Why I Hate WordPress – Part One

(And Why I Build Artist’s Websites in Wix and use SquareUp’s Online Store for E-commerce)

What would you do if this shows up in the dashboard of your website’s building area? 

Warning: You’re currently using deprecated PHP based events tracking which we will be removing support for in an upcoming release.  We recommend switching to JS events tracking, as it is significantly more accurate than PHP based events tracking.  To switch click here.  Users who do not manually switch over will be automatically switched over in an upcoming release. 

Seriously?  Yes, I vaguely know what most of that means.  Yes, I could google it to try and discover how or what will happen when this “automatically switched over”, but honestly, I can’t be bothered.  And at some point, it was switched over.  I guess.  At least the message went away. ( OMG!) 

Welcome to WordPress – The system that never stops being a PITA.  Currently, (and not related to the above warning) I need to hire someone to get to the bottom of a glitch that I have put more than a few hours into trying to fix myself.  It’s some issue with plugins or not…or maybe… LOL…a recent update or…

I have built many websites for my own businesses over the years.  The first was back in the early 90’s before there was a “WordPress” or much of anything.  It was really confusing and difficult.  When I started this business back in 2012, it was “highly recommended” that I use WordPress.  Several website “developers” insisted that it was the only smart choice.  They all included the sage advice that it was the only “professional” choice.  Well, who doesn’t want to be professional? 

After a couple of months of struggling, I was pretty sure it was probably professional and I just needed to get up to speed.  After a couple of years, I deeply regretted the decision, but I was locked in by then. 

Then, one day, an artist asked for my help with their Wix website, I was convinced that it was an inferior system – until I got inside and looked around.  That moment changed my definition of “professional”! 

And finally, I could offer to help artists build websites, too.  I didn’t dare try to put a WordPress site together and feel comfortable and hand over the keys to the average person.  I knew I would be on the phone or screen sharing forever trying to help conquer the ongoing issues that WordPress sites require. 

Of course, that is what keeps the web developers cozy and employed.  They build and you pay them (and pay them and pay them) to keep your site running.  To be very clear: I am not saying the web developers are just out to get your money.  There may be artists who have the types of businesses that really need the services of web developers, but most artists do not fit the criteria.  They are “sold” a package that is over-kill.  It’s not a bad service to offer, it’s just not justified for most really small one-owner business models.  However, the developer is not going to question your needs.  They are just providing a service you think you need. 

And I never wanted to have to have a monthly service “package” or even charge someone to upload a new photo.  I want my community to be more self-reliant.  And finally, with Wix, I could put together the basic structures of a site, create a few quick how-to videos and feel I was really making a difference for an artist.  I loved knowing that I was creating a future for an artist that they could control themselves. 

From that point to today, I still only build websites in Wix.  There are other good builders, but Wix is what I learned to use and it’s as good as Weebly or Squarespace and I don’t want to learn all three programs.  I can do a few fixes in those sites, so if you have issues, let me know.  But I love building in Wix. 

Want to change things up in 2019?  You have options. 

If you have a WordPress site but you have never created any blog posts, you are in luck.  You can move your domain anytime and start using Wix.  You can build and play and experiment for free with Wix until you are ready to go live. 

But if you are planning to start blogging in 2019, I beg you to avoid WordPress.  You can’t move those blog posts to any other system in the future. ( My blog post was/is what keeps me on WP to this day.)  You might wonder if I am an affiliate with Wix?  I could be, but I am not.  I am just a fan and someone who wants to help you “Find Loving Homes for Your Art” in 2019 and beyond. 

If you need help, I can help.  But just keep in mind that Wix has great help and great tools to keep you moving forward.  However, if you want to chat more about Wix and websites and marketing, you know I am here for you and ready to chat.  No strings attached. 

Stay tuned for Part Two: Are you frustrated with E-Commerce?  Wishing you could make more sales online or even get a system together to make sales?  Start 2019 off on the right foot!  Let’s get you set-up for success. 

Meanwhile… This is the last post for 2018 and I hope your holidays are blissful and remarkable and that you will end your year with joy, love, and then some more love. 

I would also like to thank those of you who have joined me over on Patreon and are supporting my newest venture: The “Find Loving Homes for Your Art” podcast.  There will be some exciting interviews coming in 2019.  I will keep you all in the loop!  Here’s the link to the most powerful podcast of 2018.  Enjoy it for free.  Share it with love.  And… go and Find Loving Homes for Your Art!  ALOHA! 

Please Share!  It matters to other artists! 

Like this:

6 Comments

Mckenna, You sold me on Wix, and I have never regretted it.  Updating my website is easy & painless, therefore I do it frequently.  Via their help pages I have learned to add content in a variety of ways.  I have friends who have admonished me for not working with WordPress, but upon reading this post, I am sooo glad I listened to you!  Happy Holidays and here’s to a prosperous new year! 

Oh, I remember so well our co-creation of your site, Susan.  And your point is SO important: updating is easy so you do it frequently. 

Adding new content and shaking things up on a website is CRITICALLY important to SEO rankings.  When an artist is faced with a website that they can’t figure out, it just sits forever with information that is so old that if someone actually goes to the site, they think the artist must have quit. 

When they reach out to me, the first thing they say is, I haven’t really done anything for a few years, but the web-guy quit (or takes too long or charges too much) and I don’t know how to anything.  Makes me sad… that is no way to Find Loving Homes for Your Art! 

When someone chides you for not using WP, just tell them you didn’t need that kind of site.  Tell them you only needed a paint-by-numbers site so you could spend more time creating art! 

Hi, I am SO glad to read that someone else also hates WordPress because of the constant press about how great is it. 
Recently I was put on a job where I had to “update” a school website.  It’s the free version, self hosted WordPress.  Really clunky dated looking. 
It is insecure (no ssl certificate).  I dislike working on it and have not been impressed. 

I have also worked on several web platforms and WordPress is the worst.  I would not recommend it to any novice in web work.  Yet I’ve seen some beautiful sites, probably by skilled web wranglers in WordPress. 

WordPress is a necessary evil for some industries, but almost never useful for small businesses.  Unless you can hire (afford a staff member) someone who is doing a lot of administrative tasks and is a WP wizard, there’s no reason to use it.  My site is a WordPress site Sue.  I hope you think it’s “nice” not clunky?  And to be clear, you can make horrible looking websites with Wix.  But at least you can do something, right?  LOL! 

Thanks for the suggestion, Richard.  I considered doing that, but I have so many links (the majority of the blog posts!)  in my posts that point to articles in other posts on this site and all of those would need to be changed, too.  It wouldn’t be hours, it would be weeks of work.  I have TWO blog posts actually.  I posted weekly for over two years and every other week for another three plus years. 

And even if I just never added the links, I would need to address the issue of having identical information on my “new” Wix site so I would need to make sure that Google didn’t think I was “stealing” from another site.  It’s confusing, but trust me, Google would de-rank my domain and it could take a very long time to recover.  That is likely the hardest thing to overcome and requires creating html coding on every blog page to point to the canonical URLs. 

Lastly: all my social media links would no longer go to my new post, so they would all just be dead-ends. 

So… in the end, I just keep moving forward.  I don’t hate my site, I just hate the WP system.  And I just am reminded way too often, since I build/fix Wix sites for artists, that it’s really a cumbersome system. 

I am always a little jealous, but happy to hear you are in the Wix world!  Good on you!  Your photography is terrific and looks great. ( Let me know if you ever want a free review of your website. ( email me anytime)