There are a lot of articles out there arguing why you shouldn’t build your website in WordPress.
We’re going to dispel those myths and explain why it’s our preferred Content Management System (CMS).
The problem with these sorts of articles is that they are often written by web design companies. These companies have a vested interest in making web design seem too hard, and convincing you to leave the decision-making to them.
They benefit from making web design projects seem confusing and too much work, because the more you leave to them, the more they can charge. Charges are rarely transparent in this case!
We prefer to work with you – of course we are happy to use our skills in certain areas if you don’t have the time or the inclination! However it’s nice to be given the choice, isn’t it?
The first criticism some people make of the WordPress platform is Design.
Design
I’m addressing this critique first, because anyone who has actually used WordPress would know that Design is one of the strongest offerings! At it’s most basic level you can install a free theme that is specifically designed for your industry. For example, if you were setting up a yoga studio, you might use this.
The reason WordPress is one of the most popular CRMs in the world is due to how user-friendly it is. You can install a theme designed for your industry and then make the relevant tweaks such as image, colour or font changes to suit your brand. There are also a myriad of support forums if you get stuck. You’re probably wondering – where does Masamune come in, if a regular person can do so much for free?
Whatever you do, don’t be this guy
The answer is: we only charge for the work you don’t want to do, and the work that will get you the best results. For example, you could be happy uploading and using your own images for your website. However, if these images are low-quality, poorly lit, and the wrong size for the website you might be doing more harm than good. We can edit these images or even track down suitable ones for you.
Maybe you want to be able to show your social media posts on your site? It can be kind of a pain to install and customise the look, which is where we can help out.
Which leads me to my next point…
Plugins
Plugins are pieces of custom code that you install, allowing you to do certain things. To use the example above, you might want to display your instagram posts on your website. To do this, you can download a plugin that talks to Instagram and pulls the most recent posts to your site.
Plugins are real time-savers, and fantastic for anyone who lacks coding experience. Provided you keep these up to date and don’t install too many, they are an easy way to do anything – from taking bookings to compressing your website to speed it up.
Some plugins require you to go through several pages of settings, to apply for a key to register the plugin, or simply need a bit of a code tweak to get the results you want. This is where we can help.
Security
Some people argue that due to the popularity of WordPress as a blogging platform, it is more likely to become the target of hackers/spammers. By this logic any popular website is a target, including suppliers like Wix.
The reality is that these providers take a lot of care to prevent attacks (as any business would) and you can also tighten security by ensuring you have a reliable web host, a strong password and take regular site backups.
These days it’s less an issue of “if” but “when” – and it’s great to have a knowledgeable team on your side to assist you with getting things back on track. This can include the WordPress team, your hosting provider and your web designer.
Poor SEO
Seeing this critique online actually made me laugh – there are dozens of SEO plugins, with Yoast being the most popular and consistently highly rated. A custom-coded website will still need to be set up for SEO, and generally you will be charged extra for this. In addition, these companies don’t usually take the time to know your business inside-out.
Your SEO should be influenced by what you’re trying to achieve and take your competitors into consideration. This is where we can help – we will consult with you to find out what your business’ goals and pain points are, so we can do the best possible job.
WordPress is rightfully a very popular content management system – it is easy to use, and can be easily customised and scaled. Talk to us today so we can work with you to develop a unique, secure and functional site for your business.