Everyone loves WordPress. Even skilled marketers, who should know better, keep coming back to this template-based CMS platform. Sure enough, it's the most popular Content Management System available, with a market share of 38% and more than 12 million individual users.
But popular does not equal successful. Using the same software as everyone else does not make your marketing or web design efforts successful, it merely makes them similar to everyone else - also known as average. Here are 4 reasons average agencies love WordPress, though a custom solution will serve your business better.
1) Average Agencies Go With the Herd
Average web developers love suggesting WordPress for the exact statistics quoted above: everyone else uses it, so why not go along with it? They see its popularity as a selling point, trying to convince you that your competitors use it - so you should too.
But in reality, using popularity as an argument for a CMS can be dangerous. We all know about the dangers of herd mentality, a doubtlessly powerful force that often leads to disastrous results. It has resulted in stock market crashes like the .com bubble in 2000 and the real estate crash in 2008, showing once and for all that popularity should not be your only deciding factor in something as important for your business as a CMS.
2) Average Agencies Play it Safe
Despite countless examples to the contrary, going with the most popular option creates an illusion of safety. The risks to fail in a template system simply seems lower than it would be for a custom developed solution.
But agencies should not aim to play it safe. They should look to create a product that helps your website succeed, aiming to run instead of simply avoiding falling over. And WordPress is not safer than custom solutions; in fact, WordPress has had enough safety issues that even the FBI has issued a safety warning against it.
3) Average Agencies Seek Effort Minimization
Let's face it: though they should aim for client success, most web development agencies are simply looking to create the maximum possible profit with the minimum possible effort. A template-based system like WordPress, even if it offers limited modification abilities, requires little setup on behalf of your agency.
As a result, a web development company may suggest WordPress simply because they don't have to put a lot of effort into creating your CMS. But should that really be the goal? Chances are you would prioritize a system that helps you manage your website and its content, even if it requires a longer project timeline and more work for both you and your agency.
4) Average Agencies Don't Have the Skills to Go Custom
Finally, we come to perhaps the most important reason average agencies love WordPress: it's their only option. While they will be sure to tell you about their development skills, most of them simply don't have the expertise necessary to build a strong, flexible custom CMS solution.
Generally speaking, that's understandable. Building a custom solution requires very specialized expertise. But ask yourself this question: do you really want your web presence to rely on an agency that does not have the skills necessary to build your CMS by itself? What if you need a feature built that's not within the scope of WordPress or, worse, something with your site goes awry that needs specialized attention?
The experience necessary to build a custom CMS is ultimately what makes average web development agencies gravitate toward WordPress. But that does not make it the right choice for your business.
