Choosing which platform to build your business website on can be overwhelming because there are many options available. You can choose from open-source platforms like WordPress or Joomla (meaning that their software is freely available online), or you can pay to use a proprietary software. One of the most popular choices which we use for many of our clients is WordPress. And while we’re a fan of the platform, there are both pros and cons to using it.

Pros of building your website with WordPress

• Easy to use: As a content management system (CMS), WordPress is very robust and easy for you to use, even if you don’t have a lot of prior website management knowledge.

 

• Relatively inexpensive: Business owners on a tight budget can set up a WordPress site with minimal costs because the software is available for free online. The only necessary costs are your web hosting fees and domain name. WordPress offers many free themes for designing your site, or if you’re willing to spend a bit of cash, you can purchase a premium theme design which may better meet your needs.

 

• High level of online support: Since over 30 percent of the internet runs on WordPress, it’s easy to find support through forums, social media, or simply Googling your question when you run into any problems.

 

• Best selection of plugins: If you’re looking to customize your WordPress site in a specific way, chances are there is a plugin to do exactly what you’re trying to accomplish. There are over 50,000 plugins available to WordPress users, most of which are free to use, and you can install them on your site within minutes.

Cons of building your website with WordPress

• Vulnerability: If you’re running a small- to mid-size site, it’s highly unlikely that anyone is planning to hack you. Hackers look to break into platforms, not specific sites, so using a large open-source platform like WordPress can make you more vulnerable. To mitigate this risk, be sure to be cautious and properly assess the quality of plugins and themes you choose for your site.

 

• Easy to overload your site: While it’s awesome that there are so many free WordPress plugins available, it’s very easy to get carried away and add more to your site than you actually need. In doing so, you end up adding a lot of bloat to your site, thus making it slower to load, and more complex in the back-end than is necessary.

 

For a business-owner, there are few things more panic-inducing than the thought of being audited. Fortunately, we’ve got your back. We’ll share our top tips for avoiding an audit in our next blog post.