Is Webflow better than WordPress?

Category:
Webflow
Dec. 13, 2020
5 min. read

In the digital day and age we live in, having a strong online presence is more important than ever for any brand or business to survive. Staying ahead of the competition is hard but it is vital to have a good website to draw in new customers and keep current customers coming back for more time and time again. For those who want to build their own websites, the question becomes- which platform is best for building a business webpage?  Two top contenders today are Webflow and WordPress. The obvious question now becomes- is Web-flow better than WordPress for the average business owner?

Webflow

What You Need to Know About Webflow

Web-flow is a relatively new website builder compared to the other platform giant everyone seems to know about. It is based within the digital cloud and, like any good website made for website creation and maintenance, it allows users to build websites with no need for long lines of code or complicated programming lingo and data entry. The true strength of the platform, however, and what really sets Webflow part from similar platforms, is the stunning array of customization options it has. This is where it blows most of the competition out of the water.

“Webflow is a popular choice for web designers because of the higher degree of customization. Web designers have more experience working with websites and get excited by the variety of choices made available, compared to beginners who tend to feel a bit overwhelmed in trying to make everything perfect” (Veza Digital).

Webflow Pros

  • Drag and drop functions for easy webpage creation and editing
  • Intuitive editor that is fast and easy to master
  • Work directly with CMS data to create a beautiful eCommerce site
  • Responsive page settings, features, designs, and elements
  • Work with reusable CSS classes
  • Full access to color swatches, shades, color coding, and color matching
  • Publish straight to the web
  • Platform includes fully integrated marketing tools and data collecting
  • Create scroll-based animations, graphics, and banners
  • Specialty customization and integrations not available anywhere else

The Benefits of Using Webflow

Webflow gives you a great deal of freedom to create a website that is truly yours and that speaks to your brand, products, and services. Every page can be completely customized so you can build websites without the need for any coding or specialized training beyond a basic introductory tutorial to the platform layout. You are in complete control and can set up, build, and customize your pages however you want. Websites are easy to set up to be SEO friendly for maximum traffic and search engine results with the build-in tools and performance tracker features. Webflow is designed so you can easily make edits to your page directly on the page, so you can see exactly what your page will look like before you hit publish. The powerful hosting platform gives you the power to stream on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices with minimal downtime or loading issues for your visitors. You also get a fully certified SSL certificate included with your website creation for your peace of mind.

Webflow Cons

For those who have been using other platforms for many years and who have built websites in the past with other templates, there will be a bit of a learning curve when using Webflow for the first time. This is especially if you have never done much outside of WordPress based website design. Also, compared to open source products that have a variety of user-supplied content, Webflow can be a shock to the budget as it is much more expensive. That said, they do have a growing library of templates, tutorials, training options, and features that are not available with other platforms. So, for those looking for a professional website that will be easy to maintain for the long term, making the initial investment into Webflow may be the answer you have been looking for.

What You Need to Know About WordPress

Anyone who has made a website in the last 15years or so likely made it with WordPress. It is the name everyone thinks of when someone starts talking about website development and design. It has stood the test of time and is often considered to be the oldest and still most popular platform for small businesses and individuals to build ad grow their online presence and increase brand reconditions among target audiences.

“WordPress is without a doubt the most popular way to build a website, and it currently powers an astonishing 34% of the internet. WordPress is an open source software which means it’s completely free for anyone to use, you just need to pay for your hosting. You can use WordPress to build blogs, websites, build an online store, display your portfolio, and much more” (Veza Digital).

WordPress Pros

  • Customizable layouts and designs elements for maximum creativity
  • SEO Friendly tools to help ensure good keyword ranking on searches
  • Mobile responsive sites and easy to monitor load and drop reports
  • High Performance for mobile apps and on the go access
  • High-security settings and encryption for data protection
  • Powerful media management settings while still being easily accessible
  • Over 54,000 WordPress plugin options for maximum customization
  • Huge community of pros and users to help address problems

The Benefits of Using WordPress

WordPress is a powerful free to use, only pay for the online hosting of the website, making it a very affordable option for anyone just starting out. The platform is completely customizable, giving you full control over how your site looks, flows, and is laid out. You can get access to thousands of extensions and plugins to choose from so you can create a truly custom and personalized website. WordPress is very easy for anyone to use with no need for coding if you don’t want to, meaning that even a complete beginner can have a great looking website up and running in a matter of hours. WordPress has some of the best SEO tracking and optimization tools available for a strong ranking in search engine rankings. With a strong and loyal user base there are thousands of integrations already designed and available for WordPress, so no matter what tools you use for your website, chances are they work with WordPress.

WordPress Cons

While WordPress is fairly straightforward and has a minimal learning curve for most people to learn and the pre-designed templates and themes are very user friendly, there are some drawbacks to the platform. In order to have a completely original and customized design, you will need to do hand code work yourself or hire a developer who can alter the basic code of the site. Since your WordPress website is owned and managed by you, you are responsible for all updates and maintenance to your website in most cases which means there is more maintenance and updating work involved on your end. WordPress is also considered by many to be an antique and outdated platform that is not getting the updates, attention, and advancement other platforms are enjoying. So this might mean it is not the best long-term solution for your website.

In the Webflow vs WordPress debate, there is a lot of back and forth that goes on and some businesses may benefit from one over the other. But now you can discover the WordPress alternative for yourself and see which one is best suited for your wants and needs and your business’ growth.

About the Author

Payton Smith

I am a Webflow user and SEO enthusiast. I founded Pait Digital because I like to build cool things for awesome clients.

My joy in life is my family, cooking delicious meat and enjoying Idaho summers.
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