Wordpress is great... Well it is but you can be in danger of taking your eye off the ball while you learn how to set it up and keep it running. What happens when the person in control of the system leaves... OMG mayhem!!
WordPress the undisputed King!
Wordpress is super popular powering over 60 million websites. Written in PHP and MySQL it’s robust and proven, having been around since 2003 when it was first released by founders Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little.
Back in those days, finding a web platform with a decent CMS (Content Management System) for a low set-up cost was near impossible. Stream at the time was using an early version of streamSWEET to do the same thing but we weren’t giving it away for free. We chose to charge a small license fee combined with a hosting fee and still do that to this day.
Is WordPress for you?
Today the picture is quite different from that of 2003.There are dozens of cheap or free systems available, the likes of Wix.com, Squarespace.com, Weebly.com… too many to list! They all do a professional job of creating stylish websites without you needing to learn any programming, these systems also have the advantage of not having to install anything onto a server.
Most web host companies these days will make this step easier for you by having a pre-installed site ready to go. You need to do your research to find a partner that will take care of all the version updates, security, back-ups, even plugin vetting, so that you can spend more time on your website content.
Pros
- Free Open-Source
- Highly configurable
- Fast to deploy
- Plugins for everything
(roughly 55,000 and counting)
- Built for Blogs
- Supported in over 80 languages
- Huge community support groups
- Themes are free or cheap, and are always being updated to the most modern trends
(Go to ThemeForest to see more than 11,000 examples)
- Lots of people skilled in using WordPress are available for hire
(like with most things, finding a good one is not always easy)
Cons
- You need a server to install and host it on
- Keeping the updates current can be a big hassle
(on average major version releases happen every 152 days)
- 40,000+ plugins is way too many
- You pay for plugins, these can mount up and add to overall monthly costs
- Helpdesk can be slow
(be prepared to use online forums & blogs for support)
- Bloated code can make it slow
- Complicated CMS
- Can be targeted by Malware
Do you really want to be a WordPress Pro?
Running a WordPress site is not for everyone. Be prepared to put in the time and effort to do it well, remember your website is crucial to your online success. If you'd rather concentrate on improving your business operations, increasing sales and profits, leave it to the professionals.
Need help moving from WordPress to a new platform?
We can help you through that journey. Check out this case study where we did just that.
WordPress FAQs
help
Does Stream develop or support WordPress websites?
No we don't, we build on our own system which is totally different to WordPress.
help
I’ve just spent my budget building a new WordPress site. If I get Stream to rebuild my site, can any of it be reused?
If you really like your current design, our design team can convert a lot of the existing ‘look’ over to our system. There may be some compromises but generally we can get most of it working as expected.
To see an example check out this site that we converted.
help
What about plugins, can these be used in your system?
No we don’t support WordPress 3rd Party Plugins. We do however have a lot of similar web apps that can do the same job. Like MAIL our email / newsletter product or SHOP for online purchasing. We have useful tools for Blogging, news, galleries etc but unlike WordPress we can actually build anything you want or configure streamSWEET to do almost anything.