WordPress, as it’s meant to be, isn’t usually the cause of major problems or it wouldn’t power 25% of all websites but many sites mutate into something almost unrecognisable so they groan under layers and layers of bloated code that’s hard to dig through. That’s what happens when you buy a theme from Themeforest or other theme marketplaces; you get an amazing-looking site but figuring out how to make it look like that great demo you saw before you bought it is often a steep learning curve and is why most of the features you liked then are rarely used now – it’s a world of pain and the whole project works out far more costly than was anticipated given the £30 or so initial investment. Given enough time to start a WordPress website using good clean code and a solid framework like Genesis which I use, then you can have almost any layout that your customer visualises and WordPress will serve them very well as it does for the New York Times and SonyMusic.com etc. The ease of use and the SEO benefits far outstrip the DIY website builders like Wix or even a bespoke (homemade) design that only the original developer can really understand and edit. Going down that route, it’s hard to find help should you get stuck or run out of time and the website will never fully belong to the customer because it will need feeding with too much external support. That’s how Windows has survived for so long! If there’s money in the pot for a design/IT dept. then that’s fine but if you want a website to make money then the easiest way to make more money is to spend less of it!
I see it a lot like building your own car… enthusiastic and skilful you might be, but hardly anybody else really bothers to do it because they can find a better, cheaper, shinier and warrantied car for sale on any garage forecourt. Hmm… Sad but true.
