If you have made the decision to get a new website, you are likely asking yourself several questions. Questions like:
What company should I go with to build my website?
How much should I spend on a new website?
What do I want it to look like?
Website owners who have gone through the process of getting a new website probably already know the importance of the next question. To those of you who are new to the website game (and don’t be scared), one of the biggest and most important decisions you will make is what platform you want your website built on. These options can include asp.net, HTML, PHP and of course the CMS (Content Management System) such as Joomla, Shopify, Drupal or our favourite, WordPress!
As a company, we are all very keen on WordPress. We build about 99% of our websites using the WordPress platform. Of course this decision is up to you. I am going to share with you (unbiased) some of the advantages and disadvantages of using WordPress as your CMS.
Advantages:
- WordPress is the Most Popular Kid: It's one of the most popular website platforms that exists in today’s cyber world. Believe it or not, WordPress.com receives more unique monthly visits than Amazon.com. There is more support, more developers, more blogs, more resources to assist you with your website if you are looking to make changes, add-ons or even software updates.
- More Bang for Your Buck: The price of developing a website has come down over the years. WordPress is a cost effective way to build a website, allowing you to update the website on your own. Since the back end of the website already exists, you are not paying for your company to develop that part of the website. If you choose to select a theme from WordPress that already exists, you can save even more time and money. If you select to have a custom design applied to WordPress, you still are looking at a better price than having it developed from scratch.
- Themes and Plugins are Plentiful: Due to the popularity of WordPress, more developers are working to create new themes and plugins than other Content Management Systems. There are more “Out of the Box” features for your website than building from scratch. Image galleries, calendars, Frequently Asked Questions, etc. already exist. You have a much bigger and better library for adding features to your website for a much smaller cost. Think of it the way that Android and iPhones offer much more apps than a Blackberry offers.
- Easy to Manage: All WordPress websites include an easy to manage website backend. This means that even a user with minimum website experience can update their website text, add images, blog posts, etc. This will save your company hard earned dollars when you need to update a product offering or just update some text!
- Search Engine Friendly: Need I say more? We all know the importance of making your website easy to find in Search Engines such as Google! WordPress websites are developed in not only a search engine friendly way, but offer several plugins to make optimizing your website easier. One of our favourite SEO plugins is Yoast SEO.
Disadvantages:
- Software Updates are Frequent: The best way I can describe this is as follows. You know when your phone alerts you there has been a software update, you don’t have to update it, but if you do, there is some new cool features. The phone will still work if you don’t update it, but if you do update it, it may have some new cool features. That is similar to WordPress. The only problem is this happens quite frequently and if you have a custom theme or plugins installed, your best bet is to contact a company that specializes in web to do the update on your behalf.
- Prone to Spammers: Because WordPress is so widely used, spammers and hackers often try to attack WordPress websites (since there are so many). There is a chance you will receive spam to your email via contact forms and blog posts. The good news is, WordPress has a plugin to curb that! If you get your web company to install Akismet, you will be good to go!
- Website Editors Can Be a Pain: When you are using the WordPress visual editor (often referred to as a WYSIWYG), the content or imagery that you input into the backend doesn’t always come out as you expect it. Spacing and alignment can be finicky at times. To master the visual editor, check out websites that offer tips. See links below for some assistance:
Tips For Mastering Wordpress
How to Use the Wordpress Visual Editor to Edit Your Website
5 Key Tips to Mastering the WordPress Visual Editor
I think you see where I am going -- the advantages certainly outweigh the disadvantages. Our recommendation is to go with a WordPress website to get the best value for a fabulous product!
Once you go WordPress...you never go back!
