In 2011 When would you NOT use Wordpress?

by Mike Anthony

Posted: 13 years ago 32 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

First let me say I love and use wordpress on many of my sites. I also use other content management systems when it suits. There are some great easy systems that have all kinds of features that wordpress can't touch. some are even eaiser than wordpress.

(thats right)

After all they always say no one tool fits every job except.......

I notice that in IM one of the first things people ask when they see a feature that could really help their online business, make them money, streamline their sales/SEO/networking etc is

Will that work with Wordpress?

If the answer is no it seems that they will just walk away. No wordpress no go. Doesn't matter how great the thing will be to their business. Help me with some market research if you have the time.

When would you not use Wordpress? What feature would make you use something else? Or is IM a strictly Wordpress world?

Not really asking why people like Wordpress. I already know. ease of use, multiple plugins etc. More a question of when is there place for something else (there are CMs out there with ton loads of plugins and features as well).

Let me know.
EDIT: Okay based on many of the responses so far I'll state when I don't use wordpress.

I don't use wordpress when I am building a small social network (and i do that for list building). Buddypress and Mingle are extremely limiting.

I don't use wordpress when I want to add alot lof link bait features for SEO. yes directories and all kinds of things can be added to wordpress but some of them suck.

I really don't use wordpress when I want to be able to move things around and put them right where I want to put them. I know I could buy templates with options but they too are limiting.

See thats what I kind of looking for . Not why people use Wordpress but when they wouldn't use it.

#2011 #wordpress

Cataclysm1987

13 years ago

Well, no. There is no real competition for Wordpress.

Wordpress is like the Google of open source CMS's. Would you search using Bing? I wouldn't.

Even though they have great features, their algorithm isn't as efficient and they don't have nearly as many sites and pages in their index. So why use them?

I suppose you could try Joomla or Droopal.

You could also try searching with Yahoo. Ew.

Wordpress=top dog in open source CMS. Just read this to see why:

WordPress › WordPress Wins CMS Award

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M Thompson

13 years ago

There will always be people who don't like mainstream products simply because they are mainstream, and that is exactly what WP is now..

So yes you could use Joomla or something else but last time I used joomla is wasn't nearly as user friendly as WP.

You could use xsite pro

Why be contrairian just for the sake of it... If you like wp stick to it it does everything you need and you can get support for it, it's simple to use... and keeping it simple is one of the secrets to success

Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987

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Michael Shook 13 years ago

IM has not always been a WP world, there were lots of things that people used to use like XSP and minisite templates, and you can still use those.

If your goal is to put out sites that look OK and spend most of your time promoting, I don't know why peopl ewould not use WP.

Folks have tried to create alternate CMS's but if you use them to crate your money sites, you ar ealways at the mercy of the software developers if they want to raise your licensing fee or decide that updating their software is not worth their time anymore.

That idea of being held hostage has always kept me from using stuff like Kajabi. Not that anyone would plan on doing that when they put out their software to begin, but sometime things just happen and people want to move on to other projects and just let their old ones go.
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Mike Anthony

13 years ago

Originally Posted by M Thompson

Why be contrairian just for the sake of it... If you like wp stick to it it does everything you need and you can get support for it, it's simple to use... and keeping it simple is one of the secrets to success

I've updated the OP. I really wasn't talking about being contrary for the sake of it. I do some developing and I really have found that wordpress is not good for every situation. at least for me.

Someone brought up kajabi? Forget the price for a while and the fact you have no control over it. If it were open source could you really achieve EVERYTHING in Wordpress. yes I know you can do quite a bit with Optimize press but not everything. Frankly sometimes I've looked at a project and realized that I would spend hundreds of dollars just for the privilige of getting it to work in wordpress the way it would in another application for much less. Wordpress might be free but the plugins aren't.

Its a bit fascinating to me. I don't know of any offline product where people lock in and say they would never use anything else under any circumstance so I am trying to get to the bottom of why this is so. Like I said in the OP I already know people think that - just trying to figure out for myself and from a business standpoint if it really is worthless proposing anything else.

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Mike Anthony 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987

Well, no. There is no real competition for Wordpress.

For any and everything? I'm trying to understand this a bit more. Standard in web building business is the statement that "nothing is the best its just what the best for you is". SO doesn't it depend on needs?
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DogScout 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987

Would you search using Bing? I wouldn't.

In fact, most times I find what exactly I am looking for on page one of Bing and takes me to page 4 or 5 to find anything equally helpful lately on the 'G'.

Just saying,,,
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JoshuaZamora 13 years ago

I love wordpress.. The only other thing I use is html site when i need to get a simple quick page up before switching to wp.
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hashbury 13 years ago

I dont like using wp for shopping cart sites, membership sites or one page sites.
I have a few differernt scripts I use for shopping carts and I can do way more with them than wp.
Same goes for the membership sites.
Sometimes I will build a one page landing site to test traffic and niches and find it easier to just code it than to setup a copy of wordpress.
Everything else I use wordpress for.
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- JohnMcCabe 13 years ago
  
  Mike, I believe in using the right tool for the job. And many times, Wordpress is just overkill. Setting up WP, with MySQL database and plugins, for a static website is like driving upholstery nails with an 8# sledge.
  
  Same with a two-page squeeze site.
  
  If you want to set up a forum, set up a forum.
  
  If you want a directory site, set up a directory site.
  
  Yes, you can contort WP into all of these, but why?
  
  A related question I have is why people try to do everything with plugins when a standalone script and a few lines of code in a template would be far more efficient.
  
  For example, if you can copy/paste your Google Analytics code into a plug in, why can't you paste it into your footer.php file?
  
  I guess the short answer to your question is, I'd not use Wordpress if it wasn't the best tool for the job. Even when it is, I look for ways to do things without having to add yet another plugin...
  
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Vikram73

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

Not really asking why people like Wordpress. I already know. ease of use, multiple plugins etc. More a question of when is there place for something else (there are CMs out there with ton loads of plugins and features as well).

Let me know.

A good example for me is a Clickbank product I have listed. Getting the layout, sales page (long drawn out sales letter) and all that stuff integrated into it via Wordpress would have been a PITA.

This site has a sitename/blog URL which is Wordpress and I just use it for blog updates but the site itself is not Wordpress.

What's most important is you have a site that is appealing for users to look at.

-Vikram

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Trivum

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

I don't use wordpress when I am building a small social network (and i do that for list building). Buddypress and Mingle are extremely limiting.

I don't use wordpress when I want to add alot lof link bait features for SEO. yes directories and all kinds of things can be added to wordpress but some of them suck.

I really don't use wordpress when I want to be able to move things around and put them right where I want to put them. I know I could buy templates with options but they too are limiting.

What do you use in these situations?

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Mike Anthony 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Trivum

What do you use in these situations?

Joomla and Elgg (both open source just like wordpress)
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donhx

13 years ago

Joomla is superior to WP in many ways. WP has just recently (since about v 2.6) grown up from being a blogging tool to become more of a CMS. Joomla was designed as a CMS and has huge 3rd party support. There are blogging modules for Joomla if you wish to add that functionality.

Joomla is more sophisticated, flexible and hearty as a CMS platform. It's fairly easy to use, too. However, I expect WP will continue to be popular for a long time because it is simple and has greater functionality than ever before.

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Mike Anthony

13 years ago

Originally Posted by donhx

Joomla is more sophisticated, flexible and hearty as a CMS platform. It's fairly easy to use, too. However, I expect WP will continue to be popular for a long time because it is simple and has greater functionality than ever before.

I'd agree with much of that but Joomla out of the box is not quite as user friendly. The thing I think many miss is just as you can modify wordpress you can modify Joomla and make it more user friendly. So out of the normal box its not as user friendly but there are mods that make it much more easy to use. Plus some of the complexity is just Joomla doing more in which case you can just ignore those features

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Ron Douglas 13 years ago

I don't use Wordpress if I'm expecting a surge of traffic like in a product launch. Wordpress uses more bandwidth than a standard HTML page because of the database queries.
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kindsvater 13 years ago

Definitely moving away from using WordPress. So much time is lost updating, updating and more updating. That wouldn't be a problem for just 1 site.

On the other hand, html is set and forget.
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Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

In 2011 When would you NOT use Wordpress?

When there's an "r" in the month. (It might not be so bad between May and August.)
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- Mike Anthony 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Alexa Smith
  
  When there's an "r" in the month. (It might not be so bad between May and August.)
  
  Always the smarty pants
  
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unikk 13 years ago

wordpress is cool but i think i will not use it a lot in 2011
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HelpfulHannah 13 years ago

I plan on using wordpress for every site I create in 2011.

Squeeze pages - YES!
Membership Sites - YES!
Sales page - YES!
Mini sites - YES!
Landing Pages - YES!

Forums - ummm No ;-)

Hope that helps,
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magiclouie 13 years ago

So far, I am very much satisfied with Wordpress. Of course, I am open to any fresh tools and platforms too.
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Bicycle Cat 13 years ago

When wouldn't you use WordPress? I struggle to think up a situation where WordPress is not suitable for the job, unless you need some sort of highly customised website for a large company with all the bells and whistles.
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drmani 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

Not why people use Wordpress but when they wouldn't use it.

Actually, though I LOVE Wordpress, I don't use it for anything
other than to power my blogs!

* Niche minisites - I use hand-coded static HTML pages
* Sales letters - again, HTML coded static pages
* Squeeze pages - static pages, once more
* Forums - stand-alone installations of PhpBB or vbulletin

Yet all of these CAN be hacked into a WP install, or done with plug-ins.

My primary reason is that it takes too long to tweak a WP blog to look just
the way I want it to - while a static HTML page is quick and easy to slap up
in a moment, esp. when working with templates, and there's no database
to worry about updating, protecting, monitoring for hack attacks/abuse, and
more.

I may be in the minority, though... but you did ask when I would NOT use
Wordpress

All success
Dr.Mani
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- Manic Marketer 13 years ago
  
  Couldn't agree more, Dr. Mani.
  
  Like you, I find Wordpress to be very limited in the ability to achieve anything like the design I wish to achieve.
  
  I can design and upload a static HTML site with WYSIWYG, exactly to my requirements, in a very short time.
  
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Bruce NewMedia 13 years ago

Agree with Dr. Mani....WP is OK for blogs, but not my choice for anything else.

I don;t find WP easy to begin with, the updates are a hassle, and if you are the least bit of designer (which I am) it is too frustrating to get a page to look the way i want it to look.

I could design 3 html sites in the time it takes to tinker with a WP site....just my opinion.
_____
Bruce
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kyleph 13 years ago

if Google ban wordpress LOL, Old Habit hard to die.
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rising_sun Banned 13 years ago

No way...man.....
WordPress. cannot be stopped in using...
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paulie888 13 years ago

Short answer - squeeze pages and sales letters, especially when there are good templates out there which fit your requirements. A WP site takes up more space than a simple html template, and this can slow page load times especially if you're getting heavy traffic to your site.
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Barry Unruh 13 years ago

For anyone arguing Wordpress can and should be used for everything I have a simple question.

If tomorrow there was an announcement about a security hole in Wordpress which could not be easily closed, might take months, could you adjust your business quickly?

What if tomorrow an upgrade to Wordpress breaks the templates you have come to love, know backwards and forwards, and you have to either stay behind, or change everything again?

I know both of those scenarios are unlikely, but it is always a good idea to learn other technologies which can be used to accomplish your goals. Taking the time to learn Joomla or Drupal will not kill you, and will expand your capabilities.

Learning to create simple static webpages using a good quality design program is easy and fun, plus will help you create pages which load much faster increasing your readers enjoyment, and your performance scores with Google.

I enjoy Wordpress as much as the rest of you, but I always consider the intent of the site first. I like Wordpress for sites which are going to be filled with articles and written content.

For other purposes which can be done more efficiently with a static page I will go that direction. It just makes better sense. (Besides, it is really not learning anything you may not need in Wordpress anyways. If you are going to be a Wordpress master you will need to know a little bit about HTML and CSS for customization.)

Back to the original point of the post, I would not use it for:

Squeeze Pages (I will add a sign-up box to a post, or to the sidebar, but for a squeeze page, no way.)

Product Landing Pages (I will use it for an affiliate offer landing page which is surrounded by content to draw traffic.)

Shopping Carts - You've got to be kidding, right? Talk about doubling up your server load. (Pay now buttons - Yes, Shopping Carts - No)

A Forum/Blog Combo - Hmmmmm...You might want to take a look at the motor underneath the Warrior Forum instead of trying to put a square peg into a round hole. If you have not noticed you can have a blog right here on the WF.

The post which confuses me the most is Alexa. I have never been able to plan ahead well enough myself to choose to only use certain tools in months without an R. I always prefer to work my schedules according to days ending with Y.
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King Shiloh Banned 13 years ago

I would not use it when it eventually goes down like Skype did last week. Why?

I was not be able to use Skype though I wanted to.

There were times I wanted to use the Warrior Forum but I couldn't not because I didn't want to use the forum but because the forum didn't want me to use it.

So, I would not use WP in 2011 when it refuses to accept my login info.
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Gary King 13 years ago

Similar to Dr. Mani and Paulie, I use it for blogs and an occasional site.

Otherwise, pure html/css for me - lets me have more design control for things.

Have a great day!

Gary
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Dave Rodman Banned 13 years ago

I wouldn't use WP for an e-commerce site.
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