When you talk to developers regarding your business website, the conversation would be incomplete without WordPress. WordPress websites are prevalent in every niche you can think of. Being the most popular CMS in the market, most website development companies recommend it. Being popular comes with its own problems, myths being one of them.
Whenever you check out a new technology, you get bombarded with information. In the case of WordPress, there is good news and there are myths; the reason they are myths is because people are misinformed about them.
As a person who runs a WordPress website development services, I would advise not to lean into false information. In fact, this article is here to provide you with the real facts; facts that WordPress is the market’s giant for a reason.
In fact, there are multiple facts about why WordPress is a great option for your small business website. But misinformation is not good in the world of business.
Without further ado, let us bust some myths, shall we?
Myth #1 You need to be a coder to use WordPress
It is like buying a watch from a showroom. Why would you waste your time getting to know the details when the staff is there to explain them for you?
This applies to WordPress as well. You do not need to code to present a jaw-dropping website in front of your customers. All you need is the ability to think and create.
With a small twist in the tale, I would also ask you to learn to code. This is not that without the knowledge, WordPress is tough to maintain but because it opens doors for new opportunities.
Even if you don’t know how to code, hear me out.
Let us say you have created a beautiful website with WordPress. When you plan to expand your website because of business needs, you may need new plugins and add-ons that may require custom coding.
Think of your website as a car. Even though it would be flawless and perfect in condition, there is no assurance that you will not face any issues. Just like how you fix minor issues with your car, you need to know how to diagnose your website issues.
Long story short, programming knowledge is not a necessity but a luxury while working with WordPress.
With basic knowledge on how to edit content, you can fix minor bugs. In fact, I encourage my clients by teaching them how to make minor fixes on their WordPress website.
Myth #2WordPress is ridiculously expensive
Why are some people calling open-source software available for free to download as expensive?
This myth arises because it is hard to decide a standard price when designing a website using WordPress. Designs are unique and so are the expenses.
Anyone can download and start creating a website without investing a single penny.
Not just that. Most of the plugins and themes except for their paid versions, are free on WordPress.
To get an accurate insight into how much your business website would cost, use this website cost calculator to find out the estimate.
Myth #3 When it comes to SEO, there are better SEO options than WordPress
When you come up with other options in the market, the comparison is not objective enough.
Why?
Most of the time, the comparisons are between WordPress with Squarespace or Wix who are indeed performing well.
But here is the catch.
WordPress is a CMS from scratch whereas the rest are DIY website builders and when it comes to SEO, DIY website builders don’t stand a chance.
For instance, search engine optimized content can be done using a CMS or a DIY website builder. It mainly depends on the SEO strategist who creates top quality content.
This is where WordPress features stand apart.
Two plugins that will never let you down are
- Rank Math SEO – if you have not heard of it, it is a combination of your English professor and an SEO strategist. With over 5 million installations, RankMath SEO provides extra features from your regular meta tags and titles. Keyword presence, ideal character count and suggestions to improve your website score..They are an extra pair of eyes that analyze your content and provide impressively in-depth feedback.
- All in one SEO pack – another SEO plugin which was present since 2007. With over 2 million downloads, they offer great SEO support.
Like RankMath, they have their pro version and provide separate premium support to their users.
Now beating this SEO quality using a DIY website builder is a big question. This is a major reason even though they are good, they still lag one step behind the features that WordPress offers.
Myth #4WordPress provides poor customer support
Probably the most common myth out there. A wise move would be to ignore the statement in the beginning.
WordPress is misinterpreted that it leaves people stranded with problems in their hands and are never given a solution. The notion arises because WordPress is not built by one pair of hands under a single roof.
WordPress offers better, unique, and multiple solutions to a single problem because of its wide community of fellow developers.
People who spread this myth most probably would not have seen their documentation and forum pages.
WordPress documentation will provide you with the initial system requirements for advanced domains regarding troubleshooting and Javascript errors.
In scenarios where you cannot find answers to your problems, you have the community forums. You can discuss with fellow WordPress developers and get opinions and even entire solutions to your problems.
Your resources do not stop there. If you search on the web, you will find multiple websites with a tag WP. They are independent developers or bloggers who either use or have experience using WordPress.
They provide valuable articles on security, plugin configuration and hosting features. If you are just starting out, WPbeginner would be a good site to get good information regarding the issues you face.
At times like these, a website development company can provide great assistance. You can make sure your business is doing good and leave the management to them.
Myth #5 WordPress works best for blogging only
If that is the case then why does Bata, a leading footwear industry prefer WordPress? Why does Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet, have his landing page done using WordPress?
The options are endless and if blogging was the only option, there wouldn’t be a wide collection of themes and plugins.
Here is a scenario. You are creating a service page for your photography services. If you choose WordPress, this is what WordPress will offer you:
- A theme – To provide a structure and layout completely relevant to your business niche. In this case, there are good options like Photograph and Infinite photography. In fact, you can customize other themes to your taste.
- Plugins – To facilitate your creative photography needs. Here is a list of free WordPress plugins that as a photographer you might find handy.
- SEO – to optimize your content and blog thereby getting maximum traffic.
This applies to eCommerce, personal brands, and other service pages you can think of. You cannot overlook what WordPress provides you and say that it is just a blogging tool.
Myth #6 WordPress crashes frequently
Yeah, I would agree that WordPress crashes sometimes and wastes your valuable time.
But you would be surprised why it happens.
The culprits here among others are themes and plugins. No, not the ones that run perfectly well. It is either from an unfamiliar source or a new version that you recently updated that could be malfunctioning.
Some of the other obvious issues include your server being down, your subscription to your domain name is not renewed and/or network issues.
Can you find what these have in common?
They all can be fixed by you or your developer and get your website up and running in a jiffy.
Things get really tangled when you don’t keep your content backed up. Having a good quality backup plugin prevents you from getting stuck in a mess.
There are some preliminary actions you can take like diverting to your previous themes or deactivating plugins. But what you need to keep in mind is they do have a solution and completely within your limits.
The best practice would be to sign a website maintenance contract with your WordPress website development company. From data backups to ensuring web security, you can assign the responsibility to them.
Myth #7 For eCommerce, WordPress is not a good choice
If that is the case, why would almost 5% of all websites choose WooCommerce?
It is like leaving one of your key players in the dugout. Hear me out.
WordPress is a good choice for eCommerce; in fact, it competes with other website builders that have a reputation for building online stores.
One of the reasons to avoid WordPress for online stores is because WooCommerce gives you extra work to control the website. But for an online store, is not that what you want?
WooCommerce on WordPress puts you as the man in charge. That means if you are planning to scale up you have the control to manage resources and keep things under your radar.
WooCommerce provides great payment features for small business owners. They have a 30-day money-back guarantee and except for the transaction charges, WooCommerce does not take a single penny away.
Although the basic plans of WooCommerce may not meet your expanding business, you can subscribe to hosting plans that cover them.
The level of scalability with WooCommerce is insane. You can add thousands of products, maintain them flawlessly with advanced options of hosting and extensions.
When running an eCommerce website, site speed, and content delivery matters. You need to choose the plugins that facilitate this approach.
Let us take caching to explain things. You will need a good caching plugin to keep data intact (the items on the cart) so that your customer doesn’t have to go through them again.
On the other hand, you don’t need a plugin to compress images. Make sure the photographer is capturing them to reduce size and retain the resolution.
If eCommerce is your goal, I have a curated list of the best eCommerce website builders for you to choose from.
Myth #8 WordPress offers limited customization
It is funny to listen to this because people have double standards over this. They complain that WordPress requires coding and customization and also rant that it doesn’t allow them to design according to their taste.
In reality, WordPress actually supports both the claims. It favors the tech-savvy developer and the conventional businessmen.
For instance, if you choose not to engage in a lot of customization, WordPress themes offer demo content. This enables you to create content within a pre-built frame that the theme provides.
You are involved in zero coding and designing. All you need to do is explain what you are and what your product is. It is as simple as that.
Whereas on the flip side, you can develop a website from scratch on WordPress using their block editor. If you feel it is not that user-friendly, you will find the Elementor page builder very appealing.
Elementor is the easiest it can get when it comes to designing. We have a complete guide on how to build a website for free using Elementor.
Myth #9 WordPress is prone to security attacks
Being the most preferred CMS in the world, powering over 35% of websites using WordPress with a market share of over 62%, things are not foolproof.
In fact, as they say, WordPress is not a stranger to website attacks, with 83% of the total CMS attacks were on WordPress.
But the cause must be examined here because WordPress is not the problem.
It is how you build your website with WordPress. People create loopholes when they pay attention to detail in designing but turn a blind eye while securing the website.
These loopholes are the entry points for hackers to step in.
It is pathetic to see people getting attacked because of an older version of the software. In the case of plugins, download only from trustworthy resources and update them from time to time.
Hear me out.
You can get things secure and get back on track with minor tweaks on your website. The best part is you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a developer.
Check out the article on how you can secure your website on your own. This saves time and money but most importantly, your website remains guarded in the long run.
Myth #10 WordPress lacks scalability and only suits beginners
No matter how simple or complex it is, WordPress can be used to perfect businesses of any niche.
If your website only has a blog, you can add an online store and a mailing list in a matter of minutes. Though the process involves multiple steps to be taken, you get the whole picture. Building your own brand is that simple with WordPress.
But since there will be a stampede of traffic coming along your way, you must ensure you are equipped for high traffic.
There is a mini checklist to follow when you expand. This includes reducing WP requests to the server and adopting cloud-based servers to name a few.
Yet the question lies. How many of those websites that pursue to become a large scale business really happen? With everyone being on the path to strive towards perfection, some relapse.
Unfortunately, the market is not so favorable to everyone and only the best of the best make it the top. With WordPress, you get the resources. You get the plugins and themes.
The market is packed with competition and it is important to stay on track and avoid such myths that leave you stranded. All you need to do is perform and show why you matter in the market.
Conclusion
Since we have busted the common misconceptions out there, you will now have the real picture of what WordPress is capable of.
A WordPress website development company in India is underrated when people want to start a website. Down the road, it will prove very useful to have a WordPress developer or a WordPress web development company by your side to gain better traction for your WordPress website.
It takes only a few minutes to get your website idea into action. All you have to do is fill in this contact form and I will reach out to you to make your website go live.
