Is WordPress good for a small business?

It can be, with someone keeping it updated, secured and lean. Without that person, most small business WordPress sites drift into slow, plugin-heavy sites that nobody wants to touch.

Why does my WordPress site keep breaking?

Usually plugin or theme updates clashing with each other or with WordPress itself. The more plugins a site has, the more often it happens.

WordPress itself is well maintained. Most hacks come through outdated or poorly written plugins and themes, which is why WordPress sites need constant updating.

Why is my WordPress site slow?

Page builders, a long list of plugins and shared hosting all add up. A site built with only the code it needs avoids most of it.

Do you build on WordPress?

No. We design every site for the business and build it in code, so there are no themes or plugins to update and nothing it doesn't need.

Will I lose my Google rankings if I leave WordPress?

Not if the move is done properly. Every old address is redirected to its new page, so search engines carry your rankings across. They usually hold through the move, and often improve once the new pages settle in.

Can I still make changes myself?

You can ask us for any change and it's made for you as part of looking after the site. Where you'd like to edit something yourself, like menus, prices or posts, we build a simple way to do it.

How long does a switch take?

Most small sites take a few weeks from the first call to launch, and your WordPress site stays live until the day we switch, so there's never a day without a website.

Compare

Stratasis vs WordPress

A site built in code for your business, or a WordPress theme held together with plugins. How they differ, what each takes to keep running, and which one you'll still be happy with in three years.

Start a project See the comparison

The short answer

WordPress vs a custom website, in two lines. Who each one is for.

Choose WordPress if

You have someone to keep it updated, and you're happy managing themes, plugins and hosting.

You have a developer on call
You don't mind managing plugins
A theme look is fine
Your host handles security
You're mostly blogging

Choose Stratasis if

You want a site that works without babysitting, built and looked after by one team.

You'd rather not run the site
You want fewer moving parts
You want a design of your own
Security handled for you
Your site has to win customers

Stratasis vs WordPress at a glance

WordPress vs a custom website, side by side. What changes for the business.

Compared

WordPress

Stratasis

Who builds itA theme, plus a page builderWe do, from a design for you

How the cost worksHosting, themes and plugin licencesA project price, then a monthly fee to run it

UpkeepCore, theme and plugin updatesLooked after for you, every month

SecurityPlugins are the usual way inNo plugins to patch

Load timePage builders and plugins add weightOnly the code the site needs

SearchAn SEO plugin on topStructure and schema, page by page

When an update breaks itYou, or a developer by the hourOne team you can call

Owning itYours, if someone can run itYour code, domain and accounts

What WordPress does, and where it falls short

Where WordPress helps, and where it holds a business back. The plain version.

Pros

Open sourceFree software you can host anywhere.
A huge plugin libraryA plugin for almost anything, of very mixed quality.
Good for bloggingIt started as a blog engine, and it shows.

Cons

Constant updatesCore, theme and plugins all need updating, and updates can clash.
A favourite targetIts popularity, and old plugins, make it the web's most attacked platform.
Page builder bloatDrag-and-drop builders add heavy code to every page.
Licences renewingPremium themes and plugins usually renew every year.
Cheap hosting, slow sitesMany small business sites sit on crowded shared hosting.
Fragile over timeYears of plugins piled up, and nobody sure what's safe to remove.

Our take

Powerful, if you like maintaining software.

WordPress can do a lot in the hands of someone who keeps it updated, secured and lean. Most small businesses don't have that person, and their site slowly turns into a pile of plugins nobody dares touch. A site built in code has fewer moving parts, and nothing to patch every week.

How a move off WordPress works

Signs your WordPress site is holding you back

When a WordPress site becomes a chore. Eight we see most.

Every plugin is one more thing that can break.

These are the problems we find on most WordPress sites we're asked to rebuild.

01Update anxietyNobody wants to press Update in case something breaks.
02A plugin for everythingTwenty-plus plugins, half of them doing one small job.
03Slow on a phonePage builders and plugins loading on every page.
04Security warningsEmails about outdated software, or worse, a hacked page.
05A theme from years agoA marketplace design, showing its age.
06Forms that fail quietlyEnquiries lost to a plugin conflict nobody noticed.
07Licences renewingYearly charges for themes and plugins no one remembers buying.
08Nobody owns itThe developer who built it moved on, and the logins went with them.

WordPress or a custom website, explained

What to weigh before you choose. In plain English.

What WordPress is, and what it isn't

WordPress is free, open-source software that runs a large share of the web. On its own it's a blogging engine. A business site is WordPress plus a theme for the look, a page builder for the layout and a stack of plugins for everything else: forms, search, caching, security, backups.

That stack is the problem. Every piece comes from a different author, updates on its own schedule and can clash with the others. The site works, until one day it doesn't.

How the cost adds up

The software is free; running it isn't. There's hosting, a premium theme, page builder and plugin licences that renew each year, and a developer's time whenever something breaks or needs changing. It's rarely one big bill, and rarely small once you add it up.

A site from Stratasis is a project price, then one monthly fee that covers hosting, updates, backups and the changes you ask for.

WordPress: hosting, licences and a developer by the hour
Stratasis: a fixed project price, then one monthly fee

Upkeep and security

A WordPress site needs its core, theme and plugins updated regularly, and updates are where things break. Skipping them is worse: outdated plugins and themes are the most common way WordPress sites get hacked.

A site built in code has no plugin stack to patch. It's monitored, backed up and kept current as part of looking after it, by the people who built it.

Load time and search

Page builders and plugins each add their own code to every page, and cheap shared hosting slows it further. The usual fix is a caching plugin, which means one more plugin.

Search on WordPress usually means an SEO plugin filling in titles and descriptions. The structure that wins local search, a page for each service and town, clean markup and structured data, comes easier when the site is built for it from the start.

Themes, page builders and design

Most business WordPress sites start from a marketplace theme, then get rearranged in a page builder. The result looks like the theme's demo with different photos, and changes are fiddly enough that nobody makes them.

A design made for your business is built exactly as designed, with nothing extra loading underneath.

Owning your site, in practice

WordPress is one place where you can own your site, and that's to its credit. In practice, though, ownership sits with whoever has the hosting login, the theme licence and the admin password, and that's often a developer who has moved on.

With Stratasis the code, the domain and every account are in your name from day one.

Moving from WordPress to a site of your own

We plan the new site, carry your pages, posts and photos across, keep your domain and redirect every old address, including the ones WordPress made, so search engines follow. Your WordPress site stays live until the switch.

Your domain stays
Every old page redirected
No day without a website

Questions and answers

Still have a question?

Ask us anything. We'll answer it straight, even if the answer is that we're not the right fit.

Ask us

It can be, with someone keeping it updated, secured and lean. Without that person, most small business WordPress sites drift into slow, plugin-heavy sites that nobody wants to touch.
Usually plugin or theme updates clashing with each other or with WordPress itself. The more plugins a site has, the more often it happens.
WordPress itself is well maintained. Most hacks come through outdated or poorly written plugins and themes, which is why WordPress sites need constant updating.
Page builders, a long list of plugins and shared hosting all add up. A site built with only the code it needs avoids most of it.
No. We design every site for the business and build it in code, so there are no themes or plugins to update and nothing it doesn't need.
Not if the move is done properly. Every old address is redirected to its new page, so search engines carry your rankings across. They usually hold through the move, and often improve once the new pages settle in.
You can ask us for any change and it's made for you as part of looking after the site. Where you'd like to edit something yourself, like menus, prices or posts, we build a simple way to do it.
Most small sites take a few weeks from the first call to launch, and your WordPress site stays live until the day we switch, so there's never a day without a website.