I May Need WordPress After All

One commenter told me that I would need WordPress again, but the mansplaining way in which it was written made my eyes glaze over, so I don’t remember much of what was said. As it is though, it turns out I may actually need to use it again.

I was perfectly happy using only platforms like GhostPro, Wix, WebFlow, and the like. I figured they would be powerful enough for any need I had until I came up with a new idea that I wanted to build. I want to build a website based on user-generated content (UGC), and the platforms I found seemed to be lacking in some way. Each one had at least one failing, whether they weren’t powerful enough or the monthly cost was too high, I have decided that the free plugins that WordPress offers have all the functionality I need.

I got tired of WordPress being so bloated, but the more I think about it the more I realize just how much I am giving up by not using it. Frankly, there are ways to make WP work faster and have a smaller footprint, and I find I miss a lot about it when I relegate myself to just using the platforms.

I’ve been using WP since it came out, and I guess it was premature to try to give it up so easily.

Now, I used Siteground for a lot of years, but it was getting expensive. After the first year, you tend to pay a lot more and I think $45 a month was just too much to host all my websites. I recently discovered Bluehost because I put my business website up there, and found it easy to use and cheap, with no noticeable speed or ease-of-use difference.

I found I could pay for a year with the same amount of money I was spending at Siteground in a month. Even the unlimited, speedy plans for developers aren’t that much more a year, so I find the savings amazing.

Now that I have an unlimited plan again, I may start putting up a few of my old websites, but instead of using the backups I made, I think I am going to do complete redesigns. I love the whole process of designing websites and blogs, so it doesn’t feel like work for me, and I love the feeling of designing something new and interesting that I’ve never done before.

I really love the feel of a text-based blog like this GhostPro blog. I think for my new ones I am going to focus more on typography and less on putting as many bells and whistles as I can. I love the speed of a website that has minimal images anyway, so there is that going for me.

The new website has more to do with text anyway and less with images and video. I don’t want to say too much more about it because I don’t want to ruin the surprise. Just know that it has to do with the free exchange of ideas, and it is going to be a great, free resource for everyone.

I envision it making money with a few simple ads and some premium eBook offerings. There may even be room for a few affiliate offers. It will be a membership site where people can create an account, but there won’t be any charge for doing so.

I guess I was asking for too much by trying to simplify my life by not using WordPress, because as much negative as I can say about it, the positives far outweigh them. It is the most powerful platform for building all kinds of websites and blogs, and maybe I was kidding myself that the world was a better place by not using it. I actually think I will be using it for as long as it’s free, and probably for a long time after that.

But who knows what platforms will come out with Web 3 or Web 5? Who knows what the future holds for the blogging community? As much as people keep innovating, there may actually be a better platform invented in the very near future,  but for now, WordPress is king, and there is no one that can hold a candle to the power and ease of use that it possessed.

I like to give WordPress a lot of flak and crap, but the bottom line is there is nothing that can compare to it that exists today.

Period.