WordPress as a content management system is brilliant, in fact, it’s been the platform of choice for us since around 2009.
We’ve built complex multi-user, multi-lingual, multi-functioning intranets, many ecommerce stores and basic, brochure type websites with WordPress and continue to do so.
At the end of 2018 a new version was released that caused a lot of negative reaction within the WordPress community. In a nutshell, they replaced the traditional editing experience with a rushed and confusing system, called Gutenberg, that caused a lot of stress – something that goes against the principles of using WordPress.

Although we totally recommend WordPress still some businesses have started looking around for other ways of building a website, also we are always open minded to recommending more task specific platforms.

So, what are the alternatives?
What you should use to build yourself a profitable online presence purely depends on what you’re looking to use it for.
A blogging platform?
Your main online store?
A central online point of reference for your firm?
A membership organisation?
All the above?
And more?

If you’re not 100% convinced on using WordPress, here are 3 alternatives, and of course, why you should use these platforms totally comes down to what you want to do with them.

Let’s Get SAASy
Squarespace provides software as a service for building websites – which means they provide a web builder and do all the hosting, security and updates for you. Using their system you can use the pre-built templates and drag and drop elements to create webpages.

There’s no open-source option to download so you’re stuck using their premium, locked down system.
For a simple website, you’re looking at paying from £10 a month which is not bad, but, of course, once you stop using their system you can lose everything so make sure you have all your content backed-up.

Selling My Stuff
If you’re looking to run an online store you should take a serious look at PrestaShop.
PrestaShop is an open source e-commerce solution currently used by approximately 250,000 stores worldwide, is available in 60 different languages and comes in 2 versions (like WordPress).
PrestaShop Ready is the hosted ecommerce platform allowing you to set out your stall and let them worry about security, updates and payment processing.

PrestaShop download is the self-hosted version which, essentially, means you can download the software and install it on your own server.
The beauty of this is that you’ll have more control of the functions and look and feel but, of course then you will need to maintain, secure and update manually – obviously not a problem if you choose to outsource this task to us!

But I Love The Old WordPress
As mentioned before, in the last major update, WordPress changed the way you interact with page and post creation leading to a lot of confusion and frustration and, more seriously, gave everyone an insight into the organisations’ very real long-term plans.
A vital element in the growth of WordPress is that it has always been open-source and community led which basically means anyone can take the core application and change it to suit their needs.
An organisation jumped on this opportunity and created what is now commonly known as ClassicPress.

ClassicPress is a modified and enhanced version of WordPress (without Gutenberg) that serves the business website market.
In plain English ClassicPress is a fork of WordPress with a focus on reliability, security and stability specifically built with businesses and professionals in mind.
It has the power of traditional WordPress and can be used to create anything that traditional WordPress could.

Technically there are 2 versions of ClassicPress – you can download and install on your own server or, simply migrate your current version of WordPress to ClassicPress by using their clever plugin.

Ultimately though, as long as you’re comfortable with the platform, it’s your content that will win you sales, so, the advice here is to do some research on the platform that is right for you, and, when you’re happy, get creating and of course, get in touch if you need a hand.

 
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