If it’s an eComm site, then yes, it’s likely you should migrate off WordPress.
DRVN Media works with a lot of small businesses that gross over $500k in online sales per year. Our local businesses that operate brick and mortar on top of a dot-com strategy–over $1 million. Now that’s out of the way, I’m going to do my best to address businesses regardless of their revenue, or online strategies so you can make a sound decision.
WordPress is the Most Common Platform
Just because WordPress (WP) is the most used platform for 35% – 40% of the web (depending on who you ask), it doesn’t mean it’s actually the best for your business. I do put a hosted WordPress solution above 3rd party site builders (e.g. Squarespace, Wix, etc) for most businesses, but that’s because I also believe business shouldn’t put their website on leased land.
However, my most favorite thing about WordPress… it’s an easy platform to migrate away from when you need to continue scaling your dot-com strategies. And this is something you don’t get with 3rd party sitebuilders.
2 Quick Reasons Why People are Leaving the Platform
SECURITY is the main reason why businesses choose to leave WordPress. The risk itself is mostly in 3rd party plugins, themes, but not necessarily the WordPress core itself. This means you’re banking on a lot of people to keep their solutions up to date, so you don’t get hacked. If you’ve ever looked at your WordPress backend, you’re gonna see a lot of plugins at work. And in the age of AI where hacking is made easier, that’s starting to become a daunting task.
Also, since the bulk of websites are on WP, it means hackers will target sites on the platform the most. This is why cybersecurity experts say routine maintenance checks of weekly isn’t enough to keep a WordPress site secure anymore.
MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING ISN’T ENOUGH TO PROTECT WP SITES ANYMORE. If you thought you were safe because you’re on managed WordPress hosting, then think again. There have been countless studies done that show only a little more than 25% of attacks are getting blocked at the hosting level now. So I’ll just state the obvious, 25% success rate is only good if you’re a professional baseball player.
DRVN Media doesn’t have anything to do with hosting. But, we do get frequently asked about hosting when a client gets an email from their hosting company. It usually goes something like “We got an email from our host saying we’re using a lot of bandwidth and resources on our shared server.”
Guess what the common denominators are?
- WordPress site hosted on a shared solution, and
- Getting hit by bot traffic (*knock on wood none of our clients have actually been hacked)
Most of the time your hosting company wants you to throw money at the problem by going to an enterprise level solution. Why? Because they get paid a lot more, and there’s a lot more security on those solutions. So you need to do the math, is it cheaper to have a dev manage your WordPress site, and/or upgrade your hosting, or migrate away from the WordPress platform?
Should You Migrate Away from WordPress
I’m going to be 100% transparent because that question is more complex than it seems, and the answer is, “It depends.” So here’s a quick reference guide:
eCommerce.
If you do any sort of eComm, then there are much better solutions than WordPress + WooCommerce, or WordPress + Headless eComm platform of choice. Most of the time we go with Strapi to power your website, then headless Shopify for the eCommerce backend. Why?
- The upfront base development costs for DRVN Media to build you a website on WordPress or Strapi ends up being the same.
- Therefore, you might as well go to something where features aren’t likely synonymous with plugins and themes that could have security vulnerabilities. Strapi let’s us build sites without the ongoing headache of WordPress.
Pros: There are a lot of customizations we can build to work how you intend them to without plugins, so your site loads faster, and we mitigate security concerns. Also, with Strapi + Headless Shopify, you’re in ownership of your website with enterprise level scalability.
Cons: Customizability can cost more because we have to build the features vs. looking for solutions in the WordPress plugin store.
Cost: This build option generally starts around $25,000.
When does it make most sense? If you’re already grossing, or project to gross more than 10x of the build costs, then it’s a no brainer. Get on a platform that can scale, and eliminate future headaches.
3rd Party Site Builders.
If your website is a digital business card just for proof you exist, but no other marketing strategies, then you probably don’t need anything more than a Wix or alike platform.
Pros: Odds of an attack getting through is very low because these platforms have very robust security. Also, these sites are generally pretty straight forward to create.
Cons: You’re locked into the platform with a recurring subscription. And if your business needs scaling to something more robust, migration to a different platform is a “Good f’n luck” scenario and it’s getting built from scratch.
Stay on WordPress & Have Someone Actually Maintain it.
If you’re a blogger, or content heavy, but don’t require much beyond that, then WordPress is a good solution. Why? Because you’re using the platform for its original intent, and you won’t have a lot of security exposure from plugins.
You’re still likely to use a theme because a custom theme is expensive to develop, a pain in the ass to support, and at that point you should’ve just gone with Strapi. Also, you’re still gonna use some plugins, but only the ones that are highly supported and frequently updated because you don’t need a lot of features.
However, you cannot skimp on the site management unless you really want your site to be exposed.
Pros: You still own your site, and it’s not built on rented land. The build costs are likely cheaper than Strapi.
Cons: You need to have someone manage your site still. Detecting bots early, checking for updates and keeping plugins and themes buttoned up is a necessity that’s no longer a “I’ll do it weekly.” Reputable plugin and theme developers are regularly updating their solutions because the rate of cyberattacks is just that much higher in the AI-Era. There are times security updates a released multiple times a week.
Why is DRVN Media on WordPress
The answer to this is pretty straight forward… our original strategies for the website was content heavy. But we’re actually in the process of developing a new website that will showcase not only the agency, but what clients get with our eCommerce builds. None of our devs like WordPress for anything more than a content site. And when I tasked them with building an example website that has eComm, none of them wanted it to be WordPress + WooCommerce, or WordPress + Shopify (or any other headless eComm platform). Because our preferred setup is Strapi + Shopify, that’s how we’re building it, and we’re in the process of doing just that. This way you can see exactly what you’re getting, with a fully functional store too.
