Throughout our time as a West Midlands web design agency, we’ve been asked 100s of different questions about WordPress. Naturally, when it comes to WordPress websites; we know the ins and outs, the good and the bad and of course, the whys!
Below you’ll find a list of our most frequently asked questions. If you’re a WordPress newbie, this is definitely worth the read!
Quick note: When we say ‘WordPress’ in this blog, we are referring to WordPress.org, not WordPress.com. WordPress.org is a self-hosting platform and WordPres.com is a limited paid platform.
Why Choose WordPress?
First up – one of the main questions when it comes to web design! Why should you choose WordPress?
Whether it’s big or small, every website needs a robust CMS. WordPress makes up over 29 per cent of all websites in the world, with this number increasing by the hour. It started out as a platform for blogging and quickly turned into one of the most efficient content management systems. Our top 10 reasons to choose WordPress are:
- It’s an open-source CMS
WordPress is accessible to everyone and it doesn’t cost a penny. It’s easy to download and upload content. Many people think that because it’s an open-source CMS, this means WordPress websites are vulnerable to attacks. However, this could not be further from the truth. WordPress security is easy to implement and maintain. For example, installing an SSL Certificate is simple and easy.
- It’s search engine friendly
Everyone wants the top spots on Google. WordPress is designed to be used with SEO and is compatible with Yoast SEO, which is one of the most widely used plugins for Search Engine Optimisation.
- Customisation is unlimited
WordPress websites can be built with themes downloaded from the internet, custom themes, or be used to create a design that’s completely unique. A common misconception of WordPress is that ‘every website has to look the same’, but if you decide to work with a professional agency, they can customise WordPress to look however you want it to.
There are thousands of WordPress web developers which mean price is usually on your side when it comes to needing a WordPress expert. When using a CMS that isn’t as widely used, you’ll usually find it harder to get a designer/developer at an affordable rate
Why Choose WordPress over Wix?
Again as a website development agency, we speak about websites a lot. We often hear smaller businesses talk about building their own website on a DIY website builder like Wix and are also often asked whether WordPress or Wix is the right choice for their website.
So why do we choose WordPress?
Wix and WordPress have a different approach to websites. Wix is a website builder, whereas WordPress is a content management system. For beginners, who are setting up a small lifestyle business, Wix is an ideal website builder as it’s easy to use, has built-in hosting and requires no coding knowledge.
However, the DIY approach mixed with WIX’s template often leads to bad design. People with little design knowledge usually end up creating something they’re proud of because they don’t know how to design – but to their customers, is dismantles any trust they previously had.
How to choose WordPress theme for website?
The theme you build your website will be the base of your website. If you’re building a website from a theme, a couple of things to remember are:
- Choose a lightweight theme
- Choose a responsive theme
- Remember themes are for design and plugins are for functionality
- Remember to check the reviews
Your chosen theme will play the biggest role in page loading speeds and how your site operates overall. If you have little coding knowledge, it is especially important that you pick a lightweight theme.
To test if a theme is lightweight or not, you can download one, put it on a test link and run it through a performance testing tool such as GTmetrix or Google Page Speed Insights.
Responsiveness means that your website will adapt based on the user’s device. So no matter if they’re viewing on an iPhone or Laptop, the website is still functional and easy to use.
It can be tempting for business owners who are building their own website to purchase a theme that has every functionality as standard. However, going back to choosing a lightweight theme, a theme that comes with too much functionality is often clunky.
For example, if you are a community centre, you may wish to have a calendar with your events on. To do this with no coding knowledge, you can either purchase a theme that comes with a calendar built-in or use a plug-in with a lightweight theme the add this functionality.
Always checking the reviews of a theme will save you a lot of time and money. Even if it’s a free theme, you don’t want to be wasting time downloading a theme, installing it onto WordPress and then finding it doesn’t do what you need it to. You should always conduct your own research before proceeding with a theme.
How to choose a website template?
If you’d like to use an out the box template for your website so you just have to input your own content, it’s important to understand what kind of website you’re building. There are so many wonderful and attractive templates out there, that you can get sucked into choosing one that looks great but isn’t right for your business.
You need to understand what features your website needs and what kind of layout is appropriate for your customers. If you are using a template to build your website, it’s likely your coding knowledge isn’t brilliant – so you want to make things as easy as possible for yourself.
The best way to go about choosing a website template for your business is to choose a template that is relevant to your business. For example, if you’re an insurance broker, choose a template specifically for insurance brokers, and vice versa depending on your industry.
The other biggest factor you should asses when choosing a website template is what page builder does the template support, and does the template include the page builder as standard?
There are lots of page builders great for beginners such as Divi, Elementor, and WP Bakery Builder; and these can all be used with many WordPress templates. However, these are usually purchased separately to themes, so it’s important to look at the overall costs of buying the page builders yourself.
Why choose WordPress for cms?
WordPress is undoubtedly one of the best content management systems available. You only have to look at the number of websites built-in WordPress to see that. (it’s around 75Million if you were wondering)
But why do some many people choose to use WordPress as their CMS? Here are the top 10 reasons:
- It’s free and always will be
- It’s simple to use
- WordPress is search engine friendly
- WordPress is extendable with themes and plugins
- WordPress is mobile optimised
- WordPress is safe and secure
- It’s time effective
- WordPress supports different kinds of media
- WordPress has a massive community that can help with troubleshooting
- WordPress is customisable
Why choose Freecom.net over WordPress?
We love WordPress, it’s what we use to build the majority of our client’s websites. But when is Freecom.net more effective for business owners?
We recommend business owners use Freecom.net if they want to have the best chance of their website looking like it was made by a designer.
Why choose WordPress over drupal?
WordPress and Drupal are both widely used content management systems, and they’re both great for building websites and custom solutions. Although Drupal has been around for longer, it only accounts for 2% of the web, as a pose to WordPress which accounts for 30% of websites on the internet.
One of the key benefits to using WordPress over Drupal is the start-up costs for WordPress are zero, whereas Drupal is a little more pricey, to begin with.
WordPress is a CMS that beginners can pick up easily, whereas Drupal requires a certain level of programming knowledge to begin with. That being said, once a website has been built, it’s easy to manage and maintain a website built on Drupal’s CMS.
Overall if you’re looking for a cost-effective solution that’s easy to set up, WordPress is the right CMS for your business.
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