Tips and Tricks, Website Platforms
WORDPRESS VS WIX: Feature Set and Flexibility Compared!
- Wix. Wix is a versatile site builder that supports blogging (see our collection of Wix-based blogs) and eCommerce (check out our examples).
There are also many extensions that you can integrate into your website – Wix has a collection of various free and paid add-ons called App Market. Here are some examples: Holiday badges (free), Comments (free/premium), Events Calendar (free/premium), Live Chat Room (free/premium), Customer reviews (free/premium) and more.
These applications are as easy to install and manage as the builder itself. Some are developed by Wix, others are provided by third-party developers. et’s take a closer look at Wix’s in-house features:
eCommerce: multiple payment options, the ability to generate coupon codes, tax management, product options etc. Wix’s Commerce engine is designed for smaller shops.
Blogging: scheduled posts, featured posts, Facebook comments, blog archive and tag clouds.
Forum: from now you can create a simple forum (you can install it from Wix App Market) within your Wix website. Wisely managing it, you wiil receive your own website community, that sounds pretty nice.
Wix ShoutOut and Smart Actions. Your Wix website lets you easily gather information from your visitors as they interact with your site. All their info is automatically saved to the Contacts section in the dashboard.
You can use this info later to create Smart Actions by choosing triggers and assigning actions. For instance, you can set Smart Actions to invite new shoppers to redeem a coupon when a new user signs up to your newsletter.
Wix doesn’t open up the codes. They do have a ‘custom HTML’ widget, but they don’t provide full access to the site’s source code.
- WordPress. WordPress started as a blogging platform, but quickly developed from this single purpose and became a versatile program for creating various websites, from portfolios to webstores. This is possible thanks to numerous plug-ins which can add any kind of functionality to your site. There are social plugins, commenting systems, SEO packs, safety plugins and much more.
WordPress vs Wix. Balancing ease of use with complexity is difficult, so usually, the easier the tool, the less flexible it is. But this rule doesn’t apply to Wix. Today Wix gives you near-perfect combination of flexibility and ease-of-use that is harder to reach with using WordPress CMS.
Tips and Tricks, Website Platforms
Wondering which is better between WordPress vs Joomla? We’ve got this!
When it comes to building a feature-rich, scalable web site, not all content management systems (CMSs) are created equal. For large or complex projects, you’ll likely need more in terms of extensibility and security than drag-and-drop solutions that are designed to help non-developers get started quickly. If you need a CMS with more under the hood, you may want to check out Drupal or Joomla! They each require a little more technical expertise to set up and maintain, but they can more than make up for it if you’re building a complex site for a large organization.
Choosing just a platform for blogging might not be as hard as choosing the entire content management system that allows you to do more complex web projects. Casual bloggers who don’t ask for much can easily go for less complicated services, although WordPress should always be on top of the list when pondering over the platforms. But when it comes to entire content management systems that allow you to do much more than just writing posts, things become a bit more serious.
AN INTRO TO WORDPRESS!
WordPress is an online, open source website creation tool written in PHP. But in non-geek speak, it’s probably the easiest and most powerful blogging and website content management system (or CMS) in existence today.
What do TED, Flickr, The New York Times, Boing Boing, the Chicago Bulls, BBC America, Beyonce, The New Yorker, Vogue, The Rolling Stones, and thousands of other people have in common? They all made their official blogs and sites with WordPress.org. Launched in 2003, it doesn’t need any introduction except the long list of sites using it today and the fact that it powers almost one-quarter of the web.
Basically, you’re in good company if you use WordPress to publish on the web. Many famous blogs, news outlets, music sites, Fortune 500 companies and celebrities are using WordPress.
For example, famous blogs like Mashable and TechCrunch are both on WordPress. News outlets like The New York Times’ blogs and CNN’s on-air personality blogs all use WordPress, too.
If you’re ever curious about about who uses WordPress, head on over to the WordPress site showcase and you’ll be impressed by the number of well-known sites and famous people using WordPress to power their websites.
Often beginners ask us: Why should I use WordPress? Isn’t my old site good enough? Why do I need to switch to WordPress? If you’re asking these questions, then you’re at the right place. In this article, we have compiled a few reasons why you should use WordPress, in what ways you can use WordPress, and who is using WordPress.
People often make the mistake of classifying WordPress as just a blogging platform. Although that used to be true in the past, WordPress has evolved through out the years into a versatile content management system (CMS). While you can still use WordPress to create a simple blog, now it also allows you to create fully functional websites and mobile applications.
The best part about WordPress is that it’s easy to use and flexible enough for just about anything. That’s the main reason why WordPress has grown so much in popularity. According to a recent survey, WordPress powers 22.5% of all websites on the internet.
Due to it’s robust features, many of the top brands use WordPress to power their websites including but not limited to: Time Magazine, Google, Facebook, Sony, Disney, LinkedIn, The New York Times, CNN, eBay, and more.
Let’s take a look at why you should use WordPress.
WordPress is Free as in Freedom!
WordPress is a free software, this means you are free to download, install, use and modify it. You can use it to create any kind of website. It is also open source which means the source code of the software is available for any one to study, modify and play with.
There are currently 2600+ WordPress themes and 31,000+ plugins available for free. You can download, install and use them on any website.
To run WordPress, all you need is a domain and web hosting. We recommend using either Bluehost or SiteGround because both of them offer our users a free domain and 50% off their hosting prices. Check out our guide on why is WordPress free?
Due to the nature of open source, WordPress is a community software. It is maintained by a large group of volunteers majority of whom are WordPress consultants with active interest in growing and maintaining WordPress. Anyone can contribute to WordPress by writing patches, answering support questions, writing plugins, creating themes, translating WordPress and updating documentation.
By using WordPress you become part of that awesome community. You get free support from other community members, download free plugins and themes, and once you have little experience with WordPress you can even contribute back to the community.
Tips and Tricks, WordPress Help
One of the question we get asked a lot by users of our platform, WordPress Alternative, is “should I hire someone to work on my WordPress blog”?
Today, we’re going to address that question and more.
To go directly to the point, the question above can answered this way:
If you think it is time to beef up your WordPress website with some advanced features and functionality, or, if you are in the mood to develop a brand new website based on WordPress, but with a custom tailored design, then it is okay to hire a WordPress expert to work on your site.
But you have to be careful though, so that you don’t make mistakes. When thinking of hiring someone for your WordPress-based website, one thing you have to consider is the type of WordPress expert to hire.
This is vital because hiring the wrong person can be likened to hiring an architect to remodel your house when what you really need is a contractor.
Let’s take a look at the different types of people who work on WordPress sites so that you can decide which one best fits your needs.
So friend, which should I hire? A WordPress designer, developer, programmer, or all three?
This might seem like a difficult decision, but you’ll soon see that it’s typically a relatively straightforward decision. The tricky part, which we’ll cover in the last half of this post, will be finding a good candidate to bring on board for your project.
When to Hire a WordPress Developer
This is, in essence, a WordPress architect. The WordPress developer has built or helped build many WP websites. He or she suggests and comes up with ideas, helps to implement and set up solutions, and works to integrate and modify existing sites.
Developers seldom take on custom programming jobs, so if you run a hair salon and want to add a booking functionality to your existing massage shop, the WordPress developer will look for a premium booking plugin to install into your site. They’ll configure it for you, get it up and running, but they won’t program it from scratch.
That’s not to say they’ll never do any coding; sometimes, they do perform coding and design work. Other times, they let someone else do it for them, if they can’t find a plugin or template that fits the needs of the client. A good WordPress developer should know when it’s time to outsource the work.
Think of your WordPress developer as an architect, looking at the big picture and how to best meet any given goals. That might mean custom programming, or it might mean using ready-made premium plugins and code. The best WP developers know which is the right course of action.
When to Hire a WordPress Programmer
A general programmer with some experience with WordPress: that’s a WP programmer, in a nutshell. If a developer is an architect, the WordPress programmer is like a brick-layer. If you’re really advanced in WP yourself, you might work directly with a programmer to instruct him or her on what lines of code to write, but you’ll usually encounter this type of person by way of your WordPress developer.
In fact, it’s usually smarter to hire a developer first, and then let the developer decide whether or not a programmer needs to come on board. In quite a few projects, it will actually be better and less expensive to make use of existing plugins and themes, rather than reinventing the wheel.
When to Hire a WordPress Designer
A WP designer is someone with some knowledge of turning a concept into an actual WordPress theme that you can install, a WordPress designer is a good fit if you just want to refresh the user experience of your website without changing the functionality. Bottom line, most hire a WordPress designer for tasks they aren’t capable of completing so be careful.
Summary
We hope this article has helped you answer the question of whether or not to hire a WordPress expert to work on your site. If you have any questions, make efforts to send it across to us at info(AT)wpalternative(DOT)com. Happy WordPress-ing!
Tips and Tricks
Are you deciding if you should maintain your site or not? Well, it is actually a non-negotiable aspect when having a website. You have to make sure that you have a website that is well maintained if you ever want to have one that works for you. Unless, you just want to have a landing page all along.
Today’s websites are usually of top quality and of something that is useful to people. Websites are no longer just simple informational sites, but rather a useful site that people could learn a thing or two, buy a product, get a service, and so on.
So today, you want to make sure that if you have a website you have it maintained. The next big issue now is if you can afford it or not. Here are some tips.
Go for on-Call Developers
Just like doctors, you are actually able to get on-call developers who can provide help for you when you are in need of them. This gets you to save cash rather than have them in-house where you pay them on a monthly basis, with or without work.
On-call developers may be hard to find but they can certainly keep your projects going. Though, some of them have a lot more clients and priority will still be concern. So work turnaround may take a couple of days. Nonetheless, it will still be cheaper.
Go for bulk service providers
You can also go for bulk service providers to help you build your business and at the same time get you a cheaper price. These service providers who offer services in bulk, would make it easier for you to access only when you need them. It’s also easy for you to sum up all the work needed before going for these providers. Some providers offer super affordable monthly compared to in-house developers.
Stay updated
You may want to try doing the updates on your own. Updating your plugins and wordpress site can help you lessen your chances of being attacked or needing maintenance. With updated sites, you will be able to function just fine. This also not only mean being updated with the software and technology, but also with your skills. If you learn how to manage content on your wordpress web site, then you will be able to find it easy to maintain your site and only call when you truly need technical help.
Follow these tips to get the most of getting an affordable website maintenance.
Tips and Tricks, WordPress Help
There are a lot of techniques to have an affordable website maintenance. You’d be surprised that a lot of web owners know how to maintain their sites in a way that they don’t have to spend so much on in-house developers. They only call WordPress developers who charge a lot in just a few or needed instances. Today, you will learn how to get an affordable website maintenance thorugh these tips.
Know the things to maintain
First and foremost, you should be able to understand the basic things you need to maintain in a site. You have to understand that there could be a lot of things to maintian on a site and at the same time a few. It really depends on how you try to manage it. Knowing what exactly needs to be done, how long it could be done, and the people to call for these things to be done is crucial. Sometimes, you have to research more on how sites are maintenance. However, you will be surprised that there are definitely ways you can do it on your own. For example, upgrading WordPress, plug-ins, installing up to date anti virus.
Have a good start
A common mistake that most people make is that they hire the wrong WordPress Developers from the get-go. This will cause a lot more problem along the way just because you will have a hard time maintaining it. There will be so many things to consider and a lot of bugs to check that will not be worthy just because you were such a cheapskate. You go for a professional wordpress web developers that know what they are doing and do clean work, and by that we meant clean code.
Go to forums
So basically, you want to do it things as much as you can on your own. There are so many forums or online help out there that can help you go build a wonderful site and maintain it. You don’t have to be an expert to do basic maintenance. This includes updating content, images, features, and adding pages. Some of the basic debugs can be easily troubleshoot too! It is pretty cool how much you can do just by learning or getting aid online.
Find an affordable wordpress developer
The last tip to having an affordable maintenance website is to go for an affordable wordpress developer. That’s pretty easy to say but hard to find. Nonetheless, you will still need a professional developer to do the work for you so you better have a professional with a reasonable price to help you.
Hope these tips helped you!
Tips and Tricks
Now if you want to build your WordPress site, you better learn some techniques to avoid wasting your time and getting in trouble. Sometimes, it is all about just having the wrong idea on what to look for a developer that you end up miserable and worst, having to pay someone for a work you didn’t love.
So today, Tilden Tasks gives us an expert tip on how to build your WordPress site the right way.
Get an idea
Some people go having a website but have no idea what they are getting into. It is important to be crystal clear on what you want to build when it comes to a website just because, it will only confuse you and the awful lot of other people including your development team just because you made it a whole lot difficult by not knowing what your product or company is all about. Having clear goals will help with this.
Differentiate a Designer and Developer
A designer and a developer are two different people. You don’t go around expecting a developer doing the design work. So pay close attention to this and don’t just find your developer to do everything for you. Though rare, you can still find a designer who develops at the same time. Check out some Tilden Task reviews out there and see how they manage to provide both.
Be realistic with timelines
Another thing that you should consider and always know as a client is that you should be realistic with timelines. Yes, we want to get the instant results and sometimes we demand so much from our workers without really setting a clear and distinct timeline. Nothing comes out of nothing, so if you don’t provide enough time, don’t expect something great will come out of it. Usual length for a project to take place is 2 weeks. But depending on the amount of work and the extent, it may take months for you to launch your site.
Don’t expect it to be perfect
Another mistake most clients make is that they expect right off the bat that everything has to be perfect. No, it does not necessarily have to be perfect. A better viewpoint is that is it continuously growing and improving. Like anything that grows, you want to make sure it continues to grow and it doesn’t have to be perfect right off the bat. That is why you have to hire developers who will continuously support you as you grow as a company or as a brand.
Learn more expert Tilden Tasks reviews and other expert tips by reading our blog.
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