Ahhhh, Wordpress, a gift from the gods it would seem and your best option to set up your own website. Previously, I’d set up all my websites using Webs and I’d found it ridiculously easy to navigate, with great technical support and the ability to do anything I wanted. But then I realized everybody else was using Wordpress (the .org one, not the .com one).
From all the rave reviews I was convinced it was going to be the best thing I’d ever done for my business and easy, so so easy for a non-techie like me to use. Well, after three months of banging my head against a brick wall every time I want to do anything I’ve finally called it a day and accepted defeat. Wordpress is not for me (at least not until I have a spare 10k to hire someone to do it for me).
Ok, I know some of you are probably going to be angry with me for saying that cause I know you all love your wordpress and I’m sure it works great if you are technologically literate, but as a non-techie individual I find it a total nightmare. I’m sorry, I really did try.
The Wordpress bandwagon has some great points – mainly that it allows you full control of your site so if your hosting goes under you can just move your site to someone else (and it integrates with Leadpages and I LOVE Leadpages). And some of the sites I’ve seen created using Wordpress are AMAZING! But at the end of the day spending a whole day learning how to make a super simple tweak to my site was playing havoc on my productivity.
At present I run one site on Wordpress (after three months I finally got it to the point where it functions as long as I don’t try and change anything) and two on Webs (Astrology With Nic and this one). Now you may think I’m writing this just to have a vent but I’m not. The actual purpose of this post is to offer hope for any of you who are trying to get started with your online business but are stuck cause you maybe have a few tech issues like myself. Seriously, my initial DIY job using webs worked just fine so if you are stuck, maybe it’s time you considered your other options just to get it out there.
I know a lot of people rave about Squarespace and Wix but I haven’t used them so I can’t actually tell you if they are great or not. What I can tell you is that I can set up a site from scratch using Webs for free in less than one hour and if I like it – then fork out the money for a premium version with my own domain ( they have a few different levels starting from around $6 a month). And webs does everything I need – including hosting paid courses and setting up membership access only pages and sites and it’s literally a click of a button. Easy Peasy!
Search Engine Optimisation? Piece of cake, they even have an application that does it for you. Oh, you need to collect email addresses? One click and it’s done, no plug- ins, no head banging required. Need to add tracking codes, just paste your code into the little place they have set aside for it! And although it doesn’t appear to integrate with Leadpages, I’ve found a way around that as well. And it integrates with PayPal and Stripe so you can sell all your goods and services via a webstore.
Of course it’s not all a bed of roses – I’m yet to work out a way to install those pesky pop ups on my site and I would love to add one and if Webs ever sinks my site will sink along with it. (Admittedly a major problem and one that will only be resolved when I have the cash to splash on someone to design a Wordpress site for me). Also sometimes there are issues with my site going down although I suspect this happens everywhere and their technical support has always been able to fix this for me asap. The thing is without webs I would not have a business. If I’d started out using word press my business still would not be off the ground and I would have had to go back to work a long time ago.
Anyway so if you are stuck, it may be time to consider an alternative option. You can watch me create a site from scratch in less than an hour here or you can visit webs, create a free one and if you like it, purchase the domain.
And to all you wordpress lovers out there – I’m sorry, I really, really tried to get my head around it but I’m technically challenged and it was all too much but by all means let me know your site designer and when I have the cash spare – I’ll be in touch.