If you’ve been a business owner for a while, you’ve probably tried all the platforms out there

Having a small business means wearing a lot of hats. Everything from “product photographer” to “web designer” – and I absolutely understand being in that position. In fact, that’s actually how I started as a web designer, over a decade ago now. I ended up in a position where I needed a website for my then-photography-based business, and I couldn’t really afford to hire the work out. But… I also didn’t want a “simple” Squarespace website, because back in the day, those were even more limiting than they are now, and I knew it.

So as a result of that, I to code, and hard coded a website for myself. It was awful, but I loved doing it – and then someone showed me WordPress, and the rest is history. But not everyone who has a new business has the kind of time on their hands that I did, and not everyone wants to reinvent the wheel and learn coding languages in order to have a website for their business.

WordPress used to be kind of a bear

And when people think “Wordpress” there’s still kind of the idea out there that it’s going to require code, or it’s going to be really difficult to work with. When I mention WordPress in groups of other business owners, the most common response is a big sigh, because they’ve tried it, hated it, and moved to something “simpler”. But the issue there, is when you’re switching away from WordPress for something that’ll take less effort to maintain, you’re making a LOT of compromises.

Sometimes those compromises are worth it – don’t get me wrong! I’m never going to sit here and tell you to keep a website that you can’t work with, or keep a website that frustrates you. You should use what works for YOU for your business, and not listen to anyone who says they have the magic solution. But…. I’m also going to tell you that there are real benefits to using WordPress, and it’s not the same bear of a content management system (CMS) that it used to be. All of which are important parts of choosing where to put your website online, and how to manage it!

There’s a big difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org

The first thing I should mention, is that if you’re looking at WordPress (or you THINK you’re looking at WordPress) and you’re thinking “well this isn’t any cheaper than working with ShowIt or Squarespace” then you’re probably looking at WordPress [dot] com, not WordPress [dot] org. And there is a big, big, BIG difference there!

I’ve discussed the differences between WordPress [dot] com and WordPress [dot] org before, but to break them down simply here, WordPress [dot] com is actually WordPress [dot] org repackaged with hosting, and resold to you. WordPress, actually, at its core, is completely free to use, because it’s an open source tool. So when it comes to selecting WordPress for its cost effectiveness, I highly recommend using Hostinger for your hosting package, and then installing WordPress [dot] org on your new server space in just a few clicks! Easy, cost effective, and you pretty much immediately get access to everything you need.

WordPress is different now, we have page builders

That misunderstanding about WordPress [dot] com vs WordPress [dot] org isn’t the only thing that makes it difficult to keep up with WordPress websites, and it’s not the only thing that makes people who are new to having a website feel like WordPress isn’t for them. One of the other reasons is that in the past, when they’ve worked with a WordPress site, they were using a super section-locked, un-customizable “theme” for that website. And without using code, they couldn’t override or change the placement of lots of items. And not only that, but they couldn’t see the webpage while they were editing that, and if you don’t really know what you’re doing… that won’t work well. It’s a recipe for frustration.

But that’s not actually how WordPress runs anymore, there are visual builders from the Gutenburg builder embedded in WordPress core itself, all the way to tools like what I use to build – Divi builder. And there are all kinds of builder options in between, too, but the thing most of them have in common is a TON of customization. You can do anything you want with these builders – if you can imagine it, you can make it real, and you can do it without having to touch ANY code.

Which is why I use Divi builder for customer sites now – it’s easy to keep up with, and it’s a visual builder so my clients don’t have to learn a whole new language to make edits to their site.

WordPress is so much more powerful than a tool like Squarespace

One of the various reasons that WordPress can feel overwhelming for business owners who are new to having a website, is that there are so many options. With a tool like Squarespace, you’re given simple templates to start with, and you can fill in the content areas, replace the images, and it’s very “click, click, go”. Or at least it FEELS like it. And if that’s what you need to get yourself to make a website happen, then that might be right for you!

But if your business grows, you will absolutely grow out of a site you build on Squarespace, because you’ll get to a point where you want features that the platform just doesn’t have. And even when it comes to building the site itself, there are quality of life tools that aren’t available, like copying a page, or having a section that you can change once and it will change across your whole website – like your newsletter subscription section, for example.

And not only that, but there are tools available in WordPress that will help you create content that is super SEO friendly, like Yoast SEO, which I use to help evaluate the search engine friendliness of my own posts. Is it possible to have an SEO friendly website with Squarespace? Of course. But… it’s harder.

Showit is cool, but you won’t have everything in the same place.

The same kinds of points can be made about builders like ShowIt. Don’t get me wrong, I actually LOVE ShowIt, and I do work with it for client sites! But there are cases where it’s a great option, and cases where it’s NOT.

In particular, if you think you’re going to expand into e-commerce at some point… it’s not for you. Or if you want to have a blog… it adds extra steps. Because if you want to blog on your ShowIt site, you’re going to actually have a completely separate login for that, and do your blogging through… you guessed it… WordPress. Which means you won’t be able to do all of your website management tasks in one place, it adds steps.

It does mean that when you’re blogging, you have access to SEO analytic tools, which is great! But it’s still not the best choice for everyone, and if you want to keep things simple, and all in one location, then WordPress [dot] org on a self-hosted server space is still going to be easier to manage in the long term.

If it’s something you need solved… there’s a WordPress plugin for it

I’ve already mentioned this briefly, but it’s worth getting into detail with! WordPress has been around a very long time, and in that time, it’s changed a LOT. So if you’ve used it decades ago, and got the feeling that it wasn’t for you because it was too complex, it might be worth taking another look.

Because WordPress is open source, it’s very easy for developers to create tools that hook into its core code, and allow you to extend the features available on your site. And this has been the case for so long, that there are thousands, and thousands, and thousands of tools that solve every problem and add every feature you could possibly want to your site, some for free, some for nominal fees, and some that are fairly pricey. But what that means, is you have OPTIONS. You can find tools that will do exactly what you need. Want to add booking to your website? There are options. Want to add e-commerce? You’ve got options. Need a before and after slider? You can make that happen too – all without having to touch actual code.

This isn’t the case with the proprietary builders out there, because most of them are “closed system” – meaning that if you need a tool, you have to wait for it to be released by the company itself. There aren’t plugin developers who’ve been working to solve that problem for you before you even had it. And that is such a valuable element of WordPress [dot] org that can save you hours and hours of frustration!

WordPress USED to be too difficult to self manage, but that’s not the case anymore!

If you take away only one thing from this post, it’s that WordPress has come a long, long way in its years available to developers. It’s changed so much, and even if you’ve used it before, and found it overwhelming, there’s probably a way for you to use it that WON’T be overwhelming. Part of figuring out what that looks like might be by talking to someone like me, and getting paired with tools and plugins that will match well with your working style and your specific needs!

So in other words, I would love to talk to you. Let’s get your business online, in a cost effective, easy to maintain kind of way!! Or… take a look at my Hostinger information, about why they’re absolutely the BEST hosting company to work with if you need a WordPress site, or learn more about how WordPress [dot] com is different from WordPress [dot] org. As a business owner, the web designer “hat” is a rough one to wear, especially if it’s your first time at this rodeo. But I believe in you, and you can absolutely handle it! So… let’s get building!