competitive today. Excellent marketing leaders know that what’s successful today may not work tomorrow. Therefore, they continually position their organization to respond to rapidly changing conditions. 

That appealing no-code website builder might meet your needs today. But will it adapt with you as technology evolves and as digital marketing continues to proliferate across new channels? Will it scale with you as your company grows and perhaps adds new service offerings or locations? Are you sure a DIY solution can be customized to meet various considerations, such as user accessibility? As things change, will you know how to harness your website’s full potential without help?

In the long run, working with a web development partner who knows how to navigate tricky scenarios might actually be your easiest, least frustrating, most rewarding option. 

A Good Web Developer Can Build a Scalable Solution That Feels Like Low/No Code

High code, custom websites sound complex, difficult, and expensive. But the truth is, investing in a well-built Drupal site can cost you less and provide more value in the long run. Furthermore, a developer who knows what they’re doing can create a solution that functions as a low code system on the front end. You can update content, change themes and colors, add new pages, and use plugins like Bootstrap Layout Builder to customize your layout to your organizational preferences — all on your own. 

But that same developer can also help you seize new market opportunities and keep your website optimized for peak performance. It’s all about balance. 

If you’re ready to explore what a Drupal site can do for your organization, just reach out. We’d love to talk about the possibilities.