Wordpress: Pros and Cons

WordPress for Small Business: Pros & Cons

WordPress has been the king of blogging since its inception, and many experts agree that it will continue to remain the most popular content management system (CMS) in use today. With literally millions of websites using WordPress as their CMS, its versatility and ease of use make it ideal for any business, big or small. 

As per Kinsta, WordPress holds more than 60% of the CMS market & powers 14.7% of the websites ranking at the top of the world. That’s not all. Following are some of the breathtaking stats about WordPress:

  • On average, more than 500 websites get developed every day using this powerful CMS. (Source: Kinsta)
  • You can find more than 55000 plugins for usage via WordPress Plugins Directory. (Source: WordPress Plugins Directory)
  • WooCommerce (an eCommerce plugin for WP) is the leading eCommerce platform. (Source: Statista)
  • WooCommerce has a market share of 23.43%. 
  • Among the top million websites, more than 220000 are powered by WordPress. (Source: Kinsta) 

Thus WordPress is no longer limited to bloggers or just another CMS. Today, more and more business owners are choosing to use WordPress as their small business website platform because of its benefits over other platforms.

While there are many pros to using WordPress as your website platform, there are some cons to consider before diving in headfirst.

Learn more about what they are by reading our guide on the pros and cons of using WordPress for your small business!

Top 10 Amazing Benefits of Using WordPress for a Business Enterprise

1. Ease of use facilitating novice in leveraging technology

You can quickly build your professional-looking website using WordPress in less than a few hours. WordPress boasts a well-designed, user-friendly interface that doesn’t require hours of training to use.

In contrast, you can choose from hundreds of templates with varying degrees of customization (meaning you may need to hire WordPress developers if you want more advanced functionality). 

WordPress does offer a feature that allows you to modify a theme’s design with just a few clicks or keystrokes. One drawback: web developers have to be familiar with WordPress to create content management systems or mobile apps—but since it’s free and open-source, that may not be too much of an issue.

2. 55000+ Plugins maximizing options for the enterprise

55000 plugins

There are tons of complimentary plugins available that add functionality to your site. However, not all are created equal. It is a good idea to explore different plugin sources, try before you buy, then stick with reputable plugins. You may want to consider free trials or other cost-saving options from an official vendor.

In addition, since plugins can impact website performance depending on how they’re coded and installed, having solid support systems in place can help keep small businesses going strong.  As you become more familiar with your site and look at specific areas to optimize performance or cut costs, consider removing any plugins that do not seem relevant or aren’t performing well.

You will be surprised by what you get! WordPress allows you to test different options and then follow up with reviews or actual data comparing plugin performance before accepting/removing plugins from your site. 

3. Providing standard security against spyware, malware, etc. 

How do wordpress gets hacked

Source: Lifehack

Keeping your site safe is essential in maintaining a good reputation with clients. Customers are more likely to trust your business enterprise if they see that you’re keeping their information private. Because WordPress is free & open-source software, there’s no central owner or governing body to check security. 

Anyone can participate in testing patches when vulnerabilities are discovered, so updates usually happen faster than other content management systems (CMS). However, without a central authority overseeing updates, it’s up to you to stay on top of security issues by keeping up with announcements.

Note: As per Wordfence, more than 90,000 attacks occur over WordPress in less than a minute. However, most of them fail as WordPress offers high levels of security. Thus, you must regularly update any plugins or themes you use. There have been instances where hackers have exploited outdated versions.

4. Cheaper than most other CMS

Cheaper than most CMS

Overall, it’s often less expensive to develop a website on WordPress because it uses a popular coding language known as PHP. Creating sites in PHP is typically faster than developing in Flash or other languages. In fact, Rasmus Lerdorf, a notable Danish-Canadian programmer says “PHP is hardly a bottleneck” 

Plus, WordPress offers many free plugins to extend your site’s capabilities. These features combined with relatively cheaper hosting mean that you can save money by using WordPress for your small business site.

However, suppose you have effective multimedia content or run an eCommerce store on your site. In that case, it is ideal for working with a developer who has experience building websites in these languages. 

5. Tons of layout options ensure an intuitive design

Before jumping in and adding content to your website, it’s a good idea to take some time and design your site. There are plenty of professional designs that you can easily customize to fit your site’s branding. If you decide to use WordPress, you can access tons of layout options.

Remember that visitors will likely be comparing your site with other sites they’ve visited, so keep these points in mind. 

  • Navigation: Place important links near the top center or at the bottom of the page. If appropriate, organize related links into multiple menus. To encourage user engagement and conversion, including social media icons that link to pages on your website;
  • Avoid pop-ups (even those placed on a tab) because people tend to ignore them. For businesses seeking users who want further information, try listing Popular Pages or Recent Posts instead.
  • Choose navigation colors carefully as per the target audience: The colors you choose for a navigation bar may also determine how users perceive your brand & evoke an emotional response from them.
  • Choose fonts based on readability—they need to be readable both online and off. Avoid using all caps, and watch out for color intensity if you have a lot of text on the screen. Don’t use cursive or too many different sizes.

You can ensure the target audience gets intuitive navigation when they land on your website with an unlimited choice.

6. Mobile accessibility enhances the reach of the website 

Mobile Accessibility

Source: Statista- Mobile Traffic

One thing that makes WordPress a good choice for small businesses is its adaptability. Most themes have an option to select what you want to show on your site. You can create customized menus specific to your brand, industry, and niche

It allows you to choose a home page link, along with pages within your website. You can also create categories relevant to each section of your website.

For example, suppose your website has a services page or category – but only offers one service or product. In that case, it won’t be difficult to add another custom link under services providing more information on how their product works!

Note: Some worldwide renowned websites like BBC America & Microsoft News have chosen WordPress over other CMS.

7. Customizable menus enhancing the UX 

WordPress allows users to easily create custom menus or use a pre-made one from their library. These make it easy to change your theme with just a few clicks. Developers can use them to organize links in the easiest ways for you. However, you want it organized.

The fantastic part about these options is that they are integrated directly into your site without any additional plugins, so they’re convenient but also seamless and easy to manage.

8. Easy-to-Use publishing tools

Even when you don’t know much about coding, you can still create your site with WordPress. The easy-to-use publishing tools make it simple to design a professional, mobile-friendly site, search engine optimized (SEO), and ready to accept online payments.

When coupled with a good host, your website should rank high in search results as soon as you go live. Additionally, sites built on WordPress are ideal for growing an email list by collecting leads via subscription forms or purchase transactions.

9. Incredible community support facilitating lower development cost

It is perhaps among the essential pros when using WordPress as your CMS (Content Management System). WordPress holds one of the largest communities in the programming world, with a very active forum community. You can easily find support, resources, and answers on any topic you can think up. In addition to all that information, there are also lots of people willing to help you fix your issue free of charge!

WordCamps: WordCamps are local events where all things WordPress meetups. The community alone could keep you from ever needing another platform again! Most users don’t realize how much support they have at their fingertips simply because they never take advantage.

These small conferences happen around different cities and countries in person, and live video feeds online. Moreover, with the availability of top WordPress development companies, you can be sure to make the most of your project.

10. Flexible Pricing Plans

Flexible Pricing Plans

There are diverse options to choose from regarding the pricing with WordPress hosting: Shared, VPS, and Dedicated. Shared hosting may be your best bet for smaller businesses looking to cut costs. And if you have a small website that doesn’t expect heavy traffic or requires too much power, shared hosting will likely suit your needs just fine. 

41% of WordPress attacks occur via hosting vulnerabilities, says Kinsta. Thus multiple hosting options allow you to go with the most secured one. Therefore, if you have a heavy website with a large load (such as an eCommerce site), you might want to use a virtual private server instead.

These plans provide more excellent performance, security, and flexibility than typically shared accounts do. If you need even more resources, dedicated hosting is another option entirely- though it isn’t cheap by any means. 

Going for Dedicated hosting gives you access to substantially more resources than shared plans do. Still, your provider handles issues such as updates and security, so you don’t have to worry about them at all.

That was all about the benefits of using WordPress for a small business. However, as mentioned earlier, it also comes with a fair share of cons. Let’s explore them.

Cons of Using WordPress for a Small Business 

The Back-end still needs improvement: As with any CMS, there are some things you can’t do on it. For example, very complex data management requires a more sophisticated back-end than WordPress offers.

It is also not great for very high-traffic sites because, despite being excellent at content production and delivery, it can lag if too many people visit your site at once. Finally, it is sometimes harder to navigate through large websites built on WordPress due to increased menu bar sizes.

Lack of standard pricing among theme sellers: Be wary when buying a theme—you may end up paying more than you think. For example, some themes have hidden fees or charges. Also, search engines haven’t adapted to mobile-friendly sites, so choose a mobile responsive theme.

You may be sacrificing SEO and visibility. That said, many newer themes are SEO-friendly with responsive designs. Make sure yours is one of them!

Not an ideal option for eCommerce: Adding a shopping cart can be time-consuming. If you’re looking to set up a digital store quickly, you may want to look into a different platform like Shopify or Magento. While using WordPress might be easier on your wallet up front, it might not save you money in terms of time or energy down the road. 

WordPress is designed to be flexible and easily updated: Both a pro and a con. Updates can also cause issues with other plugins your site uses, creating extra work later for you.

Final Words

WordPress is an excellent option if you’re looking to start an online business. It allows you to customize your site with ease, offers plenty of tools for managing your marketing efforts and creating an engaging user experience, and has room to grow as your business does.

But even though it’s easy to use, that doesn’t mean there aren’t potential problems associated with choosing it—namely, hacks. The good news is that most people choose WordPress because they value convenience over security.

However, if you want to avoid getting hacked (and end up with thousands of dollars in losses), hire dedicated developers to effectively enhance your website’s security.

Also Read:

Why WordPress Development Service

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