Side Hustle Online: Why Your Own Website Is Safer Than Etsy and Willhaben

Almost every second world4you customer is a private individual. This shows that having an online project of your own is not just a topic for companies. Events and entertainment, software, consulting and coaching, and photography are especially common fields.

However, people who sell on the side often start on third-party platforms. This is exactly where Sandra Trummer-Gabler, Managing Director of world4you, sees the biggest gap compared to a professional presence. “An Instagram or Willhaben account is only on loan – it doesn’t belong to you. If it gets blocked, your reach and customer contacts are gone in an instant, and your revenue with them,” says Trummer-Gabler. She adds: “A website of your own, on the other hand, is property. You decide on the content and on how you present yourself to the outside world.”

First impressions matter, too. On social media accounts, interested people often have to piece together contact options laboriously via a link tree, a collection page for links that supplements the actual account. If they also find a free Gmail, GMX or Yahoo email address there, it looks less trustworthy than an email address with your own domain, which follows logically from having a website under that same domain. So anyone who takes the step toward their own website faces the next question: which tool is the right one?

Website builder or WordPress: it depends on the project

“There is no one-size-fits-all winner,” emphasizes Trummer-Gabler. What matters is how much freedom you need and how much of the technology you want to handle yourself. A typical website builder is aimed at anyone who wants to go online quickly and without technical knowledge. You choose a template, add content and publish the site, with integrated AI helping with the texts. Forms, a location map, an image gallery and a simple online shop are included, as are an email address and SSL encryption. Because the system is closed, there is no need for time-consuming maintenance of extensions. Costs remain predictable at a regular price of around ten euros per month.

WordPress, on the other hand, plays to its strengths when a project is meant to grow. Once you have chosen a theme, i.e. a specific design template, you can extend your site almost at will with customer-oriented functionality via plugins, i.e. small add-on programs, for example a blog, a members’ area or features for better search engine rankings. “world4you takes the technical hurdle off its users’ hands: in the WordPress packages, the system is already pre-installed, so you can start designing right away. An AI website assistant, included in all current packages, helps with building the first pages,” says Trummer-Gabler. The packages start at a regular price of five euros per month. The price of freedom, however, is more personal responsibility: WordPress, themes and plugins must be updated continuously on your own, and premium extensions often cost extra.

The right questions before you start

Which solution fits can be clarified with honest answers to just a few questions. First comes speed: if the website should go live as quickly as possible, the builder has a clear advantage. Looking at the time afterwards is just as important: anyone who can or wants to spend only minimal time on technology and maintenance each month is better off with a closed system. It looks different if the project is later meant to become considerably larger, for example with a blog, a members’ area or an extensive shop.

How customers find the offering also plays a role. If they find it mainly via Google, search engine optimization (SEO) comes into focus, i.e. measures that move a website up in the search results. WordPress offers dedicated extensions and more configuration options for this.

That leaves the question of total cost. Hosting costs a fixed monthly amount for both options. With the builder, however, all functions are already included, whereas with WordPress, paid design templates and add-on programs may come on top. Anyone who wants no surprises at the end of the month is on the safe side with the all-in-one package. “If you mainly want to showcase your offering online and be reachable, but have no desire for updates and plugin selection, WordPress is simply overkill,” says Trummer-Gabler.

Start small, but with clean basics

Regardless of the tool, a few fundamentals should be right from the start. These include a domain that suits your offering. It forms the basis for website and email and can later become the foundation of your brand if the side business grows into more. Those who wait too long may find their desired name already taken. A way to get in touch, ideally with an email address under your own domain, and SSL encryption are likewise mandatory. Legal notice (Impressum) and privacy policy are required by law and are nevertheless often missing. At least as important is your own message: at first glance, it should be clear who offers what and what the promise to customers is.

When it comes to expanding later, Trummer-Gabler advises a practical approach focused on what customers can really use, and restraint when in doubt. “A website doesn’t automatically get better the more plugins you install. What matters is clear benefit for customers.” In addition, every plugin comes with its own updates that you have to keep an eye on, so that features don’t fail unnoticed after an update. Those who start on the side are therefore better off choosing the solution that actually fits their own attention and time budget, rather than the one with the most features per se.