It’s hard to imagine the way blogging has become a common thing without thinking about WordPress CMS. It’s now the most popular CMS engine on the planet, hosting over 25% of all websites. It has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception in 2003.
In the beginning, few people would have used WordPress for their site. But now it’s highly recommended for anyone who wants to launch a simple website very fast. Its various plugins provide extra functionality and the community around it makes it even more reliable. It’s not hard to see why WordPress CMS has gained that much popularity.
However, most developers still frown over it. There are some issues that still hold it back. In this article, we have reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of using WordPress CMS. We want to help you decide whether to use it for your website or not.
Advantages of WordPress CMS
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Plug-ins
There are a lot of plugins you can use to add more features to your site. Most of them are open source, so you don’t have to pay anything. These are supported by the active WordPress community. You’ll also find some paid plugins but it is always easier to go with the pre-built plugins.
When choosing plugins, always assess their quality to ensure they don’t cause any security loopholes on your site. Keep this in mind whenever you a creating a website in Singapore or abroad.
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e-Commerce
Most people are buying things online nowadays. For this reason, WordPress has become an easy solution to set up e-commerce sites. Plugins such as WooCommerce make it easy to set up shops online. If you optimize your content efficiently on WordPress, you’ll be able to direct more people to your brand and make more sales.
For marketing, there are third-party tools that can be integrated with WordPress. SEO tools like Yoast, email marketing software like MailChimp are the most popular. WordPress CMS also makes it easy to set up payment gateways as well.
WooCommerce doesn’t just provide great services with powerful features. It’s also free and very easy to manage everyone. It also comes with a variety of customization options such that you don’t need any coding skills to work with it.
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Responsive
There are thousands of themes available on WordPress. All are built to be mobile friendly and consistent across all devices. Since most users surf the internet on their phones today, every website should be responsive.
For blogs, you can give the reader the pleasure of reading your posts without having to zoom in or out. WordPress saves you the hustle of having to create different layouts for different devices.
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Open Source
All WordPress code is available for everyone to study or customize to their liking. Anyone can study it, change it or redistribute it.
There’s also an enormous community of users behind WordPress. As more people start using WordPress the seasoned pros are always available to offer advice. They help each other on discussion boards and online forums.
The pros also create plugins, that offer more extensibility and customization. WordPress has gained dominance in the market place due to its open source license.
Disadvantages of Using WordPress CMS
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Custom layouts
For beginners and users with no web development skills, WordPress does offer a good level of customization to start with. But if you just want to change things to match your taste, you will require professional assistance.
On the other hand, plugins can also be used to add more functionality. But they also have a downside. The popular ones are well maintained and they work great but some may not be compatible with your site. These will slow down your site. Some also require you to tweak their code to some extent. If you don’t know how to customize them correctly, it may not work well for you.
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Updates
Remember that WordPress runs on your server. When using WordPress CMS, there’ll be a lot of updates. You’ll have to constantly update your plugins, themes, and other files.
Sometimes you might not be ready to update yet so you’ll have to roll back to a previous version. Though these updates are important to keep your website secure, they can be quite a nuisance. You also don’t need to update all the plugins. It’s important that you vet the plugins that need to be updated frequently.
That’s why it’s recommended that you let a professional manage your site if you are not able to do it yourself.
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Security
Just like most open source platforms, WordPress is a good target for hackers. It’s easy to find flaws in the code and use them to gain access to your site.
No matter how much effort you put into keeping your site secure. It is still vulnerable to random attacks. To keep your site safe, make sure you choose plugins and themes that have no known security vulnerabilities. Always be cautious while installing them.
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Not developer friendly
Developers like to work with version controls. The code has to be tested and websites have to be customized to their liking. It’s hard to do this WordPress. For this reason, it’s considered as a lesser technology.
Yes, you can get more customization, but that will cost you. The best themes are very expensive. Updates may also break down your site.
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Speed
Plugins slow down most websites. You may want to add more functionality using plugins but that comes at a price. Custom themes come with a lot of generic code as well.
If you have just started using WordPress CMS, it can be hard to understand the kind of code you need to keep and what to discard. So, you’ll end up with unnecessary content loads that slow down your site. There’s a risk of low user retention if your site is slow.
Conclusion
Is WordPress still a good choice for you to build your site on? Yes, despite its disadvantages it offers an all in one solution for web development. Plugins in WordPress CMS also offer great flexibility to customize your website.
However, you should consult an expert before making any considerable changes to your WordPress website. There plenty of resources online to guide you on how to optimize your site for better performance and user retention.
Get in touch with us for insider tips on how to use WordPress as CMS better and website design services in Singapore.Â
