Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Is WordPress Really Free?

Type “making a WordPress website” into Google and it will return over 318,000,000 results. For millions of people trying to create a website on a shoe string budget, WordPress is where they go. After all, it is free! WordPress is an open source software without any licensing fees or proprietary code limitations, plus there are thousands of free plug-ins that can make your website perform all kinds of exciting functions that would otherwise cost you thousands if you went to a web developer. You can do-it-yourself with a plethora of online tutorials, forums and YouTube videos to offer support. As long as you’ve got the time, how can you go wrong, right? Unfortunately, it can go wrong…very wrong. More and more often we are hearing of WordPress sites that are slow, are no longer working correctly, have become infected with malware, and on, and on.

To put it in very simplistic terms, WordPress websites consist of a core content management system and a plethora of plug-ins that people add like wildfire to make their website do new and exciting things. The challenge of plug-ins is that you are putting the reliability and security of your website and any attached databases in the hands of unknown developers. While there are many very reliable and trustworthy developers of WordPress plug-ins, there are unfortunately also many unscrupulous developers who either simply write bad code or purposely provide code that is intended to cause harm. To provide an added assurance, it is always recommended to purchase plug-ins from reputable developers with a proven track record.

In addition, as WordPress is updated, many plug-ins become incompatible with the newer version. It is up to the user to maintain their website. Translation…if something breaks, you need to find it on your own, get rid of it and replace it with something that does work. We receive inquiry calls all the time from people with WordPress websites that aren’t working. These calls are the most challenging for us because our mission is always to find the best solution for our clients, and while we’re always happy to build a relationship and help people find solutions to their problems. Can we fix their issue, yes. Will we fix their issue? Yes again. Is this the best solution for them? Probably not. Very simply, if you have a WordPress website, you will encounter this issue and will continue to encounter this issue. It is the nature of the beast with only two options…acceptance that from time to time you will have issues to resolve (or pay a web developer to resolve for you) or create a website in another platform.

Finally, one of the largest risks associated with a WordPress website is its vulnerability to attack. To be fair, all websites are vulnerable to attack, however the risks of a WordPress website are simply greater. To begin, the WordPress platform itself is susceptible to brute force attacks. A plug-in can be used to add additional security to your site, but that brings us back to the beginning, doesn’t it? Just last week, there was a report on pcworld.com of an estimate 50,000 WordPress sites were hacked because of the vulnerability of a newsletter plug-in. There are a ton of bots running around 24/7 searching through login possibilities just trying to come up with the magic combination that will let them access the website and distribute malware, spam, etc. to unsuspecting website visitors. The Sucuri blog posted some staggering statistics last week about the recent rise in usage of these bots. I highly recommend that anyone with a WordPress website read this post: http://blog.sucuri.net/2014/07/new-brute-force-attacks-exploiting-xmlrpc-in-wordpress.html.

So, we have to ask…is WordPress really free?

Select Web Solutions’ WebZeo product provides affordable website solutions in Orange County, CA.  WebZeo is designed to meet every budget, from a do-it-yourself package for $9.95 per month, including hosting, to several full-service options. Our commitment is to build a cost effective website strategy that meets the unique needs and budget of every client. Click on the links to the right to learn more about us.

WebZeo is a provider of affordable websites in Orange County, CA. WebZeo is a division of Select Web Solutions, LLC, an Orange County, CA website developer in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. Select Web Solutions is a provider of web services in Orange County; including  custom website design, website development, mobile websites, website hosting, online marketing, search engine optimization, social media services, newsletter services, email services, logo design and web consulting in Orange County, California.