WordPress Websites - 9 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Create A WordPress Website
Posted on 7/19/2016 by Wendy Hensley, Marketing Manager |
 WordPress is one of the most popular website building platforms and many dental practices and website companies are using it to build their websites...but is it truly the best option for your office?
The short answer is "NO" and there are many reasons. Let's dig a little deeper to explain why.
1. It's the Most "Attacked" Platform
When you're the most popular website building platform, you've also got the biggest target on your back when it comes to website hackers. They are looking for any vulnerability in code, plugins, templates, servers, etc. as a means to hack, hijack, and take over a website. These hacks can be small (snippets of code placed on your site to embed links to other sites) or large (actual ransom of your site for money). Either way, these attacks can cost time and money to fix.
2. Publishing of Security Issues
WordPress often publishes their security issues. While this is a good thing for developers because it helps them identify and fix problems, it is also a good thing for hackers. It allows hackers to see exactly what was updated and gives them time to actively seek out and attack sites that haven't implemented the update yet. Essentially, if your website isn't updated immediately it's at even higher risk for attack.
3. It Requires Ongoing Management
The work on your site doesn't stop when it's launched. Due to the vulnerability issues mentioned above it's important you have someone either on staff or contracted that can help with any updates and changes WordPress rolls out. WordPress pushes these changes out every time they identify a new threat which means the updates are frequent. Although updating WordPress is fairly easy, ensuring all your plugins and templates are still working after each update will require someone with WordPress coding knowledge to assist in the process.
4. Plugin and Template Updates
Speaking of updates, each time WordPress updates their platform, plugins and templates have to be updated as well. Many times these third party plugins and templates are updated after the WordPress update has been pushed live. This can cause numerous page issues such as broken formatting, missing content, forms not working, etc. It is critical to have someone available to update, test and fix issues in a timely basis.
In addition, because WordPress is considered an "open source" platform - meaning anyone can create a tool, plugin, or template for it - these things aren't always supported long-term. As WordPress releases updates, the plugins and templates might not be updated and that could leave you with a broken website that is expensive, and time consuming to fix.
5. SEO Issues
WordPress touts itself as very SEO friendly but it only scratches the surface of SEO effectiveness. Metatags, meta descriptions, alt text, etc. are all fairly easy to manage but managing content, optimizing your keywords, and building long-term SEO strategies is not a strong point of WordPress.
You can also quickly get into trouble if you use the tagging and category system on WordPress. Each time you use a tag and category, a new page is created. This can create pages and pages of duplicated content across your site which in turn can hurt your SEO rankings.
6. It Wasn't Made For Websites
WordPress was originally created as a blogging platform, not a website platform. As the platform evolved from a blogging platform to a website platform it became open source with a focus on being easy for non-technical people to use. While this is nice for developing a basic website, it is severely lacking in areas like security from hackers, SEO sophistication, and compatibility of templates, plugins, and widgets.
7. Page Load Time Issues
Many users complain of their WordPress site loading slowing. This can be due to many factors but is often associated with hefty plugins, poorly written code, un-optimized designs, and large image size. Although you can work around some of these issues when a site is built you can still run into issues down the road as page revisions, caching, and database bloat can add to slowing page loads over time.
8. Lack of Knowledgeable Support
WordPress is an open source platform which is great for community but not so great for support. When you have an issue, unless you have a developer in your corner that you're paying to help solve the problem, you're often left having to wade through countless forum posts and threads to find solutions to the problems. There is a big difference between being a developer versus someone who can build a website using a template. Developers will be able to understand, diagnose, and fix code and plugin issues. It is similar to the difference with being able to drive a car (website builder), versus being able to work on the car's engine (developer).
9. It Can Be Expensive - Free Isn't Always Free
You've heard the catchphrase "Free isn't always free". That's truly the case with WordPress. As mentioned in numerous points above, having a developer available to you is critical for your websites stability and performance. The ongoing cost of your site will depend on many factors including how complicated your template is, how often your site needs updated, when/if hackers discover your site, and how often you have errors.
In addition to the ongoing cost, many are unaware of the actual total cost of site setup. Templates can be cheap, but customizing them can be expensive. Unless you find a template you like completely out of the box, you'll be spending money to tweak it to match your brand and office.
When dentists shop for a website company they often don't know which questions to ask. The purpose of this article is to create educated consumers in the dental industry. WEO Media (www.weodental.com) is a full-service dental marketing agency that has built a custom website development platform that was optimized for security, content management, and SEO performance.
WEO Media works with hundreds of dental practices across North America. For a FREE website and marketing consultation please contact us today at (888) 246-6906 or info@weomedia.com. |
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