Any thoughts on Wordpress?

[NewBoy2011]

I've been advised to use Wordpress to design my relatively straightforward business site (Home page, brief details of what I do, contacts form etc).

Alternatively there is Moonfruit and various WYSIWYG style design software of course.

I'm looking to keep costs as low as possible and my needs are fairly basic, but I would like .com and .co.uk domains and a reliable hosting service so does anyone have any suggestions as to whether WP is the way forward and which host works best or any pitfalls etc etc.

My own knowledge is fairly low so I would be grateful to have some first hand opinions. Thanks all!

 

[chip_y2kuk]

For a simple website try something like joomla or drupal both are content management systems and designed to do what you want.

Wordpress is a blogging platform and can be used to make a nice looking website but requires more tweaking than a content management system.

joe

I've been advised to use Wordpress to design my relatively straightforward business site (Home page, brief details of what I do, contacts form etc).

Alternatively there is Moonfruit and various WYSIWYG style design software of course.

I'm looking to keep costs as low as possible and my needs are fairly basic, but I would like .com and .co.uk domains and a reliable hosting service so does anyone have any suggestions as to whether WP is the way forward and which host works best or any pitfalls etc etc.

My own knowledge is fairly low so I would be grateful to have some first hand opinions. Thanks all!

 

[cholland]

Wordpress sounds ideal for what you need. When choosing a host I would recommend looking for one that has one click installs for Wordpress - saves a bit of time!

Chris

 

[mit74]

Wordpress isn't just blog software anymore and can be tailored to how you want it. It's highly recommended these days as it is considerably cheaper to maintain and customize in the long run.

 

[upsite]

Wordpress isn't just for blogs. I would recommend it for your basic site over other CMS's as it has more themes, plugins and so on. I've found it easier to use for beginners than a number of other platforms.

I like Moonfruit, but I would avoid it.

 

[upsite]

Wordpress isn't just for blogs. I would recommend it for your basic site over other CMS's as it has more themes, plugins and so on. I've found it easier to use for beginners than a number of other platforms.

I like Moonfruit, but I would avoid it.

 

[Remote Resources]

Wordpress is fantastic. All of my sites are Wordpress based. They are very intuitive, you can manipulate them to look how you want and most of all, you have total control over content and layout.
You can even get professional looking templates from themeforest for next to nothing.

 

[springbrook99]

I've been advised to use Wordpress to design my relatively straightforward business site (Home page, brief details of what I do, contacts form etc).

Alternatively there is Moonfruit and various WYSIWYG style design software of course.

I'm looking to keep costs as low as possible and my needs are fairly basic, but I would like .com and .co.uk domains and a reliable hosting service so does anyone have any suggestions as to whether WP is the way forward and which host works best or any pitfalls etc etc.

My own knowledge is fairly low so I would be grateful to have some first hand opinions. Thanks all!

Wordpress is an excellent platform and it's so much more than just a blogging system.
It's not a design tool though - you don't design your site in Wordpress - you import a "theme" for the design.

You can get these from dozens of different places, including free ones on the Wordpress site itself. As has been mentioned, Themeforest is a good place to get more professional looking themes.

As for contact forms etc.. you can install plugins to do all this stuff for you without too much technical knowledge.

 

[Corrosive]

As long as you are careful where you get your free themes from (some carry nasty surprises) then I'd say Wordpress is a good tool for building (and managing) your website.

It's not great though. Too much template hacking to get what you want for my liking. ModX CMS is better for me as a front-end developer.

 

[refinedline]

Wordpress can work as a really powerful CMS, we use it to power most of our websites since the back end is nice and user friendly.

Make sure you pick a decent theme, it could be worth buying a custom/unique theme, as your site would benefit from it. Most hosts should offer Wordpress set up.

If you are interested, we offer Wordpress install on our hosting, which is £30 per year. Can also sort your domain out for you.

 

[Digital Investments]

I actually quite like Moonfruit, I normally stay well clear of these sorts of websites, but we done two Moon fruit projects the start of this year and they came up well:

http://goodmanmarsh.com/
http://www.kilburnchase.com/

However, stick with Wordpress, the functionality, thus options, are a million times better. Pick up a decent theme (themforest.net is a good place to start) and tailor to your individual needs

 

[JazMajor]

I have Wordpress blog and an e-commerce site. I upload the products I sell through Worpress Shopp.. i'm still loving it.

 

[Web Ninja]

Hi,
I have set up many, many Wordpress sites, always a good option.
I've found UK2 the best host by far with very few problems over the years.
If you need a good Wordpress theme, get in touch and I'll be happy to recommend a few.