Why invest on a good website (instead of WordPress templates)?

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Your website is the basis of all your Web marketing. Every ad you make on the Internet should send your clients directly to your website. That's why it's important not to hesitate to invest in your website, because if you don't, you might regret it later on. So if you're planning on investing alot of money in Web marketing, you better think again before picking the cheap solution for your website.

WordPress' attraction (and problems)

At first glance, having a WordPress website might seem tempting. I mean, who doesn't want a nice website with cool animations that doesn't cost a fortune? You're even able to update it by yourself! So what's the problem?

Actually, there's more than one...

WordPress' lack of security

First of all, it's not that all WordPress websites aren't secure, it's that the vast majority of WordPress sites aren't updated, which makes them prime targets for hackers. 

You're probably telling yourselves that all you have to do is make sure your website is always up-to-date and the problem's solved, right? 

Well, not exactly...

Most websites that aren't up-to-date aren't that way because they forgot, but because most of them aren't able to do it anymore. Whether it's because a specific plugin used isn't secure or because a personnalization prevents it from being updated, millions of websites are stuck with their security holes and, since they use the most popular CMS on the Web, it isn't surprising when hackers end up infecting those websites.

It's just common sense that hackers attack those websites (Google confirms they're the most hacked websites), because for them, it makes much more sense to attack a CMS with hundreds of millions of websites that use it instead of a home-made CMS with only a couple of hundred.  

WordPress plugins are limited

One of the "advantages" WordPress has is hundreds of modules that already exist that you can easily add to your website. 

If you don't make any changes to these modules, they can end up being very useful. But as soon as you need to personnalize them because they don't quite answer your company's needs, that's another story.

It's quite rare that a module answers PERFECTLY exactly what you need. Sometimes, there are a couple of fields missing to manage, for example, your scenarios in Google, or what you want to display when someone shares your page on Facebook. So you end up with having to make one of these 2 choices: 

• You don't make changes to your module (and you're not able to manage what you want to);
• You change to module to answer your needs, but you're stuck with that version, security holes and all.

Facebook offers wonderful tools allowing you to target your customers directly and even do some remarketing. But if your plugins don't support these tools, or you can't extract all your data, you'll either be stuck with not being able to use the most powerful tools on the Web, or you'll be stuck with a website that's vulnerable to attacks (and it's only a matter of time before it becomes infected).

CONSequences of investing alot of money on a WordPress website

If you're planning on investing large sums of money in marketing, you've got to think about your website first and foremost. It's just like a car. Would you invest tens of thousands of dollars annually on something that's really just worth 5000$?

By deciding not to make any changes to your modules because of security reasons, you're missing out on the tools that give you the greatest ROI, for example: 

• Customer loyalty: With our personnalized systems, we're able to help your customers stay loyal by, for example, sending them automatic e-mails inviting them to purchase another product. WordPress websites don't offer these kinds of tools. The entire Web is going towards customer loyalty and hyperpersonnalized sales. If you don't work to bring back a customer to your website, your competitor will do it for you.
  
  
• Client profiling: Some personnalized systems allow you to profile every visitor on your website. By knowing exactly what he bought and which products interest him, you're able to offer a custom-made experience to that visitor on your website. No WordPress site has the capacity to do something as advanced. 
  
  
• Personnalized newsletters: Our tools allow you to know everything about your customers. By viewing his profile, you're able to know exactly which newsletters he's read, links he clicked, products purchased, information requests made, etc. Since everything is centralized in a single system, they all talk together, which allows us to send hypertargeted newsletters. For example, you can send newsletters to customers who ordered a specific product 6 months ago and didn't purchase it again yet, or customers who used a specific promo code, or even to clients who visited a specific page on your website. When everything is centralized, everything is connected. Sites built with tools like WordPress and Mailchimp aren't able to do these kinds of things.

As you can see, WordPress solutions aren't always the best long term solutions. They can be great for small companies that don't invest much in the Web, but if you're planning on spending thousands of dollars per month in AdWords and Facebook ads, please think twice before choosing a WordPress solution as the foundation of all your Web marketing.