To those of you with websites, anyone using WordPress?

[Fred Weiss]

We're getting ready to totally redo our website and are about ready to pull the trigger on having it run on WordPress software. Who here is already using it? What is your level of satisfaction? Who are you using for hosting it? Pros and cons?

 

[mf11]

There's plenty of templates for WordPress is kind of easy to use I recommend to host in blue host and connect tor WordPress account there.

 

[ikarasu]

We use wordpress - It's ok if you just want a site up and running. You can't do the most advanced customization... but unless you're paying a web developer thousands of dollars a month, you're not going to anyways. If you're just hosting a basic website, or a website selling stuff, wordpress is fine. It's easy to learn

Do not use Godaddy - theyre over priced, and over saturated - Their server plans suck. We were paying $25 a month for their enhanced version... It took 5-10 seconds each click to change a setting, so I ended up swapping it over to the host I use... something like $30 a year. Hosting is cheap these days -

Take a look at - https://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4 Find a seller thats been around for 5+ years and has a bunch of good reviews, and you'll be safe. We use crocweb, Nothing but good things about them, been in the business for a long time... and Being a Canadian, going with a Canadian company was a no brainer. We paid $50 for 3 years (Their 80% off new year code still works, just tested it). cant complain about less than $2 a month for super fast domain hosting.

 

[Imperial Print]

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[Imperial Print]

We use wordpress - It's ok if you just want a site up and running. You can't do the most advanced customization... but unless you're paying a web developer thousands of dollars a month, you're not going to anyways. If you're just hosting a basic website, or a website selling stuff, wordpress is fine. It's easy to learn

Do not use Godaddy - theyre over priced, and over saturated - Their server plans suck. We were paying $25 a month for their enhanced version... It took 5-10 seconds each click to change a setting, so I ended up swapping it over to the host I use... something like $30 a year. Hosting is cheap these days -

Take a look at - https://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4 Find a seller thats been around for 5+ years and has a bunch of good reviews, and you'll be safe. We use crocweb, Nothing but good things about them, been in the business for a long time... and Being a Canadian, going with a Canadian company was a no brainer. We paid $50 for 3 years (Their 80% off new year code still works, just tested it). cant complain about less than $2 a month for super fast domain hosting.

Ikarasu - are you hosting an eCommerce site with a shopping cart through Crocweb? I just checked out the pricing and it looks great! I am currently using GoDaddy not really impressed.

 

[zspace]

We use WordPress and it works fine. Use what your developer likes to get the best results.

 

[Stallion Signs]

We use wordpress. Works great for our needs and if you can’t figure it out yourself there are plenty of “beginner” developers who will do it for you at a very good rate.
It also has the advantages of providing a lot of plug ins that can help with your site.
As for hosting, we use hostgator for one site and namecheap for another. I would recommend hostgator!

 

[ikarasu]

Ikarasu - are you hosting an eCommerce site with a shopping cart through Crocweb? I just checked out the pricing and it looks great! I am currently using GoDaddy not really impressed.

They do have e-commerce software, but we don't have it on our website. They are speedy though so there shouldn't be any problems with it. If you want to see the speed of it, check out www.astrographic.com - lots of videos and other stuff, very Un optimized for speed but is still pretty instant.

 

[OADesign]

We're getting ready to totally redo our website and are about ready to pull the trigger on having it run on WordPress software. Who here is already using it? What is your level of satisfaction? Who are you using for hosting it? Pros and cons?

+1 for Wordpress. A self-host Wordpress site is a great option. Based on my experience with it, a vanilla wp install may not offer all the security and functionality an online business might need (especially an established brand). You will need to stay on top of updates and compatibility for all your plugins/extensions/templates.
As I'm sure you know, WP is all open-source with many developers adding their contributions. They don't always mesh well with the other parts. Same as when that Denso aftermarket sensor doesn't work as well as the OEM Mazda part. I've had a site go down because one plugin, after a WP update, said plugin was no longer compatible. And to through salt in the wound, the developers of that plugin had moved on and abandoned the project. So then the hunt begins again to find a replacement, that plays well with the rest of the system.

The same applies to Wordpress themes/skins. Be careful when shopping around for themes for your site. Make sure it has active and continuing support from its developers. Also, don't get trapped into a particular theme because it has all these bells and whistles. Often those bells and whistles are built on hooks in Wordpress core code. WP drops an update or security patch and *click*... your high traffic site is serving your patrons hot fresh 404 page not founds.

As far as hosting, I've been using a managed VPS from knownhost.com (no shill). Responsive support and fair pricing. And the techs over there are nice guys. Rather than just telling you, "uh it's broken", the guys typically give lots of details on what broke down and why and suggest fixes and offer to implement the fixes for you is you are not comfortable with doing it yourself, To be clear, they are not fixing your Wordpress install. But will adjust things on the server that will let WP run properly.

There is also shopify.com. A paid solution, but might be a fit in your use case as they have robust e-commerce hosting and plugins/apps preset for things like payment gateways and digital downloads.

 

[funnyb0nz]

WordPress is great, look into a page builder with it. Elementor and Beaver Builder are the big two. If you want to see some of the sites we did, check out Flyhummel.com Apexfab.net AJDOORLLC.com just to name a few that we have done for customers. I own IT business, so been at this for long time, just getting into sign industry because I own a couple other business, and I like toys. So bought an Epson 40600, and plan on getting into wraps.
If you have any questions please feel free to PM me, if your going to run WordPress, look into Siteground for hosting. They do WordPress sites with quick response. I will forewarn you, be careful with all the plugins, they do help you make a nice site, however the more plugins the more of a chance you have of your site crashing when WordPress updates itself.
We do sites, so if you decide you don't want to tackle this we can talk and create you your website for you . Anyways good luck, and feel free to PM with any questions that you may have.

 

[Fred Weiss]

WordPress is great, look into a page builder with it. Elementor and Beaver Builder are the big two. If you want to see some of the sites we did, check out Flyhummel.com Apexfab.net AJDOORLLC.com just to name a few that we have done for customers. I own IT business, so been at this for long time, just getting into sign industry because I own a couple other business, and I like toys. So bought an Epson 40600, and plan on getting into wraps.
If you have any questions please feel free to PM me, if your going to run WordPress, look into Siteground for hosting. They do WordPress sites with quick response. I will forewarn you, be careful with all the plugins, they do help you make a nice site, however the more plugins the more of a chance you have of your site crashing when WordPress updates itself.
We do sites, so if you decide you don't want to tackle this we can talk and create you your website for you . Anyways good luck, and feel free to PM with any questions that you may have.

Thanks for the input. I have been looking at a lot of the hosting sites and have pretty much decided on Siteground. Most of the plugins I plan on using are from Easy Digital Downloads. I was surprised and pleased to see that they have a plugin for uploads and downloads to clients wanting custom work.

 

[Fred Weiss]

+1 for Wordpress. A self-host Wordpress site is a great option. Based on my experience with it, a vanilla wp install may not offer all the security and functionality an online business might need (especially an established brand). You will need to stay on top of updates and compatibility for all your plugins/extensions/templates.
As I'm sure you know, WP is all open-source with many developers adding their contributions. They don't always mesh well with the other parts. Same as when that Denso aftermarket sensor doesn't work as well as the OEM Mazda part. I've had a site go down because one plugin, after a WP update, said plugin was no longer compatible. And to through salt in the wound, the developers of that plugin had moved on and abandoned the project. So then the hunt begins again to find a replacement, that plays well with the rest of the system.

The same applies to Wordpress themes/skins. Be careful when shopping around for themes for your site. Make sure it has active and continuing support from its developers. Also, don't get trapped into a particular theme because it has all these bells and whistles. Often those bells and whistles are built on hooks in Wordpress core code. WP drops an update or security patch and *click*... your high traffic site is serving your patrons hot fresh 404 page not founds.

As far as hosting, I've been using a managed VPS from knownhost.com (no shill). Responsive support and fair pricing. And the techs over there are nice guys. Rather than just telling you, "uh it's broken", the guys typically give lots of details on what broke down and why and suggest fixes and offer to implement the fixes for you is you are not comfortable with doing it yourself, To be clear, they are not fixing your Wordpress install. But will adjust things on the server that will let WP run properly.

There is also shopify.com. A paid solution, but might be a fit in your use case as they have robust e-commerce hosting and plugins/apps preset for things like payment gateways and digital downloads.

Thanks for the feedback. Lots to look into.

 

[funnyb0nz]

Thanks for the feedback. Lots to look into.

Like I said if any questions feel free to PM me. I'll guide ya down the correct path.

 

[shoresigns]

You can get a site up and running easily with Wordpress, but customizing it is always going to be painful because there are too many options for themes and plugins. If you're planning to do it all yourself, I would 100x recommend Squarespace or Wix over Wordpress.

Squarespace and Wix do a far better job of making it easy for anyone to get a site online, working, and looking reasonably professional, without the help of a designer and a developer.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

You can get a site up and running easily with Wordpress, but customizing it is always going to be painful because there are too many options for themes and plugins. If you're planning to do it all yourself, I would 100x recommend Squarespace or Wix over Wordpress.

Squarespace and Wix do a far better job of making it easy for anyone to get a site online, working, and looking reasonably professional, without the help of a designer and a developer.

I like WIX

 

[bannertime]

I like Wix, and used it for my own website. We're currently rebuilding in Wordpress and it looks and feels 100x better already.I've tried other solutions, even going so far as to using Muse and Dreamweaver. Wordpress makes it easy. I host my own stuff with Veerotech. Have used Gandi, Dreamhost, Blue Genesis, Godaddy, and some others, but Veerotech is pretty easy and competitively priced. One of the plans comes with a WHCMS portal that makes selling websites/hosting super easy.

 

[funnyb0nz]

You can get a site up and running easily with Wordpress, but customizing it is always going to be painful because there are too many options for themes and plugins. If you're planning to do it all yourself, I would 100x recommend Squarespace or Wix over Wordpress.

Squarespace and Wix do a far better job of making it easy for anyone to get a site online, working, and looking reasonably professional, without the help of a designer and a developer.

What is your website, I will run some test against it and see how it does for SEO. SquareSpace and WIX put you as extension off their website on their servers. It just helps them build their brand, vs building yours.

 

[Fred Weiss]

What is your website, I will run some test against it and see how it does for SEO. SquareSpace and WIX put you as extension off their website on their servers. It just helps them build their brand, vs building yours.

My current website is https://www.allcompu.com. It runs on a package named Photostore. The author of Photostore abandoned supporting the app and at this point is not stable beyond PHP 5.4 which is obsolete, unsupported and vulnerable, so I am faced with rebuilding it with something that will perform the same functions while it also enjoys a profitable customer base to insure a well supported future. The only software I have come across that looks like it is up to the task (and then some) is a WordPress group of plugins named Easy Digital Downloads.

Making the changeover looks like it will end up being $600 to $1,000 just for software and a couple of man months of my time. WordPress, page builders and lots of plugins are free but that seems to be for personal type sites. Doing a pro level site has its costs. My purpose in starting this thread is to make sure my conclusions are accurate and that no surprises or alternatives have gone unnoticed. My understanding of SquareSpace and WIX, as well as Shopify are that they do not offer solutions that begin to approach what Easy Digital Downloads can provide me. I hope I'm not wrong about EDD.

 

[shoresigns]

What is your website, I will run some test against it and see how it does for SEO. SquareSpace and WIX put you as extension off their website on their servers. It just helps them build their brand, vs building yours.

That's not true, unless you're running as a subdomain like yoursigncompany.squarespace.com instead of yoursigncompany.com. Hardly anyone does the former, and most do the latter. As long as you're using your own domain, Google doesn't care whose servers you're running on, except as it relates to page loading speed.

And we're not on Squarespace or Wix at the shop here. I just have other experience with them – Squarespace in particular, but they're both great options for small businesses. I'd say in most cases better than Wordpress.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

We use WordPress for our business site and I also use it for my personal site. I like the ease of use for my personal site. I don't need bells and whistles, so WP is perfect for me. I tried WIX a few years ago and it just didn't work for me.

For the business site, we use Divi to create and maintain. It's super easy; kinda like drag and drop the bits you want and then add your own content.

https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/