Building a website with WordPress: when it pays off
WordPress powers a large part of the web, but it isn't the answer to everything. Where it really shines, where it hurts, what maintenance costs and when a custom solution is cheaper.
In short
- WordPress is at its best when several people edit content and it changes often.
- Plugins are the reason for its power and for most of its speed and security problems.
- For a business website that rarely changes, a static website is faster and cheaper to maintain.
WordPress is the most widely used content management system in the world, and for many projects a perfectly sensible choice. It is also the default choice out of habit: plenty of websites run on it only because the developer couldn't or wouldn't build anything else. The difference only shows after a year or two, in speed, security and maintenance costs.
Below are three questions that, in our experience, decide it, and what each answer means.
1. Who will edit the content and how often
This is the most important question, and the only one most people don't ask. If several people will edit content several times a week, and it's news, events or products, WordPress is strong. Everyone knows its editor, training is short and there is a solution for every need.
But if you change your content three times a year, you're paying for capacity you won't use, along with all its costs: hosting that can run PHP and a database, updates, backups and the worry when a security hole is announced.
2. How many plugins you'll need
Plugins are WordPress's strength, and that's also where most of its problems are. Every plugin is someone else's code running on your website: it adds its own files, its own database queries and its own update schedule. Ten plugins means ten teams that can slow your website down or open a hole.
A practical rule we use: if there are more than ten plugins, it's worth checking whether half of them have a simpler alternative. The most common culprits behind a slow website are page builders, home page sliders and analytics plugins no one looks at.
3. What needs to connect to other systems
If the website has to talk to your accounting, warehouse or booking system, the answer depends on whether a proven plugin exists for that connection. If it does, WordPress is a fast and cheap route. If it doesn't and custom code is needed, the advantage is lost: you're writing code inside a system that doesn't help you do it.
The same goes for online stores: WooCommerce is the right choice for most Slovenian stores, because it has Slovenian plugins for payments, delivery and fiscal verification that don't have to be built from scratch.
What's the alternative
For a business website that rarely changes, a static website is better on almost every measure the customer notices. The server doesn't assemble the page on every visit; it sends a file that is already prepared, so it loads much faster. There is no database to attack and no weekly updates that could break something.
The downside is that editing content isn't as simple as in WordPress, unless it's specifically taken care of. That's why we build our websites so you can edit the text, images and news yourself, without a developer, even though they are static underneath.
How to find out what you have now
Open your website, press Ctrl+U and search for the word "wp-content". If you find it, your website runs on WordPress. Then check the speed on a phone over a mobile network, not on your home WiFi: that's how your customers see it.
If it takes more than three seconds to load, the cause is almost never server capacity, but images and plugins. Both can be fixed without changing systems, and that's often the first step we suggest before we even talk about a new website.
A conclusion without dogma
WordPress is neither the solution nor the problem. It's a tool that is excellent for frequently changing content and multiple editors, and too much for a simple business website. Make the decision based on the three questions above, not on what the developer likes to use most.
If you're not sure what makes sense for you, tell us what you need. We'll also tell you when the answer is that your current website is good enough and only needs a speed fix.