Is WordPress the Right Solution?

WordPress has become a popular website building tool for small businesses and the web development community.  While we understand the appeal of WordPress, it is not our ‘go-to’ for web site development within our firm and it is not a solution that we recommend for every business.

There are a few factors to consider when deciding to use this platform in building your website.

Many in our industry boast of its ease of use in not having to know coding or have technical training to implement a WordPress website.  Those statements are misleading and somewhat untrue.

Customization

WordPress’s original design was for blogs.  Additional customization will require what is referred to as plug-ins.  These are add-on components for your site to incorporate a certain layout, calendar, online catalogs, e-commerce, event listings, and so forth.  The more you want on your site, the more plugins will be required.  You will then need to configure these plug-ins to flow within your website. Configuring basic functionality is not an issue.  However, not all basic customization will meet your needs.  If you desire more customization such as font styles, colors, sizes, etc, you will need to understand web file structures and coding to customize the plug-ins.

If you do not have anyone to assist you with customizing your website, then the only other place to look for answers would be with online tutorials and YouTube because there is no official support team to turn to for help. Chances are that as a beginner you will have to learn yourself. There are thousands of tutorials online made by other users of WordPress; however, those tutorials may be outdated or incorrect due to WordPress changing so frequently.

Database Functions

As stated previously, WordPress was created for blog sites.  This system was not originally intended to house database functions such as catalogs, e-commerce, listings, etc.  While smaller databases are not an issue, the more your database grows the more you risk how well your site functions when queries are made on your site. Site visitors could experience a slow response or receive errors on your page.

In today’s mobile environment the speed in which your site loads and functions is important.  Google has recently released their new speed test tool to rate your site’s loading time.  This was not done completely out of good will.  Google will now be using speed in determining search engine result placement.

Frequent Updates

Being that it is an open-source project, with lots of developers working on it, WordPress releases updates frequently to ‘plug in’ some of the holes. These updates can include theme or plugin updates. When these updates roll out, all your plugins or themes need to be updated. Otherwise they will break on your site, which is why you must always make a backup and test all the new features before updating the live site. Small business owners may not have the time, money, or knowledge to deal with these situations.

Security and Vulnerability to Hacking

Because WordPress is the most used CMS platform, it is regularly a target for hackers and spammers. Even downloading the most reliable security plugins will not protect your website from hackers and spammers completely. If your website is a web platform with thousands of users, security is of vital importance, because any vulnerability can affect the users and bring negative credibility to your website.     

Conclusion

WordPress is a very popular platform due to its simplicity and is a great solution for blogs; however, if you want to develop a powerful, secure and functional website, WordPress is not the optimal solution. Instead of spending extra time and money fixing the WordPress based website, hire a professional team of developers who will make your dream website. 

 

 

Sources: https://jpwdesignstudio.com/blog/heres-7-reasons-why-you-should-not-use-wordpress-for-your-small-business-website

https://www.beunanimous.com/unanimous-blog/you-deserve-better-wordpress

https://www.nikpixels.co.uk/blog/why-you-maybe-shouldnt-have-a-wordpress-site-built

https://ministrywebsitedesigns.com/no-wordpress-for-church-websites/

https://jpwdesignstudio.com/blog/heres-7-reasons-why-you-should-not-use-wordpress-for-your-small-business-website