WordPress Websites

I have built, overseen the management of, or simply maintained a few WordPress websites in my time (including this website). I’ve also project managed a few website projects (with agencies or internal teams) so I know no web project is ever easy.

Pros and Cons of WordPress Websites

It’s sometimes frustrating to work in WordPress, but I think the pros outweigh the cons. WordPress is easy to use as a content management system (CMS) without any coding knowledge. It just takes a little training to understand how to work in the backend. However, if you don’t have any development resources available, it is helpful to have some basic coding skills. I’ve found that the HTML/CSS class I took a while back at General Assembly comes in handy from time to time when working in WordPress.

Another pro is that WordPress is an open-source platform so you can easily google around and find existing code to use if needed. But a con here is that because it’s open-source, it’s more vulnerable to hackers. There are a lot of real WordPress developers out there if you have the budget to outsource the project. Another bonus is that it’s very SEO friendly and plugins like Yoast SEO are great. It is important, though to keep any plugins updated. Themes are updated often and I’ve noticed that installing the required updates helps with security vulnerabilities. I have also found that some updates require you to make tweaks to the site itself. So it’s a bit of a never-ending battle.

One thing I started doing on some website side gig projects was to share a website requirements checklist with the client I was working with to better understand their goals for their business and the site itself. I’ve also found that his type of document can also be handy when working on a website project in-house so that everyone is on the same page before a project goes off the rails.