Wordpress Versus HTML-- Which one is better for small business websites???

Thought I'd take a shot at this...

I'd ask whether or not the business owner plans on taking over day to day management.

Obviously HTML is harder for the average joe to keep up to date, but if the site is to just act as a brochure then either is ok.

Wordpress is easier....once you understand what you're looking at.

Its flexible and is easy to update content on the fly.

It all depends...., but overall I'd imagine wordpress is going to be your easier sell...at least for the small biz folks.

Hope that was a bit helpful.

Regards

Los

WHEN IS EASY NOT ENOUGH?

In recent days I have been blind sided with questions such as this. I have a friend that is moving into a new business, away from the small $20 stuff and into big $3000 stuff. He sent me a link to his site so I could "Look at it" for him. I did. It honestly took me 3 hours to figure out how to write him back.

I looked at all of his competitors sites, I looked at his site, back and forth over and over. His site was a basic Word Press site, his competitors... HTML5 CSS3 every single one of them in the top 20 of any search term I could think of. What do you tell a person in that situation? The bottom line in his case... easy was not enough.

Word Press in my mind has a purpose, a function... its a blogging platform. If your clients would use that aspect of the design, I would say go for it. If your client wants your basic static place holder, then html is the way to go. ( I call these static sites online business cards ) Easier 9 times out of 10 does not mean better.

There are many reasons for saying that. Myself as a web designer, I design. I match what I know to work, with what the customer wants. In a visual display the customer is happy with, and that I know will give the customer the results they want. This is the essence of my job.

I understand SEO. I study SEO till I'm blue in the face sometimes. It is ever changing... but keep in mind the more things change the more they stay the same. The time I spend studying SEO is not for what has changed, but what is staying the same. Developing SEO on the constants, and staying away from the adjustable factors has been one of keys to my web design success.

An example of an adjustable. Google's new found love for Video. Its a great wave. However, Understanding that with every great wave there is an even larger crash, as that wave hits the beach leaving tons of people stranded on some deserted island. Videos are outranking all kinds of sites. You cant tell me that a video has THAT MUCH content. The crash is coming, it has to come.

ok so back to my point I can show you case studies after case study, including my own personal A/B testing, that will show you that HTML vs. Word Press is a no brainer in the world of SEO. HTML wins every time hands down. It boils down to the structure and how they are designed. You can give word Press the SEO plug-in, but it places the most basic elements ( Title tag, Keyword tag, description tag ) 30 - 60 lines below where they would be on an html site. And that is IF you are using a SEO plug-in, you are straight up out of luck if you are not.

SO Being a web designer, what is my job? It is to produce results. Those results in the offline world are to bring people in to the store. To get new found customers using online methods, To spread the news of "Store A" to lands far and wide, and locally. To broaden my customers reach.

You can use a tool that may not fit their needs but its easy. Or you can use a tool that will get you overall better results. Which would you use?

Hope that Helps!

<-- ill be over there cowering in the corner after writing that one.

I honestly don't know why you would build a website that isn't wordpress unless: 1 a high volume commerce shop, 2 a single page landing page, 3 you want to say you are better than all the people that build with wordpress.

There are just so many plugins that you could spend hours upon hours of coding and a lot of your client's money trying to duplicate.

Yes that is exactly what it does, but it is HOW it does it, that is the difference.

SEO is a mathematical equation. Wordpress does what it does, and then you add the plug-ins etc. It places certain variables to the SEO equation in what I would consider odd places.

What are odd places? well if you use Yoast as an example. The "Title" "Description" and "keywords" tag appear somewhere near line 40 or so. With Html, I or any other programmer is going to place these same pieces in around line 4 or so.

SEO uses a determination based on X,Y axis as to determine weight of a variable. A "Title" tag on line 4 will out weight a "title" tag on line 40. A title with the keyword all the way to the left will out weight one all the way to the right.

Using wordpress if you DO NOT use Yoast or an equal, you will not have the "Keyword" and "Description' tag at all. Its kinda like insult to injury.

Again, I am not against WordPress at all, for what it does it does well. However, if you are using this to get traffic to make money, it really may not be the tool for you!

Hope That Helps!

It's a total joke if you don't read how the OP started the thread. Given that, the Wordpress vote doesn't seem 'wrong' to me.

Disclosure: I'm not a web designer but a small business owner involved in marketing. I've built both kinds myself (though not many and I'm not good at making either kind look really good... even if I start with a good-looking template).

You ask a bunch of republicans whether a democrat or republican president would be best for the country, what kind of response do you think you will get? And vice verse.

When 99% of the people on this forum use wordpress, for most of those people that's all they know and of course they'll say wordpress.

1) You don't have to know how to program any server side language. 2) You definitely do not have to be a master at any "front end language."

Don't scare people into thinking WP is your only option if you want something more than "basic."

You can find almost anything you would like to add to your site online, and you know what usually comes with those plugins? Directions. That's right.

Is it a little more difficult and offer a greater learning curve? Damn right. More experience necessary? Yepp. Does SOME knowledge of the scripts or programming help? Most definitely.

I can't program any other language than HTML/CSS, but I can go and find almost anything more than "basic" online and implement it into one of my existing websites. But yes it's not always easy and can be challenging. But it's fun and it actually teaches you more about web design and development. But I know lets all just sell WP themes to businesses at stupid prices and act like we're professional web designers.

I'm not saying you can find everything you need online, of course there are things that may need to be built custom. But to have more than a "basic" website, by no mean requires knowing how to program in those languages. If you know how to build a website and know HTML/CSS then editing other languages shouldn't be too difficult.

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