There’s a clear leader of the pack when it comes to convenient website-building platforms. For years now, WordPress has been the go-to resource for brands that want to create sleek business sites without experience in programming languages.
According to data from W3Techs, WordPress is used by 45.8% of all websites on the internet in 2023. That means that more than two out of every five websites use WordPress.
As a web development agency, you might expect our team to tell you to steer clear of box platforms like WordPress – but that’s not true. Our web developers embrace the free elements that WordPress offers, and we recognize the immense value it brings to small businesses.
However, you should know that WordPress doesn’t take care of the entire web development process. There are certain instances in which you still need a back-end developer for website creation, even if WordPress gives your site a solid foundation.
If you’re in the process of choosing a website builder, WordPress is certainly an excellent choice, and we’ll explain why in this blog post. Let’s take a candid look at the platform’s strengths, as well as some of its weaknesses you’ll need to address.
The Benefits of Building a WordPress Website
✓ User-Friendly Interface
As far as web applications for building sites go, WordPress offers some of the best website designs around. With just a few clicks, you can easily create an interface that features intuitive layouts and aesthetically pleasing features.
Even better, the platform’s dashboard is fairly easy to use, which makes amateur web development feel feasible for all kinds of users, including startup owners.
✓ Flexible Content Management System (CMS)
Your site won’t achieve much if it doesn’t have great content. Fortunately, WordPress got its start as a blog platform, which means it now has a powerful CMS as a part of its web development features.
It doesn’t matter if you’re building an online store or a corporate site – WordPress’s CMS can adapt to help you easily plan, create, and post a wide range of valuable content.
✓ Vast Theme Selection
No web development process is complete without a theme, and WordPress has that department covered. Users can browse a huge variety of free and paid WordPress themes, all of which feature professional designs and creative layouts.
These themes are customizable to some extent, which means you can tailor your site to align closely with your brand’s identity.
✓ Plugin Ecosystem
There are almost 60,000 free WordPress plugins in the official directory. You don’t need to understand advanced coding to use these web applications and tools, and there’s an available plugin for pretty much any feature you can imagine.
✓ SEO-Friendly
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial part of effective web development. Fortunately, WordPress excels at creating web pages that are crawlable and appealing to search engines. Additionally, you can install plenty of plugins on your site that optimize your content for better search result performance.
The Role of a Professional WordPress Developer
You’re probably thinking, “Well, all of that sounds ideal! What’s the catch?”
In reality, there’s not really a catch – but that doesn’t mean WordPress is the end-all-be-all of web development. The platform might offer a significant number of tools and resources, but there’s still a place for full-stack developers on your team.
To put it bluntly, professional web developers can simply do things that WordPress can’t. Their understanding of programming languages, writing code, and many other elements allows them to take your WordPress site to the next level.
When you hire a web development agency, you’re getting more than just a team of website builders.
Let’s take a look at some of the web design elements they can assist with (that WordPress can’t handle alone).
✓ Customization Beyond Standard Templates
You don’t want to create a website that looks like everyone else’s. More importantly, you want your site to be highly scalable and fit your unique business plan.
Although a free run-of-the-mill WordPress template might look professional, it’s always a good idea to take things further with truly custom website development. The higher the level of personalization to a custom WordPress theme, the more likely your site is to stand out.
A full-stack developer will work carefully to understand the intricacies of your business model, customers, and vision. This allows them to take website customization to a higher level than most standard WordPress themes can allow.
✓ Optimized, Tailored Performance
Website design is all about what users see and engage with, but web development focuses more on how your site performs. Although WordPress can help you build a beautiful website quickly, if you want any non-traditional features or functionalities, you’ll need to work with real developers.
By carefully tailoring your site’s user experience (UX), you can ensure you’re offering exactly what they need. As an added bonus, a better UX can also translate to better rankings with top search engines like Google.
✓ Security Expertise
Try as it may, WordPress simply cannot defend its websites from all of the latest digital threats. Approximately 90% of WordPress vulnerabilities are plugin vulnerabilities, while 6% are related to theme and 4% to core software vulnerabilities.
A web developer isn’t just responsible for helping your site run smoothly – they’re also responsible for protecting it.
Every professional should have a solid understanding of the latest cyber risks and dangers, which allows them to manage your site and implement strong defenses. They’ll focus on critical tasks like performing regular updates, installing secure plugins, and abiding by safe coding practices.
It doesn’t matter if you have a corporate business website or an eCommerce store: safety is a top priority nowadays, and you shouldn’t rely on the WordPress platform to provide above-average protection.
✓ Creating Responsive Websites
With the proliferation of cell phones and tablets today, prioritizing mobile responsiveness is non-negotiable. Although WordPress is renowned for its versatility and user-friendliness, its features often aren’t sufficient when it comes to ensuring an excellent mobile experience.
A professional web developer will ensure your web pages are optimized for various screen sizes. Furthermore, they’ll ensure your web design and features perform smoothly across all types of devices, not just desktop computers.
Keep in mind that web development tasks don’t just end once you launch your site. Maintaining high mobile responsiveness is an ongoing maintenance task, which means you need to have a web developer in your corner for the foreseeable future.
✓ Technical Troubleshooting
Last, but certainly not least, we need to address a big question: who is going to manage and fix your site when things go wrong?
Whether we’re talking about a server crash or a cyberattack, there are plenty of technical issues that can cause serious downtime for your web pages. In these cases, you don’t want to rely on WordPress’s support team, as capable as they may be.
Instead, you want to have a web developer on standby that knows your website and its unique needs and setup. Web development isn’t a one-size-fits-all process, and as great as the WordPress team might be, they aren’t YOUR team.
In the best-case scenario, your web developer isn’t just jumping in when things go wrong – they’re monitoring things 24/7 to ensure things run smoothly all day, every day.
Get Help From Our WordPress Experts
So, is WordPress the best website builder? Quite possibly.
WordPress undeniably stands out as a powerful and versatile website development tool, offering countless features and themes – but that doesn’t mean web development teams are an optional luxury.
If you want your site to thrive and provide a safe, above-average user experience, you still need to work with full-stack developers.
At Platinum Consulting, our team of web developers understands that website visitors from all over the world want one thing: a smooth, glitch-free UX. We ensure all of our clients can offer just that by writing code and using programming languages to kick WordPress websites into high gear.
Whether you’re looking for back or front-end web development services, we’re your team. Set up a free call with one of our WordPress website builders to learn what we can do for your site.