What Is the Best Way to Build a WordPress Website?

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) available today, and it’s not hard to see why. The platform offers a variety of features that make it easy for anyone to build a fully functional website in no time at all, and it’s probably the most accessible CMS for beginners because it offers everything they need in the box. However, this ease of use also makes it a little less secure than some other platforms, so you should take some extra precautions if you’re planning on running a business or professional website on WordPress.

The Good

Let’s start with the positive aspects of WordPress, shall we?

  • It’s free.
  • It’s incredibly easy to use.
  • It has almost everything you need, including a drag-and-drop builder that makes it super-simple to put together a fully functioning website.
  • The community is incredibly supportive, so if you ever get stuck or need some help, there’s a chance that someone will have solved your problem already.
  • WordPress is completely open source, which means that it’s completely free and it allows anyone to view the code and contribute to its development.
  • WordPress is also extremely popular, which makes it a lot easier to get support should you need it.

Now, for the bad.

  • It’s not as secure as some other content management systems. You might want to consider using a premium WordPress hosting plan that offers added protection, more storage, and more features.
  • WordPress is quite popular, which means there’s a chance that your website may be targeted by cyber-criminals. Consider taking additional security measures to prevent hacking.
  • Because WordPress is so popular, a lot of scammers may attempt to trick or trick you into giving them your account details. Although this is unlikely, it’s still a possibility. Be careful when filling out any forms on other websites, whether they’re related to your WordPress account or not.
  • WordPress is regularly updated, which means you’ll need to continuously update your website to keep it fresh. This can be a hassle if you’re not tech-savvy or you just want to maintain a blog.

To put it simply, if you’re looking for a platform that’s easy to use and understand, but you also want to secure your website and prevent it from being hacked, you may want to consider choosing another platform.

Recommended CMS

Now, let’s move on to the recommended content management system (CMS) for building business websites. If you have a look at our comparison of the best CMS platforms, you’ll see that WordPress is not even listed there because it’s not a CMS, it’s a publishing platform.

However, although WordPress is a fantastic solution for beginners because they offer everything you need in the box, it’s not the only one. There are other popular platforms that offer an all-in-one solution for those looking for a simple and straightforward way to get a business website up and running.

For example, Shopify is a fantastic solution because it allows you to build a fully functioning online store in no time at all. The platform is very similar to WordPress in that it is absolutely free, open source, and incredibly easy to use. What’s more is that it also offers a wide variety of eCommerce related features, such as shipping, billing, and customer management.

If all of this sounds good to you, but you’re still wondering whether or not WordPress is the right choice for your needs, you should consider checking out the Shopify tutorial, which we’ll link to below.

Security

If you’re still wondering whether or not to use WordPress, the last thing you need is more confusion. We already talked about some of the security risks associated with running a business website on WordPress, but it’s important to remember that this platform is also incredibly popular, which makes it a bit more vulnerable to attacks. This is why it’s important to take some time to secure your WordPress account.

There are several ways to protect your WordPress website from being hacked or having its content posted on social media sites without your permission. You can:

  • Set up a good defence against robots and spiders that crawl your site (robots.txt)
  • Set up a CAPTCHA to prevent spam
  • Use a VPN to encrypt your traffic, prevent data leakage, and maintain privacy

As you can see, there are lots of ways to ensure your WordPress website is as safe and secure as possible, so you don’t have to worry about being hacked. Now, you may want to consider using a premium WordPress hosting plan that offers these kinds of features.

Update Frequency

Another factor that can make or break your WordPress website is its update frequency. This refers to how frequently the developers update the platform, so if you want to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and features, you’ll need to update your website often. Unfortunately, this can be quite a chore, especially if you’re not tech-savvy.

This is why many websites choose to update their content manually when new posts are published. Unfortunately, this can leave your site vulnerable to hackers and malware because it allows them to post unauthenticated scripts to your site that you don’t know about or didn’t intend to have there. In other words, anything that’s posted to your site without your permission is up for grabs by hackers.

To avoid this, you can either hire someone to update your site for you, or you can sign up for a premium WordPress hosting plan that automatically updates your site when new content is published.

Cost

Last but not least, we have cost. When you compare the cost of a premium WordPress hosting plan against the cost of a traditional shared hosting plan, you’ll see that the former is way more expensive. Naturally, this doesn’t mean that you have to break the bank to run a successful business website on WordPress, but if cost is a concern, then Shopify is your answer. As we already established, Shopify provides a fully functioning eCommerce store, shipping, and CRM (customer management) in one convenient package.

Now, if you don’t want to go the eCommerce route, you can build a simple blog on WordPress and use the platform’s free hosted services to save money. In fact, we recommend this option for those looking to get started quickly and affordably.