There is no question that WordPress is the Internet’s leading Content Management System (CMS)
– in fact, almost 75 million sites at the last count. And for good reason!
- It’s free.
- It’s based on stable, frequently updated core code.
- You can be up & running a very basic site in around 5 minutes.
- There are over 45,000 plug-ins (and many more paid versions).
- On average, if you need to hire an expert it will cost you around $50 per hour.
- Did I mention it’s FREE!
However, WordPress’ popularity comes with a cost!
One of the most profitable segments catering for the WordPress market is themes … Sure, there are around 5,000 free themes to choose from, but you don’t want YOUR site to look the same as others, so there at least 5,000 paid themes as well.
Why is this a bad thing?
In an attempt to make feature-rich publishing accessible to many, some companies are releasing themes that have every possible option included – many that you would never use … this is contributing to a bloated internet!
You can’t take the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ approach
Your business website needs to be razor-sharp – your unique selling proposition (what makes YOU better than your competitors) needs to be presented FAST … Around 2 seconds fast!
A theme that is bogged down with un-needed features will not deliver. This is not to say that you shouldn’t have pages that contain detail, graphs, charts & in-depth information – BUT not your front page.
Use deeper page levels that are highly focused on delivering specific information. Your WordPress theme needs to have your front page loaded & engaging visitors before they click-away.
Unfortunately ‘one size fits all‘ themes that have 3 different types of slider, parallax, countdowns, staff bios etc. are so over-loaded with features that you will never reach the speeds you desire – you need to use the K.I.S.S approach – find a theme you like with the minimum features (or have one tailored for you) and spread your message.
Another pitfall I have found with the popular multi-purpose WordPress Themes is support can be woeful – I had an Avada ‘Support Rep’ suggest that I should edit the theme core files to correct an error …
You should NEVER do this & to suggest it was negligent at best!