Many business owners have trouble deciding whether to build their website in WordPress or HTML, opting for an HTML site as a safe solution. The WordPress vs. HTML debate is one we have time and time again with many clients who just aren’t aware of the various benefits WordPress has to offer.
WordPress is a Content Management System, that is, it helps you to create, manage, and edit content on your own website without ever needing to work directly with the code. Instead of manually adding your content with the specific formatting needed for an HTML site, you simply type up your content like normal and WordPress will deal with the code for you.
Maybe you are hesitant to use WordPress because you’ve heard that it is open source and therefore very easy for your website to get hacked. While WordPress is more vulnerable to attacks, being the most used platform in the world for building websites, that vulnerability is completely manageable.
There are a variety of ways you can protect your WordPress site, including:
- Only using plugins that have been well-tested and have a substantial amount of reviews.
- Using strong and secure passwords
- Backing up your site daily so that you can easily restore your site to a previous version if something happens.
- Choosing your hosting provider wisely (you will want a well-maintained and secure server).
- Installing WordFence, a free plugin that will help monitor and prevent destructive changes to your site.
- Installing SiteLock, a paid, cloud-based security tool, or putting your site on a free CDN like Cloudflare for added protection.
- Updating your WordPress site whenever prompted.
- Utilizing a monitoring service in place to tell you if something goes very wrong (we like to use Dropmysite).
Both WordPress and HTML sites require many of these types of security measures.
At thirteen05 creative, WordPress is our preferred tool for website design. Of all the websites we’ve built over the years, there has been only two instances of our sites being hacked. In both cases, access to the client’s website was gained through external means, such as an email account, and was resolved in no time through website backups and password changes.
In this day and age, there is no way to 100% guarantee your site will never be hacked. However, keep in mind that hackers generally do not view your website as a priority over more profitable targets like banks and big retailers. Common sense protections will not only make hacking unlikely for your website, but it will allow a quick recovery if anything were to happen.
Even with that vulnerability, WordPress remains the more popular platform for a reason. WordPress sites are faster and built a lot easier than HTML sites. You can easily make changes to your WordPress site without hiring a developer who knows code, saving you time and money! WordPress sites are durable, easier to update, and rarely go down. All these benefits and more are what make WordPress the best solution for your business website.
