How Good Has WordPress Been For Me?

In the last few years, I’ve gone through several web hosts because of WordPress. Let me elaborate more. WordPress uses a server-side database (MySQL). WordPress allows you to easily enter data through a web interface and manage your data. This was one of the reasons why I started using it. Although it was easy for me to use, I ran into a few problems along the way.

One thing that I have to warn you about is that not all web hosts are equal. Even though I have several reseller accounts from some of the most popular web hosts, my website access has been impaired. This is my theory: the more steps it takes for your web visitor to get what they want, the more you’re screwing up the sales process. In terms of WordPress, I’m not talking about clicks, but I’m talking about website connections and performance.

With website performance, you MySQL server needs to be fast to avoid irritating you and your visitors. Another thing is that your database is like a middleman. You information is stored in the database. So to get information, your visitor has to access your web page, make a connection to the database, retrieve your info, then display it. Out of 5 reseller accounts that I’ve used, 2 of those were really slow with WordPress.

Then to add with that, those advertised server up-time percentages weren’t accurate. There were several times out of the month where I would create a post then my MySQL or web host server was down. Some web hosts would credit me if my downtime exceeded what they advertised. However, that credit doesn’t replace the downtime of my business, the lost sales, and my reduction in productivity. Although this didn’t happen very often, it does get irritating after a while and changing web hosts wasn’t the solution (several times).

To add to reduction in productivity, I was a WordPress plugin hunter and time waster. I would look for the latest and greatest WordPress plugins to help me improve my productivity. Although this might seem good, it was just another time waster. So I’ve reduced my plugin hunting and stick to the basics now.

Now don’t get me wrong, WordPress is still a powerful tool and still has some great applications. When I think about WordPress, I think automation. Having something that is database backed does come in handy.

However, for the typical white hat sites that I build, I’ve found SEO Website Builder to be extremely helpful. I just need to post and upload some content. Although building statics sites does take some effort, it sure does beat getting my sites hacked (ie. several times this year for me) because of security holes and uploading a security patch every several weeks for WordPress.