As a small business, you have probably been hearing all the amazing things about the WordPress content management system (CMS), and how easy it is to use. You were probably told that you don’t even need a web development company to build a WordPress website because it is just that user-friendly. While that is true, there are a few things you might also want to consider before opting to build your own small business website entirely on the WordPress platform. There are many pros and it is something you can do, but just a few cons may have you teetering on the edge of indecision. Here is some of what you should understand.
Let’s Start with the Good News: WordPress Pros
As we mentioned above, there are quite a few pros, and this is exactly why so many small businesses choose to have a go at it by themselves. That is to say, without a professional web design agency. Having said that, you may well decide that you want to enlist the help of the pros once you consider the following.
In fact, you might want to think about a local website design agency, this could be ALT Agency in Birmingham, because they excel in literally every aspect of WordPress. We throw this out there for you now to keep in the back of your head while you weigh the pros and cons realistically based on what you can do in terms of time and experience. With that said, the most attractive pros include:
- Free CMS
- The most user-friendly CMS available
- A million plug-ins (only a slight exaggeration!)
- Easy to modify and update (sometimes)
- Never ending customisations
- Quick and easy start (in a single afternoon?)
- Amazing community support
So, as you can see, there are so many pros that you would automatically assume, “This is something I can do so let’s do it!”. That’s true, but you really don’t have all the story just yet.
Those Dreaded Cons
While there are only a few cons, they can be the deciding factor once you’ve heard what they are. Before listing them, it is important to take into consideration exactly who is telling you just how easy it is to use the WordPress content management system as a virtual novice. The points they consider to be listed on the “pro” side of the equation are relative to the experience and knowledge of the person making that statement. So then, with this understanding, let’s look at the cons which include:
- Time consuming
- Hosting is required – meaning you’ll need to find it!
- Ongoing maintenance and upkeep required
So then, the biggie here is the fact that it’s time consuming. It may not be as time consuming for a web designer that understands the language and how to use the dashboard and all the ‘little’ things they’ve had time to learn.
Let’s Write the Book
However, for someone who may be a total techie dummy who has yet to read the Web Development for Dummies Book (is there one?), then just understanding the terminology alone can take an afternoon to interpret. Once you’ve worked your way through a Rosetta Stone Techie to English YouTube course, you will then probably need to write the “Small Business Web Design for Dummies” book. There are similar titles, just not that one yet.
Yes, you’ve heard it said that you can develop a website in a single afternoon, but can you? Professional web designers certainly can, but can you? That’s, perhaps, a bit of an exaggeration (by a month or two) but WordPress really is user-friendly enough to build your own website. It just isn’t quite a fast and easy as you’d like, so keep that local contact information handy. You just might need it after all.
Note: this is a collaborative post.
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