Advantages and Drawbacks of Using WordPress as Your CMS

WordPress as a content management system is often debated among CMS enthusiasts due to it being known so much more as a fantastic blogging platform. However, with the right plug-ins, WordPress can be setup also as a great CMS too. This list is dedicated to those that love to make such lists that weigh the pros and cons of a particular CMS.

There are some definite advantages as well as drawbacks in using WordPress as a CMS platform.  This list is dedicated to those that love to make such lists that weigh the pros and cons of a particular CMS.

Advantages of WordPress as a CMS:

• WordPress has earned the reputation of being a very simple to use. WordPress comes with preinstalled design options that allow users to simply click a few buttons to create a template-based blog complete with plug-ins for CMS. In addition, no knowledge of HTML is required to use the site. For those new to blogosphere, WordPress is the platform of choice. 
• WordPress 3.0 provides attractive menu choices making the site more attractive and easy to navigate than either Drupal or Joomla.  Menus and pages are able to be rearranged according to the needs of your business.
• WordPress provides hundreds of no-cost themes so you can choose a template that is most relevant to your business. Users do have the option of paying for a premium account with a business credit card to give their site a bit of a more professional look. 
• Using WordPress can enhance search engine rankings. This means that your site can show up on the first page of search results using Google or Yahoo provided relevant keywords are carefully embedded.
• WordPress now has nearly 13,000 no-cost plugins available on its Open Source platform. This number of plugins is the reason that the site has gained recognition as a CMS tool.
• By using custom-built fields users are able to expand beyond blogging and categorizing to utilizing WordPress as a viable CMS tool. These custom fields (e.g. “Flutter”) make the building of a CMS relatively easy even for those who are new to the process.
• The Pods CMS plugin permits users to create different types of content without using any of the custom-built CMS buttons.

Drawbacks of WordPress as a CMS

• Knowledge of WordPress scripting is necessary if users wish to make certain changes, such as editing or deleting the dates of posts. 
• While WordPress does have many attractive templates, some users prefer to design a unique theme. To create such a theme, users will need to possess advanced knowledge of cascading style sheet (CSS) jargon. For those users with this knowledge, they may want to consider a more robust CMS tool, such as Drupal.
• WordPress requires many plugins to have the same CMS design capabilities as Drupal or Joomla. While these plugins are now available on the site, using too many can slow page load times.  Before definitively deciding on using WordPress as your CMS tools consider the number of plugins you will need and how much this will affect overall functionality of the site. 
• WordPress has received criticism for not providing much in the way of offline support for CMS in the form of Microsoft-based software developed kits. However, there is plentiful support from online communities.
• WordPress regularly updates its functionality so may not be a great option for those who seek a more consistent platform—such as those seeking to build a CMS on the site.

Daniela Baker is a web and tech savvy business blogger at CreditDonkey.com, where she helps bloggers compare business credit card offers.