To WordPress or not to WordPress? That’s a big question I get asked frequently. Not sure what’s best for you? Here are some things to think about.
If you’re thinking about making the switch, it’s because you’ve heard some of the positives about the WP platform.
•Better SEO capabilities
•More flexibility with themes and plugins
•More control over your content
•The ability to sell directly from your site
With all of these advantages, why shouldn’t everyone jump ship and head to WordPress?
Because WordPress is like a treadmill.
Think about getting a treadmill. You’re going to have to spend a lot more money on it. Walking is free, but that treadmill is big bucks. You’re going to need to create space for it, put it together, maybe buy some accessories for it.
The thing about that treadmill? It will not give you the fit body unless you get on it and do the hard work.
That was a really long winded way of saying-yes, you can get more out of a WordPress site, but you have to do more.
What are you getting into with WordPress?
You’re going to have to spend more, and not just for the design. (Why do WordPress designs cost so much more? They are tons more work to set up.) There are additional fees to migrate your content. There are hosting fees. Your pin went viral! Awesome! Also, your hosting fees just went up. If you decide you don’t want to pay for hosting anymore, you’re site is gone. Also, many of the top notch plugins are not free.
WordPress is great, but it takes time to be great. One of the best examples I can give you is a plugin called Social Warfare. With this plugin, when a reader pins or shares from your site, the plugin automatically chooses the optimal sized image for that platform. Sounds great, right? And it is. The catch is you have to pay for the plugin and make each of those ideally sized images.
Should you make the switch?
If you’re just getting started, I don’t recommend WordPress. I know, I know. There are lots of WordPress people that say they wished they had started on WordPress. Those people are B4L-Bloggers for Life. They love blogging, and they love doing the more that comes along with WordPress.
The thing about getting started is you don’t really know if blogging is going to be for you. I have installed hundreds of blog designs. A significant number are for people that never posted or just blogged once or twice.
And you know what? That’s okay. You don’t know if something is right for you until you try it. Wordpress is a much more expensive option for something that may not even even be a good fit for you.
•Do you blog consistently?
•Are you working on getting more out of your current blog by setting up Rich Pins, using optimal sized images, using descriptions to improve your SEO?
•Do you like figuring out how to do things? Your blog designer will install your design, but he or she is not your webmaster.
•Do you have time to manage your blog? Wordpress blogs can have serious security issues and are targets for hackers. Also, spam for daaaayyyysss.
If you’re not blogging consistently and not already trying to get the most out of your blog, I would say don’t switch. Just paying more for WordPress isn’t going to offset not having time to blog. If anything, it’s the complete opposite. You will need to spend more time managing your blog.
If you’re blogging consistently, open to the learning curve, and can make time to manage your site, switching to WordPress is something you should consider.
Why I have both
My teaching blog is on Blogger and will stay there. I don’t consistently blog. It tends to be the thing that gets bumped off my to do list when life gets a little crazy. I do have some good content, and I’d hate for that to go away because I don’t want to keep up with hosting fees. (Yes, they say it’s $3.95 a month. IT NEVER IS.)
I moved my design site to WordPress and am happy with that decision. It is an extra expense, but it buys me time. Now that I can sell design dates directly on my site, it has freed up a ton of time that I used to spending emailing people back and forth about dates, deposits, etc. That’s time I can instead use to make money designing.
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