For any business small to medium sized, WordPress can be the best fit. I have turned myself into a SEO Specialist as well as SEO Consultant, primarily focused on being good WordPress Developer and implementing SEO best practices. A well built website, with some content update and addition works wonders in SEO in the long term.
On other hand, taking over someone’s work as a web developer can be daunting. I get so many queries from business owners who aren’t happy with their website after some Wordpress web design enthusiasts turned developers have ruined their website. I have stopped working on the website developed by other developers, so much so that my experiences have been really bad.
Here are some of the most frustrating sides of WordPress.
WordPress doesn’t get respect as CMS
My suggestion is to deal with WordPress like other expensive frameworks or CMS. Finish the WordPress web design and then develop the website. Go through developers for changes, if SEO is top priority.
One of the worst parts of WordPress as a CMS is that people expect everything to do by themselves. I am not saying it’s not doable, it is. This is the main reason why bloated themes and page builders are on the rise. But, the frustrating side is people have expectations of quality too including faster loading times, great Ui/UX and SEO rankings too.
When businesses opt to go for expensive frameworks and CMS, they have limited expectations when it comes to managing content or making changes visually. They are happy to go through agency or team, for design, development and implementation. But when it comes to WordPress, people expect everything to be done as easy as possible and as cheap as possible.
WordPress can be an amazing solution if chosen properly, and implemented by a good web developer. By default, WordPress has so many built-in SEO features, optimizing for SEO works like a breeze.
Web Designer working as WordPress Developer
Don’t get me wrong, if your website is not complex and you don’t need much customization, going with a web designer using WordPress themes can be of great values.
But, if you have advanced customization needed, choosing a web designer without a development background does more harm than good. There is a good chance your website will turn into a collection of plugins that will overload your website.
Let me illustrate this with an example. In my case, most of the websites I have built only use a maximum of 5 plugins including SEO plugin, Security plugin. But, I have seen websites with similar specifications using as much as 25 plugins. Let me discuss that next.
Using plugins for everything
There is a common misconception that using too many plugins harms website performance. It can be partly true but when it comes to plugins, quality matters more than quantity. If you use good quality plugins, your website will be alright but if you use bad quality plugins, that's where the issue begins.
As WordPress Developer the most frustrating thing is seeing plugins used for very minor functionalities. And also, keep on adding plugins for every need. This is where a website is exposed to vulnerabilities as well as performance issues. And, hence it will lead to lower rankings on SEO.
Using bloated themes
As an SEO Specialist and WordPress Developer, have I found a perfect theme for SEO? In short, the answer is NO.
But there are some good WordPress themes that are lightweight and SEO friendly. But the WordPress niche is so dominated by bigger brands with themes that are bloated, they barely get mentioned. People keep on those themes, but at the end when they can’t manage it, it causes a major loss to the business owners.
Conclusion
As an SEO Specialist and WordPress Developer, have I found a perfect theme for SEO? In short, the answer is NO. If SEO is not your priority for you and you want some basic site, there are lot of options. But if SEO and lead generation is top priority, hiring a seasoned WordPress Developer should be your priority.
