Have you heard of the WordPress buzz over the past few years? WP has been around for about 10 years now but has become increasingly popular recently.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a free / open source blogging tool and a content management system for building websites. The technology uses PHP and MySQL programming codes. Many businesses have decided to adopt WordPress as their Website tool so that they can manage website content themselves.
Let\’s take a look at some of the advantages vs. disadvantages of a Contractor WordPress Website.
WordPress Benefits
User Friendly:
WordPress is relatively easy to use and has a user-friendly interface. You do not need to know how to use HTML or Programming Code to make updates.
No Special Software:
Because WordPress is browser based, you do not need expensive software to make website content updates. You can use any computer that has Internet access and can have multiple user accounts.
Blogging:
WordPress was actually originally built for the purpose of blogging. But it has since evolved as a content management system as well. Therefore, adding blog functionality to your WordPress website is easy.
Plug-ins / Functionality:
There are many plug-ins that can be integrated and installed with a WordPress website. For example, social-media links, contact management tool, list subscriptions, and much more.
WordPress Disadvantages:
Design Sacrifice:
If you are not a professional website programmer, you have have limits in your design. When building a website with XHTML code, your limits are endless. But when working in WordPress, you generally are working with a theme that has structure and design limitations. Advanced coders can edit this, but it is far from easy.
WordPress Updates:
There are many Word Press updates and version releases. Sometimes, this may require a bit of re-work and frequent plug-in updates to ensure that the website is at optimal performance. This is one good reason to have a professional website designer available.
WordPress Set-up & Installation:
Despite the ease of use for editing and adding new content to a WordPress website, there are many steps involved in setting up the initial installation and design. There are many technical steps involved in setting up a new WordPress website such as WP installation, hosting activation, uploading a theme, customizing the content for your business, installing plug-ins, search engine optimization, manipulating code and much more.
Summary:
As you can see, there are both positives and negatives to a WordPress website. Our recommendation is to have a professional web developer build the website no matter what path you choose – WordPress, Joomla, HTML/CSS, etc. Each method has it\’s strengths and weaknesses, and it takes a professional website developer to know the tricks. If you move forward with creating a new WordPress website, we are here to help you along the way!
Learn more about our Contractor Website Design Services as well as our WordPress Website Company Services.