During some recent discussions with a fellow entrepreneur, the topic somehow turned to TV shows that we both enjoy, and one show that was brought up was MythBusters. There’s nothing like watching a team led by two likable guys use science to debunk some common myths that everybody has heard about.
However, that made me think: Just how many common WordPress myths are there? After a quick look on some online forums — and, of course, drawing inspiration from my own experience as a WordPress development agency owner — I came to the conclusion that there are many WordPress myths going around.
With the purpose of helping those who are just starting their WordPress journey, I composed a list of the top 10 most common WordPress myths and debunked them.
1. Making a website with WordPress is free. The core WordPress software is free to download and use, and there are even a great handful of plug-ins and themes that you can use. However, WordPress is not entirely free, and if you want a well-built website, then you will have to invest in features like premium plug-ins and themes. If you want a professionally done website, you will need to hire a team of developers to work on it.
For yearly website maintenance, we find that companies pay between 50% and 70% of the amount they initially spent on building it in the first place.
2. WordPress is just a blogging tool. Although it initially started as a platform for blogging, WordPress grew exponentially from its starting days. Now, the CMS can be used to build platforms such as e-commerce websites, job boards, business websites, portfolios, directories, membership websites, and online forums.
3. You can’t build online stores with WordPress. With the right modifications, you can pretty much build anything with WordPress, including an e-commerce website (or online store). For an e-commerce platform, the very first thing that you will need is the WooCommerce plug-in, which is used by 28% of all online stores worldwide, with over 30 million downloads so far.
4. WordPress can’t offer you support. Although the free version of WordPress doesn’t come with a live chat support option, there are several plans that have this feature. However, even if you can’t access chat support, WordPress offers support documentation and a support forum that you can use whenever you need help.
Besides these options, there are also plenty of blogs and YouTube channels that you can access at any time.
5. You need to know to code to use WordPress. Although some coding knowledge or experience is beneficial, it is not required in order to start a website with WordPress. There are pre-made plug-ins and themes that you can use, and the vast majority of functions are labeled thoroughly. A good idea would be to explore your website’s menu and see what each button does.
6. WordPress websites are not secure. No matter the CMS, every single website can suffer from malware and hacker attacks. This is why WordPress is continuously coming up with updates that make its platform better and more secure. You can also increase the security of your own website through various plug-ins such as iThemes Security or services like Sucuri.
7. WordPress is just for startups and small businesses. Because of its accessibility, WordPress is ideal for startups or small businesses that can’t invest in their website right away. With the free resources that it offers and the multitude of tutorials found online, anybody can build a reliable website.
However, WordPress also allows users to build complex websites, which are perfect for bigger businesses. In fact, businesses such as NBC News, TechCrunch, The New York Times, and TED Blog used WordPress to create websites that are visited by thousands, if not millions, of internet users daily.
8. You can use as many plug-ins as you like. Plug-ins help us build our websites by offering them specialized features (for example, with WooCommerce you get secure payments and shipping integration) and optimizing them with better designs, higher security, etc. However, too many plug-ins can do the opposite. The maximum number of WordPress plug-ins we recommend for a website is between 20 and 30.
9. WordPress isn’t SEO-friendly. To have good SEO means to achieve a top spot in Google’s search engine rankings. This ultimately translates to more website visits and more potential customers. When it comes to SEO, WordPress offers a large number of SEO plug-ins, and it can make even the most basic SEO practices easy to achieve.
10. You can do everything on your own. By now, we know that WordPress is user-friendly and is great for entrepreneurs just starting their business journey. We also know that WordPress works for bigger businesses that require more complex websites.
The more complex your website is and the more traffic it gets, the more you need a team of web developers to maintain and fix any issues that might appear. If your website is growing, consider looking for a good web development agency.
Conclusion
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by every single myth that pops up on the internet. However, when it comes to WordPress, there are so many resources out there that it’s effortless to see whether the things we hear are true or not. If you’re not sure, you can always ask an expert web developer to set things straight.
Article originally published on Forbes.com
If you need help navigating between WordPress facts and myths we recommend hiring a WordPress maintenance agency for your business.
