Are you considering building a WordPress website but want to know if this platform fits your needs? You’re not alone. There are many content management systems and DIY website-building platforms available. This makes many business wonder if this open-source software is still the best solution in 2023. For today’s article, Alpha Efficiency has prepared the ultimate WordPress pros and cons guide for you.
We’ll be exploring all advantages and disadvantages of using WordPress CMS in detail. From its high level of customization to various security risks, we’ll make sure not to leave any stone unturned. Sometimes it takes months or even years for WordPress users to learn about the advantages and downsides of WordPress. And you’ll get to know all of these WordPress benefits and drawbacks just by reading this article.
And it is not important if you’re a blogger, small business owner, or a well-known eCommerce store. You’ll get a clear picture of what to expect from the most popular content management system. So let’s start with our honest WordPress review!
Table of Contents
- What is WordPress?
- Is WordPress good in 2023?
- What’s the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?
- 7 Main WordPress Pros You Should Know About
- WordPress Cons and How To Overcome These
- Final Thoughts
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a content management CMS that lets you create and manage a website even if you’re not a coding guru. As an open-source platform, it’s super user-friendly and flexible. But these are just some of the WordPress advantages we’ll explore later in this article. For now, let’s learn more about the history of this popular content managing system.
WordPress was first released in 2003 by co-founders Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. Although it started as a basic blogging platform, it has since evolved into one of the most powerful content management systems. You can use it to create all sorts of websites, from personal blogs to complex eCommerce stores.
Over the years, WordPress has continued to grow and attract web developers. Currently, it powers over 40% of website solutions on the internet – from blogging communities to enterprise websites. Pretty impressive, right? Stick with us to find out the potential secrets behind WordPress’s success.
Is WordPress good in 2023?
With its continued growth and development, WordPress remains one of the most popular website-building platforms in 2023. Even the rise in the popularity of no-code services didn’t endanger WordPress’s popularity. Sony, eBay, The New York Times, and Forbes are just some of the big brands that use WordPress. With such a wide range of WordPress users and a massive community of web developers, it’s likely to remain the most popular content management system.
There are many reasons why WordPress CMS is still highly relevant and a top choice for building a solid online presence. We’ll make sure to cover them all in this WordPress review. And don’t worry; to give you a complete picture, we’ll go over all the downsides of WordPress too.
As web development technology keeps improving, we’re sure that the capabilities of this open-source software will expand too. We’ll keep updating this WordPress pros and cons article to reflect these potential changes.
What’s the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?
To better understand all of the WordPress pros and cons, let’s first learn more about the difference between the two versions of this platform. Both WordPress.org and WordPress.com are based on the same software, but some key factors make them very different from each other.
WordPress.org is completely open-source software that gives you total control over your website’s look and feel. But it’s a self-hosted platform, meaning you’ll have to hire a web hosting company, take care of your backups, and handle other technical details on your own. After downloading and installing WordPress to your hosting platform, you can do whatever you want with your site. We strongly recommend using this version for all serious intentions.
On the other hand, WordPress.com is a fully hosted platform. When using it, you don’t have to worry about managing the technical aspects of running a website. It’s more of a turnkey solution for people who want to create a website quickly and easily. However, your access to plugins and themes will be limited, depending on the pricing structure of your choice.
Please note that the WordPress pros and cons we will discuss are exclusive to WordPress.org.
7 Main WordPress Pros You Should Know About
Now that we’ve answered the critical questions, it’s finally time to start exploring all the WordPress advantages and disadvantages. As we believe WordPress pros outweigh WordPress drawbacks, we’ll start with these first:
Even Beginners can create a WordPress Website
One of the leading WordPress advantages is that even beginners can create a website using it. It’s super user-friendly. And with many resources and tutorials available online, you’ll get through the setup process smoothly.
Plus, you can choose from various pre-made responsive WordPress themes and templates. This will help you create mobile-friendly websites even if you don’t know how to write a line of code. You won’t need to worry about creating a website design from scratch.
We’re not saying that mistakes won’t happen when you’re creating your first website. But in case you get stuck, we’re sure that other WordPress users will be happy to help. Considering this, there are no reasons not to start creating WordPress designs as soon as possible.
Custom WordPress Design allows you to tailor your website to unique needs
In the previous section, we’ve explained how easy it is for beginners to create a WordPress site using pre-made templates. However, having a unique website might be necessary if you’re looking to take your online presence to new heights. In such cases, we strongly advise you to create a custom WordPress design. Here are just some of the benefits of building your website from scratch:
- Original look and feel
- Better page speeds
- Easier maintenance
- Improved security
With WordPress, you can customize your website to your unique needs. This open-source platform doesn’t place any limitations when it comes to the customization of your design. WordPress allows you to make your site look exactly how you want it. From changing the layout to adding custom functionality, you only need creativity and technical knowledge to build websites that reflect your brand values and support your business goals.
For example, if you’re running an eCommerce store, you can add plugins to make it possible to accept credit card payments on your WordPress site. Or you can hire WordPress developers to build a unique functionality competitor haven’t implemented on their websites yet. The choice is entirely up to you!
WordPress is an SEO-Friendly Platform
Another advantage of using WordPress is that this platform is excellent for search engine optimization (SEO). It’s designed to help your website rank higher in search engines like Google. This is crucial for attracting more organic traffic and visibility for your brand.
You’ll be able to find tools for various SEO tasks on WordPress Plugins pages. But perhaps a more significant advantage is utilizing clean and organized website code. By starting with an SEO-friendly framework, you’ll secure a high level of performance for your website.
Not to mention that with WordPress, it’s super-easy to organize your site structure and craft a fantastic user experience. Especially with various ADA compliance WordPress plugins available. All of this plays a part in a complex SEO game.
WordPress Security: Frequent Updates Will Keep Your Website Safe
One of the great things about using WordPress as your content management system is that it’s regularly updated and kept secure. The team behind WordPress is always working towards fixing any security issues. And they also work on keeping the software in line with the latest web development technology. It’s also very easy to update your WordPress site’s security features and protect it from hackers and other online threats.
Many security plugins will help you protect your data from hackers, one of our favorites being Sucuri Security.
WordPress Websites Don’t Require Much Hosting Resources
You can design your WordPress website to be lightweight and optimize its performance as much as you want. This will make it less demanding on hosting resources. Here are some tips that may help you with this:
- Choose a lightweight theme as your starting point (we recommend the Sage Framework)
- Optimize image file sizes
- Utilize browser caching
- Use content delivery networks
Another reason why WordPress sites are not heavy resource consumers is that this content management system uses PHP-based architecture. And we’re sure you’ll be able to find a web hosting company that specializes in hosting WordPress websites that will provide all the necessary resources and support. This way, you’ll get an amazing web hosting experience and manage to keep your WordPress site available to potential customers.
A Variety of eCommerce Features Will Help You Create Amazing User Experiences
WordPress isn’t just a blog hosting platform. It’s much more than that. You just need to install the WooCommerce plugin to create an eCommerce store. You’ll be able to start selling products online in no time.
Some of the typical eCommerce features WordPress sites have include:
- Inventory management
- Different payment gateways
- Various shipping options
- Customer management
- Secure checkout
- Testimonials and reviews
- Tax and shipping calculators
Remember that WordPress has limitless customization capabilities, so you can hire professional plugin developers to add unique functionality to your website. This way, you’ll be able to craft an amazing shopping experience for your potential customers and make them come back for more.
A large WordPress community will help you with any task
As we’ve already mentioned, a large community of WordPress developers is willing to help you with any problem you face. You’ll find dozens of video tutorials or blog posts about each small task in the website development process. And if that doesn’t solve your problem, you can always ask other developers for help on forums.
WordPress Cons and How To Overcome These
All of these WordPress pros sound tempting, right? But before you start using the WordPress CMS for your new website development project, chasing the more comprehensive picture is essential.
In this section of the ultimate WordPress pros and cons guide, we’ll discuss some common WordPress drawbacks. But you’ll also learn potential ways to overcome these. So let’s start:
Steep Learning Curve Before You Can Utilize Its Full Potential
With this content management system, even beginners can build websites using pre-made templates. But WordPress is a very complex platform, and it can take some time to utilize its features fully. The platform’s complexity can be categorized as one of both the advantages and disadvantages of using WordPress.
Think of it like cooking. For beginner cooks, it takes time to understand how to utilize all the ingredients to make a perfect dish. But the more you practice and learn, the easier it becomes. And the more you work with WordPress, the more you’ll understand how to utilize its full potential.
For the best results, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript basics. This will allow you to fully customize your WordPress site and smoothly get through the website development process.
It can be challenging to Optimize WordPress Site Speed
With so many WordPress plugins available, it’s easy to fall into the trap and install the ones not essential for your needs. With every additional plugin, you’re risking slow page speeds. And if plugin developers haven’t correctly configured their tools, these will do more harm than good to your WordPress site.
When we pair this with poor code some pre-made WordPress themes have, tons of unoptimized images or other visual business content, and inadequate web hosting solutions, it can sometimes be challenging to achieve the desired site speed. To overcome WordPress drawbacks, you can remove unnecessary lines of code, utilize content delivery networks (CDN), and optimize each image on your website.
Potential Software Update Issues and Security Threats
Yes, we’ve included WordPress security in both pros and cons category, and now we’ll explain why. WordPress is open-source software, which means its source code is available to everyone. This makes WordPress sites attractive targets for hackers. The team of web developers is constantly working on fixing security threats.
Please note that WordPress websites still do get hacked. But that’s usually the case with those sites that run on old WordPress themes whose creators didn’t invest much effort into maintaining. And if you’re using plugins that were not correctly updated by plugin developers, you’re increasing the risk of your business website being hacked.
Luckily, there’s a way to overcome WordPress security threats. First, make sure to build a custom WordPress theme for your website. Second, don’t install any plugins if you notice it’s not regularly updated. However, the most effective solution is buying one of the WordPress maintenance plans and letting professionals keep your website safe.
Custom WordPress Solutions Can Be Expensive
As open-source software, WordPress is free to start working with. However, there are other costs that you need to count on when planning your budget. For now, let’s forget about the money you’ll have to pay for hosting services since these are usually very affordable for WordPress sites.
But are you building a fully customized WordPress website from scratch? That comes with a price, especially if you don’t have web development skills.
WordPress theme developers and plugin developers usually charge from $30 to $170 per hour, depending on their skill set and the average income in the country they’re living in. And the average time it takes to build a custom WordPress design is around 200 hours.
And what about using Premium WordPress themes and plugins? This will save you some money, but it isn’t very cheap, especially once you add new premium plugins to your website. Also, this way, you won’t get a website that is 100 percent unique to your business.
However, investing in custom design is worth every penny when all the custom WordPress benefits and drawbacks are put into the equation.
Final Thoughts on WordPress Pros and Cons
Hopefully, this honest WordPress review has helped you better understand all the WordPress pros and cons. Whether you’re a complete beginner or a coding guru, we’re sure you’ll be able to use this content management system effectively.
But if you’re looking for professionals who can help you utilize the full potential of WordPress CMS, you might want to consider working with our web development agency in Chicago. We’ve been successfully using WordPress for our own and clients’ needs for years. Thanks to that, we can build a high-performing website from scratch for you.
Wonder how? Schedule a call and introduce us to your needs so we can discuss strategies. Our team of experts will introduce you to our workflow and give you answers to all the questions that you might have. Let’s build an incredible WordPress website together!
