WordPress is one of the biggest website platforms. There are so many reasons to fall in love with WordPress and few pitfalls. It’s important to consider both sides before choosing a website platform for your business. If you’re debating whether or not WordPress will work best for you and your business, here are a few pros and cons on choosing WordPress.
1 | You can do anything
This may be one of the biggest pros when choosing WordPress. You can pretty much do anything your heart desires. It’s no longer just a blogging platform but one where you can create beautiful, complex, inquisitive websites. Do a bit a research and type in wordpress designs and it’s essentially unlimited in options.
2 | Learning curve
This would be one of the biggest cons when choosing WordPress. Now can you do anything? Yes. Are you able to do it all yourself? That’s determined by your skill level and how comfortable you are with tech. There is a bit more to learn when you’re setting up a wordpress site and for some it can be overwhelming. Also, keep in mind that some of ‘you can do anything’ requires knowledge of coding in order to bring certain aspects or design elements to life. On the plus side of this, however, is the increase of drag and drop builders. Although you’d still need knowledge of the overall framework of WordPress, the drag and drop builders make it easier to design your site with no need for code.
3 | Plugins
Since WordPress is an open source platform, it gives people the opportunities to create new add-ons, for WordPress, they’re called plugins. Plugins are a third-party source and have their own builders and people that work on them. These plugins are the other reason why you can do it all through WordPress. A lot help by providing different functionalities or design elements to your site. Anything from adding a pop-up email to a scheduling tool to a custom button. One thing you want to keep in mind when it comes to plugins is how often and how recently they’ve been updated. Not all work within your theme and some get outdated. If they do become outdated, then it is more likely that your site may get hacked.
4 | Hosting
If you’re wanting to go with WordPress, you are also going to need a hosting service. My preference is bluehost, but there are a lot of other options out there. These hosting services aren’t technically part of WordPress and again are somewhat of third-parties, so you will need to learn how your hosting works. However, most hosting sites have great customer service and some even install wordpress for you!
5 | Pricing
WordPress is free!! Well sort of. Technically, wordpress is the most cost effective because it is free. However, hosting is not. Depending on your hosting, it can start from $5/month +. Now that isn’t much and again there are a lot of free themes and free plugins to get you a good site from the start. Costs can add up if you decide to buy a premium theme (I recommend DIVI, cause I love it) or premium plugins. Themes can start at $50+ and plugins from $6-$20 and more. Again, this will depend on your own personal needs, but it is something to keep in mind.
6 | Updates + Security
Another con is the need to make updates. You are essentially in charge of your own site (because you own it) and need to make updates to WordPress itself and themes, plugins, etc. Sometimes WordPress updates can affect your themes or plugins, so you may have to make changes. Security is also an issue. Can security issues happen with any platform, yes. But keep in mind that there are issues. I’d check with your hosting services as well as keep an eye out on those plugins or themes that are outdated for prevention purposes.
Now it’s your turn! What website platform did you choose? If you chose WordPress, what do you love about it?
