Developing your own site vs. using Wordpress or similar
What I've done with Seopher.com
This site is a custom layout that I designed and developed to suit my needs. The version before it was done in this way as well, as was the version before it. I have my personal reasons for doing this as I like to have 100% ownership of a particular development project, both programmatically and creatively. If I design and develop something myself I have total control over it and can take credit for where it excels and where it fails and that's the level of commitment I like to take.
Why is a custom build good
A custom build means that I'm not constrained to anything at all besides the limitations of the language I choose - the design and layout are entirely my own and it's more comfortable to develop my vision from the start rather than retro-fitting it into Joomla or Wordpress or something.
It's a good thing because however alternative your idea is or bizarre your imagination, you're not needing to worry about hacking that into a pre-developed system.
Ok but Seopher.com ISN'T alternative or bizarre
No, but this leads me into another point. If you want to do more than just blogging then it's nice and simple to have something custom made to plug your new functionality into - rather than waiting for someone to develop a widget for it.
The benefits of using pre-built alternatives
I'm not going to say that a custom built site is better for all uses and I can clearly see the joys of pre-built systems such as Wordpress. Let me ponder a few now...
Minimal effort
Themes, layouts, widgets - all developed by other people and readily available for you without having to spend hours smashing your keyboard.
Community support
People recognise that you're using it and there's always a sense of community spirit behind the people who use each system - something you won't get on a custom build.
"Dude, your site is broken"
Are words you shouldn't ever hear if you use a pre-built version. However, do it custom and you're more likely to roll it out before it's fully tested and therefore you're going to have a friend highlight where your site is broken. It's embarrassing and avoidable.
Tired of change? Click a button
Unless you're a developer/designer who does 3-4 designs and develops them into 3-4 stylesheets - then you're looking at tiresome development time should you wish to change how your site looks. Use something like Wordpress and you can change the theme in a click. Nice if you like changes often.
Conclusions
I'm a big supporter of the custom build because of the flexibility and ownership it provides, although I do use Wordpress for other projects because of the incomparable simplicity that it provides. I think what I'm saying is that if you have the time and know-how - it's more rewarding to do it yourself but don't consider doing it unless you're willing to spend a long time doing it. You'll want a back end of sorts, administration areas and a worrying thirst for improvement. A thirst for improvement means you want more features, new designs, new layouts, more functionality...
Remember, a custom build is a big commitment and not just for Christmas
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I’ve developed quite a nice system that allows a site to be made within minutes using my own system - which compares somewhat to a CMS / Blogging system pre-made! It’s still ’my own’ and nobody else could use it that easily - but that’s what it’s for hey?!