There have been all sorts of high-profile fights over trademarks, but for a lot of people the one that was the biggest of them was between the World Wrestling Federation and the World Wildlife Federation. Back then the appeal of Hulk Hogan and crew was more than a thousand cute pandas could ever match and you’d have thought Vince McMahon’s deep pockets would see to it they’d keep WWF for themselves. Not the case however, and the WWF has officially stood for World Wildlife Federation for 30+ years now.
Now it would seem like a real abdominal stretch to think this could have anything to do with web hosting and WordPress websites, but hear us out. The reason that web publishing platform giant WordPress has recently banned the WP engine browser is related to a trademark dispute too, and with WP being the first-letters acronym for WordPress you can see why they’d have a problem with this. The stand off has led to it being that you can’t use WP engine with their websites, and this has people looking for WP engine alternatives for WordPress.
The reason this news has quite a bit of buzz to it right now is because so many people have a WordPress website and chose it because of the web publishing simplicity that WordPress is renowned for. If it wasn’t powering the majority of simple websites on the Internet it wouldn’t be such a big deal but it is, and so the impact of WP engine ban on WordPress sites is quite considerable right now. Those who’ve set up their site to be working with it likely think they have a lot of backtracking to do now, but that may not be entirely the case.
This is all a fairly recent development, and as such it’s a very relevant discussion right now. It may be even more of one for those who have a WordPress website for small business in Canada and they foresee problems with their ability to continue to conduct eCommerce operations. WP engine alternatives for WordPress are what we’ll look at quickly with this week’s blog entry. These are the types of topics where you can look to a good Canadian web hosting provider to give you some semi-expert insight, including how to ensure your site stays secure – learn more.
Transition Time
For about the last 3 months the web development community has been abuzz with news that the WP Engine has officially banned by the WordPress foundation. That wouldn’t be a big deal if it wasn’t a popular platform that powers millions of websites, but the reality is that’s exactly what the WP Engine is for people and why the impact of WP engine ban on WordPress sites is such a big deal right now.
The reason it’s come to this is a legal dispute regarding trademark usage, as we discussed at the beginning here. But now most of the users scrambling for solutions aren’t going to care one bit about who’s right and who’s wrong with regards to a name trademark. Their focus is going to be on the continued solidity of their site, and this going to be even more true for a small business owner or an aspiring web developer. One thing that’s going to apply to all of them is that it may be time to rethink your website strategy.
We can spend a little bit of time looking back at WordPress’ beginnings and what occurred to make it the world’s #1 web publishing platform and eventually led to it becoming the best choice for building a simple website for yourself. Most people won’t need to be told of plugins and themes, so we’ll get right to the more formative details here.
From Blogs to Sites of All Sorts
WordPress experienced explosive growth in popularity and the extent to which people were using it for more than just putting a blog online. The platform got its start just over 20 years ago, in 2003, and back then it was a simple blogging that tool that was destined to evolve into a robust content management system (CMS) that is now the engine behind around 40% or more of all websites on the internet.
Way back then creators Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little came up with the idea for WordPress as a response to the need for a user-friendly blogging platform. Needless to say that vision grew into a huge success and it all came around relatively quickly. However, all of that was not without challenges and the most notable of them were vulnerabilities. Most pieces of software grow into their final versions through a process of trial and error, and this was true for WordPress too.
What happened was that dependency on plugins, security threats, and performance issues started to develop into major stumbling blocks in the effort to make WordPress as plug n’ play as possible when it came to publishing web content. Where we are now with all of this is that the vulnerabilities have led to many to be reconsidering their reliance on a platform that could become unreliable overnight, as is potentially the case with recent ban on WP Engine.
Common Pain Points
It’s quite understandable that if there’s one group that’s more concerned than others it’s going to be those small business owners who until now haven’t had any issue to question their decision to go with WordPress for their website. That despite there being a number of pain point for WordPress that have been known well in advance of this new development where WP Engine has been banned by the software makers.
First and foremost of them is the dependency on plugins. They can add functionality, but the flipside of utilizing them is that they can also end up causing conflicts, slow loading times, and security issues. The last one of those 3 is going to be the most worrisome for a lot of webmaster, and if that’s you then it’s good to look into how to ensure your site stays secure – learn more.
All of this creates a need to keep track of plugin updates nearly all the time, and that is magnified by the fact that there are over 50,000 plugins available in the WordPress repository. Slow page loading times are next, and when you use many page builders they can slow down a site quite a bit and this negatively affects user experience and search rankings.
Not to mention the way a sluggish website can deter potential customers. You’ve probably know what a bounce rate means and there are statistics that suggest more than 40% of visitors will ‘bounce’ from a website if a page takes any more than 3 seconds to load. Another major dissuader is going to be security concerns, and as great as WordPress is for building a simple website it has always been a prime target for hackers. So much so that it is believed that 90% of the websites that get hacked easily were built on WordPress.
Regular updates and security measures are essential, which can be both time-consuming and costly. The hope for some now may be that WP engine alternatives for WordPress might take away some of these unappealing aspects of using what is otherwise an unbeatably simple platform for taking yourself online. But limited customization is something that they shouldn’t expect to see any difference with. Themes do offer flexibility, but they often constrain the ability to create a unique online presence.
It's for this reason that customizing a site can feel like fitting square pegs trying to go into round holes. Increasingly expensive costs have to be looked at too, and you had better believe that premium themes, plugins, and hosting fees sure do add up over time. A lot of businesses will be spending over $800 annually on WordPress services, and that may well be making it a very expensive option.
Custom Solutions
Moving over the other side of your considerations here, there are solid long-term benefits of building a custom website using technologies like vanilla JavaScript and Eleventy. This may be your best bet for WP engine alternatives for WordPress. For starters, they’re going to be more tailored to your business’ needs and goals. Because of that you’ll have more flexibility with design and functionality and it will be easier to align either with your brand too.
If you’re planning to do that then customization is key, and remember the most successful brands stand out because of their unique web presence. Custom sites can be optimized for speed, leading to improved user experiences and better search engine rankings. Having full control over your code is a huge plus, and you can ensure efficiency. Another consideration for you is that custom code means you aren’t dependent on any platform's rules.
Being able to make changes without the fear of a third-party service shutting down or becoming unstable is really great, and the lack of it is really noticeable with the current situation where WP Engine has now been banned by WordPress. Let’s move on to discuss improved security and website scalability. Custom websites are always more secure, and even though it was nine years ago the Yahoo hack of 2013 was a big reminder of the importance of website security.
You’re going to like to have easy scalability too, as it’s something any webmaster is going to have go through when a site grows in step with the business it’s representing. Custom solutions can easily evolve to accommodate new features or changes, allowing for seamless growth, and obtaining more of that for yourself may be connected to the impact of WP engine ban on WordPress sites
We’ll conclude this blog entry by saying that transitioning from WordPress or page builders to a custom website shouldn’t intimidate you, and especially if you’re used to using ready-made approaches for anything related to the management of a website. In nearly every instance investing in a custom solution pays off large in the long run, and with it you’re more likely to have the independence and control essential for online success. Ensure your site stays secure – learn more here when you check back with our blog often here at 4GoodHosting.
