7 Reasons NOT to use Wordpress
1. Hacker Heaven
One of the most common issues seen with Wordpress is its proclivity to being hacked. This is because hackers are attracted to it like bees to honey... it’s open-source... they can see the code... they see how things work… how it is written... and they try to exploit it to their advantage.
Having your site hacked can not only hurt your bottom line, but is very unprofessional, and can get you banned on Google! Yes, google will block your site if you have a virus or redirects to spam sites on it! And once hacked.. There is no Wordpress development team you can contact to fix your problem. You are stuck finding an expensive programmer to help you or... trying to figure it out on your own on the Wordpress forums.
Although the Wordpress community is very active, the official wordpress support is represented by volunteer developers from all over the world, which does not always translate to good reliable support.
There are several plugins that can help with this issue but the plug-ins come with their own caveats as we will plug into below (pun intended haha!)
2. Plug-in Indigestion
Wordpress itself is a bare website skeleton. Developers use themes and plugins to make it look and work the way their customers want it to. Much like a Mr. Potato head whose pieces can come from many different places, shapes and sizes.. Wordpress becomes this monstrosity of a potato, mashed together to make a semblance of a human after thanksgiving dinner. What this means is that although you may be delighted by the outward appearance… behind the scenes is a mish-mash of duck-taped and hacked together pieces also termed a “Kludge”. Sound yummy?
Further…. these plugin and theme programmers don’t all communicate together to ensure every plugin and theme works seamlessly together. So you get compatibility issues. Like a baker trying to make a bacon vinegar layered cake.. The results are not exactly optimal or edible!!
3. MIA Programmers
Each wordpress plug-in is written by a different programmer, from a different part of the world. Sometimes they are very young individuals, sometimes they are full fledged companies, or just start-ups. So... what happens if that plug-in’s programmer decides to become a concert trombonist, or run off to Fiji to enjoy life on the beach?
Maybe the start-up runs out of money and decides they rather become house painters instead of programmers, or maybe they make it big, sell it and live happily ever after never looking at another plug-in…..
What do you do when something goes wrong on your site? You have to turn to a new programmer who has to learn what the previous person wrote and try to fix it. Sigh!!
4. All about that Base
The wordpress skeleton.. The base that all is built on.. updates itself periodically, or should be updated.. This is to try to keep up with technology, hackers and bugs.. And of course, the flavour fad of the month. So when you upgrade your version, which you will eventually have to do, or risk becoming hacker honey ..... You may find that your carefully built plug-in and theme sand castle crumbles upon it’s base!
5. It was meant to be a blog, let it be one!
If you are wanting a blog. Wordpress is THE best software to use, especially if you use zero to minimal plug-ins. However, the minute you want to create something more… you start taking a blog-Ferrari and trying to put SUV tires on it and have it pull a 24 foot trailer.... It starts to loose the amazingness it was built for.. And you start popping cylinders and burning way too much oil!
6. SEO Friendliness
Like 35% cream, Wordpress code is very “Heavy” on the search engine and browser system. This means your site can be sloooow to load, which is a huge Google ranking factor. The code is bloated like a kid on beans, which can hurt you in search engine rankings.
It’s also top heavy.. And not in a good way! The amount of code in the top 200-500 lines of the website forces your content to be pushed down. Search engine spider’s love reading about as much as most video game crazed teenagers do. Pushing your content and hence your keywords and what your site is about, so far down it can be damaging to your search engine reputation, causing you to rank lower than the Kardashians fall schedule.
7. Spread the SPAM!
As mentioned earlier, Wordpress was meant to be a blog posting system. Bloggers love comments, and Wordpress was designed to accommodate them. This makes it a magnet for automated spambots (yes, there is such a thing!), which love to spread their spam at every opportunity they get. Like Aunt Gertrude trying to force her fruitcake on you at Christmas, these spambots will find their way into the house even if you try to lock all the doors and disable comments.. They do this via what’s called a brute force attack, and they do it well!
In conclusion.. If you’re a Blogger.. Go crazy! Wordpress is the best platform out there for blogs. But if you are a business owner, then Caveat Emptor, your Wordpress site may look all pretty from the outside, but the inside is a ticking bomb of jumbled code ready to bring you down. And from 18+ years of making websites.. And dealing with clients on Wordpress.. It appears to happen at the exact moment they need it the most to close a very important deal, or handle an extensive marketing effort.
As in most things, you get what you pay for, and an open source solution, unless done by professionals that know how to optimize efficiency and minimize risk, is not a professional business solution.
