How to Choose Between a WordPress Website and a Custom Website
In an era where advancements are progressing at lightning speed, businesses increasingly recognize the importance of their presence on the internet. Creating a successful online presence with a professional website requires strategic planning and the use of appropriate tools.
Within this framework, choosing between WordPress and a custom website poses a significant dilemma for many businesses. Our goal is to clearly present the advantages and disadvantages of both options and to provide guiding principles for the appropriate choice according to each business’s needs.
What is WordPress?
WordPress started in 2003 as a simple tool to create a website but quickly evolved into a comprehensive content management system used by over 43% of websites on the internet today. This alone demonstrates its success and popularity.
WordPress offers a wide range of themes, plugins, and templates, making it an attractive choice for those who want to quickly create a professional website with customized design and features. This offers significant advantages, such as quick installation and support from an extensive user community. However, using WordPress may also have drawbacks, such as potential performance issues due to excessive plugin usage and limited originality in design.
What is a Custom Website?
Creating a custom website provides the opportunity to develop a unique and original website. It offers:
- Better Performance: Due to the lack of unnecessary software, custom websites usually load faster.
- Unique Design: With custom design, you can stand out from the competition with a web design and functionality that are exclusively yours.
- Custom Features: You can add exactly the features you need without limitations from templates or themes.
Disadvantages of a custom website:
- Higher Initial Cost: Customization usually has a higher cost compared to using templates or ready-made themes.
- Longer Development Time: Creating a custom website requires more time for design, development, and updates compared to using WordPress themes.
What about SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important for every website, whether using WordPress or custom. However, the approach to managing SEO may vary depending on the type of website and its goals.
There are many WordPress SEO-friendly plugins and tools that can be used to optimize content and improve search engine rankings. WordPress also has SEO-friendly URL structures and makes it easy to customize content for SEO needs.
Regarding custom websites, SEO management is usually done manually, with the developer implementing SEO best practices during website creation. This provides greater control and accuracy in the process but requires more time and effort.
Cost and Creativity in Web Development
Initially, while WordPress may seem economically attractive (with many free themes and plugins), expenses may accumulate with professional features. On the other hand, a custom website has a higher initial cost but may be more cost-effective in the long term, especially if specific functionality is required.
Custom web design offers complete creative control for a personalized website that reflects your brand’s characteristics, while WordPress themes offer pre-designed templates with limited customization options. These are factors to consider when developing your website.
Ease and Speed in Website Development
To build a website using WordPress:
- Choose a WordPress host
- Install WordPress
- Select a theme
- Customize the design
- Add necessary plugins
Thanks to its user-friendly interface, creating a new website can be done quickly. Creating a custom website from scratch involves website design, back-end development, server setup, and rigorous testing. While this process is longer and requires professional skills, the custom website will more accurately reflect your brand image and your customers’ needs.
Finally, in terms of popularity, this can also mean attracting unwanted attention. Hackers often target WordPress websites. However, with continuous updates and the implementation of security plugins, you can reduce the risks associated with these attacks. On the other hand, because custom websites are developed using best practices, they can provide strong security, as they do not have the common vulnerabilities that hackers tend to exploit.
Why Choose Webed for Your Business Website Development?
Both approaches have their advantages and capabilities in SEO. The important thing is to pay attention to the quality of the content, the structure of the website, and SEO practices during the development and maintenance of the website, regardless of the platform used. At Webed, we have the knowledge, experience, and specialization to create a completely professional website tailored to your needs and desires to achieve all your business goals.
Our expertise in SEO and website design and development gives us the ability to offer you broader solutions in website content, structure, and customer attraction. Contact us today at 21 6070 2930 or find us at Artemidos 1, Glyfada, to achieve all your business goals!