Prime Web Design Logo
Get Online Estimate
No email required

Content

The install WordPress page
Home › Learning Center › Web Design › Wordpress › Pros And Cons Of Wordpress
Cite this article

Share This Article

Top 9 Pros and Cons of Using WordPress for Your Website.

Are you considering WordPress for your next website?

Wondering if WordPress is the best way to build a website?

Well, since it’s very flexible, free-to-use and has been in use for decades, about 41% of all websites run on WordPress.

To give you an idea of how impressive that is, Wix is the runner-up and accounts for just 7% of all websites. Squarespace comes in third at 4%.

While WordPress is certainly the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right fit for your business. It’s good to understand the ins and outs of WordPress so you can pick the best back end for your website.

This article explains the pros and cons of using WordPress, so you can decide whether it’s the right fit for your business.

Web development made simple.

So, what makes WordPress so special?

First launched in 2003, WordPress is an open-source content management system business owners use to create and manage websites.

With a WordPress site, you can create, manage, and publish content on the web with little to no web development or coding experience. That’s especially helpful for small business owners who want to connect with customers in a digital environment, but lack the time to learn how to code.

We’ll dive more deeply into the advantages of using WordPress later in this guide, but many business owners choose this platform because:

  • There’s a large WordPress community online, which is great for finding answers to common questions
  • WordPress gives you access to virtually unlimited website themes
  • Need additional functionality or features? It’s just a WordPress plugin away
  • Helpful tools, like the responsive Elementor website builder, make it a cinch to build professional-looking webpages
 

It isn’t the only way to build an attractive website, but WordPress is a powerful, easy and popular option for millions  of businesses.

What’s the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?

Before we review the pros and cons of WordPress, it’s important to clarify what we’re talking about in this guide. WordPress comes in two forms, so you’ll likely see people mention WordPress.org versus WordPress.com online. These terms aren’t interchangeable.

Let’s look at the difference between the two platforms so you know which option is best for your business.

What is WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a for-profit business that provides DIY web building and hosting services built on WordPress.org.  There is free version and paid version (usually as a monthly or yearly subscription) to host your website on WordPress.com’s servers.

You can build a basic website for free or pay a fee to access more features for a business or eCommerce website.

It comes with a free option that, while helpful, is severely limited. You can’t customize your site nearly as much, and you won’t have access to the source code the way you would with a WordPress.org site.

While you don’t need to use WordPress.com to build a site on WordPress.org, you do need to use WordPress.org to use WordPress.com.

Generally speaking, most businesses don’t use WordPress.com because you don’t technically own your website—WordPress.com does. You also don’t have as much control over your site setup or branding, so it’s usually best to set up a WordPress.org website instead.

What is WordPress.org?

WordPress.org is a free, open-source software program that allows anyone to build a site without knowing any code. The nonprofit WordPress Foundation oversees WordPress.org, with the goal of keeping WordPress.org free to use forever, which is pretty cool.

This is usually referred to as “self-hosted WordPress.” You download WordPress software for free and install it on your web host. From there, you have the freedom to add themes, plugins, and content to customize the site as much as you want.

While WordPress.org gives you complete freedom, you may need some coding knowledge to use the more advanced features, unlike WordPress.com, which requires zero code.

More often than not, when someone says “WordPress,” they mean WordPress.org. In this guide, we’re talking exclusively about WordPress.org sites.

How does it work?

WordPress is free.  And it gives you access to “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) and drag-and-drop page builders that make it a cinch to build a website.

With these tools, you build a website using HTML, CSS, and PHP—usually without even knowing it. We’ll skip over the technical mumbo jumbo, but the bottom line is that WordPress is popular because it makes websites accessible to everyday people.

As long as you know how to install themes and plugins, you can do just about anything on WordPress:

  • Themes: Think of a WordPress theme as the “skin” of your website. It’s a template that changes the appearance of your WordPress site. You can customize most themes to your liking, although picking a high-quality theme from the start will certainly speed things up. There are thousands of paid and free themes that allow you to quickly change the look and feel of your site in just a few clicks.
  • Plugins: Plugins are tools you install to extend the functionality of your WordPress site. For example, you can install WordPress plugins for website analytics and tracking, eCommerce payment processing, image formatting, and more. There are well over 58,000 plugins to choose from, so if you want to do something, there’s probably a plugin for it.
 
 

Top 6 pros if you use WordPress.

There are several WordPress pros.  Let’s take a look at the advantages of the top 6 pros of using WordPress sites for your business.

1. Complete ownership of your beginner-friendly website.

If you choose to use a web design platform to create and host your site, it’s important to realize that you don’t actually own the entire site. Sure, you own the content (words, images, and videos), but the platform owns the hosting and design. This isn’t the end of the world, but it can certainly limit your business in the future.

Fortunately, with WordPress, all site files are in your web hosting account and it’s beginner-friendly.

This means you have total ownership over everything.

But why does this matter?

Let’s say you launch your site using a web design platform. A few years down the road, you decide you want to change services. Maybe your existing platform is raising its prices or another platform came out with new, better features.

You can download the words, images, and videos and move them somewhere else, but you’ll have to redesign and rebuild your site on the new platform. That takes a lot of time and hassle, especially when you’re moving from a fully fleshed-out website.

This isn’t just an issue with your site design or organization, either.

If you’ve built organic traffic to your site over the years with search engine optimization (SEO), you’re probably used to the awesome rankings and traffic. But since website structures differ from platform to platform, switching to the wrong thing could wipe out your rankings and undo your big investment in SEO.

Why not just go with WordPress from the start?

If you use WordPress and choose to change hosting companies later, you can migrate your entire site to that new host without losing the design, traffic, and sales you worked so hard to earn.

Pro tip:

From my experience, I’d recommend that you always own your WordPress hosting account outright.

Don’t allow a web design agency to handle your design and hosting, always keep them separate. This separation gives you the freedom and advantage to work with the web design and development agency of your choosing without it affecting your WordPress hosting.

2. Lots of themes and plugins, with zero coding needed

WordPress is very popular, and that’s good news for you. As more people build their website with WordPress, more developers create both free and paid WordPress themes that you can use to boost your business.

WordPress themes allow you to add predesigned site layouts with no coding or design experience. Plugins allow you to add specific functions to your site without the need to spend hours developing code.

For example, let’s say you’re in real estate and you want to add a mortgage calculator tool to your website. Did you know that WordPress has tons of mortgage calculator plugins? Simply look for a calculator in the WordPress plugin directory and download the plugin that best meets your needs. From there, it’s as easy as adding the plugin to your site and embedding it on the page of your choosing.

Or if you want to launch an e-commerce website, then using WooCommerce gives you that option as well.

While plugins aren’t great for everything, they’re still a great way to avoid development costs by borrowing code for commonly-used functions.

3. Complete access to all source files.

Platforms like Shopify and Wix might be easier to use, but they don’t give you access to your core website files like WordPress does. You might think, “I don’t need that,” but if you want to customize your website, you do need access to your core files.

WordPress gives you complete control.  You have the freedom to change up your site as you wish, either now or in the future. WordPress gives you full access to all core files, which means you can edit that code as much as you want.

You might not need it right now, but if you plan to grow your business over time, choosing WordPress is a smart way to future-proof your site and lay the foundation for customization.

4. Easy to get started and maintain the website.

Since WordPress is a content management system, all of the foundational code is already there. Unlike a hand-coded website made from scratch, WordPress already has an easy framework for you to work with.

It’s simple: Just log into the back end of your site and make changes and updates whenever you want. Depending on your skill and interest level, you can:

  • Build out new pages
  • Change existing content for SEO
  • Upload photos

You have total freedom to change the site whenever want.

You still need to update your WordPress software monthly to keep on top of the latest features and security patches. The good news is that it’s pretty easy and only takes about 10 minutes a month.

5. It’s SEO-friendly and search engines like it.

Did you know that search engines like Google prefer sites built in WordPress?

That’s because WordPress is so common. Search engine algorithms recognize this basic structure and understand how the pages connect to each other. This makes it easier for search engines to process your content and rank it more quickly.

WordPress began as a blogging platform, so it makes sense that businesses use it for generating traffic through SEO. If content marketing is a big part of your marketing strategy, blogging on WordPress is a smart way to boost your search engine rankings and increase traffic.

Depending on your SEO goals, you can change the URL structure of every page and your navigation, too. Some plugins, like Yoast, make it even easier to optimize WordPress sites for SEO.

6. Support and hosting options are everywhere.

If you use a platform service like Wix and get stuck, it’s hard finding a professional to provide support. These platforms have a smaller market share, which means there are fewer resources out there to help you.

Since WordPress is the most common (and, in our opinion, the best) option for small businesses, there are so many agencies that provide:

  • Design
  • Development
  • Maintenance services

While you can always Google simple questions, there are thousands of professionals and agencies out there to handle more advanced problems for you. You can find multiple agencies and have your pick of the litter to find the best match.

 

Top 3 cons of using WordPress.

As much we love it, WordPress isn’t perfect. Consider these disadvantages of using WordPress before adding it to your site.

1. It requires regular updates.

Unlike website platform services that automatically push out software updates, WordPress requires manual software updates. There are three types of software you need to update in WordPress:

  • Core WordPress files
  • Themes
  • Plugins

Technology changes over time, so just like your smartphone or computer, a WordPress site requires updates. If a website’s software is out-of-date, it increases your chances of being hacked, not to mention poorly displaying on all devices (phone, desktop, laptop, and tablet).

Updates in WordPress need to happen at least once a month, at a minimum. This means either someone at your business or at a web design agency needs to update the software regularly.

The good news is that these updates take about 10 minutes a month and only require a few clicks.

2. There is a some skill required.

You can absolutely build a WordPress site with zero coding knowledge. However, WordPress is more challenging than web design platforms like Shopify and Wix.

If you don’t consider yourself to be very technical, you might find it frustrating to work in WordPress. The less techy you are, the more time it will take to learn how WordPress works.

However, if you have someone on your team with WordPress or web design experience, you can always delegate website management to them. Depending on their experience, they can help you find a responsive WordPress theme and the right kinds of plugins to put your website on autopilot.

3. Professional help requires an investment.

Do you want your WordPress site to have a unique look, but you either don’t have the time or coding skills to build it yourself?

The only wrinkle is that you may need to hire an agency to get the exact look and functionality you want. That isn’t a bad thing at all: professionals save time and give you a better product. But you’ll need the budget to invest in professional help.

This doesn’t have to bust your budget, though. Check out our guide on WordPress website costs to get a feel for how much agencies charge.

 

Is WordPress right for you?

If you’re weighing the pros and cons with WordPress, you’ll find that there are more upsides to WordPress than downsides. But only you can decide whether a WordPress site is the right fit for your business.

Key Disadvantages

  1. It requires regular software updates
  2. There is a learning curve
  3. There is an upfront investment if you need professional help

Key Advantages

  1. Complete ownership over your site
  2. Access to tons of free themes and plugins with zero coding needed
  3. Complete access to all web files for customization
  4. You can maintain and update the website yourself
  5. WordPress is SEO-friendly
  6. WordPress support is always available

How to decide if WordPress is best for you.

We know that every business is different. WordPress software is popular for a reason, but if you’re on the fence, use this quick guide to determine whether you should choose WordPress or a platform service like Wix of Shopify.

WordPress is a fit if:

  • You want to have complete ownership and control over your website.
  • You need a custom look or very specific functionality for your website.
  • You plan on creating content to generate search engine traffic.
  • You plan on running a variety of different marketing campaigns.
  • You either have tech skills, an employee with tech skills, or the budget to hire a professional team.
 

On the flipside, a platform service is probably best if:

  • You’re okay with trading off some control and ownership in exchange for simplicity.
  • You don’t want a custom look or very specific functions.
  • You’re just getting started and don’t have the budget to hire professionals.
  • You want to launch a site quickly to test a new business idea.
 

Weighing the pros and cons with WordPress before building a website is the best way to save time and money. This way, you select a future-proof framework for your website that supports growing traffic and sales over time.

If you’re not sure where to start, let the professionals handle your website in WordPress.

Check out our custom web design packages and pricing.