How Wordpress Can Torture, Defeat and Bankrupt the Entrepreneur

Computers & TechnologyInternet

  • Author Kas Pl
  • Published October 11, 2011
  • Word count 557

Do you remember the video game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out for the original Nintendo? It was that miserable game you would spend all Saturday on, fighting boxers five times bigger than you only to get to Mike Tyson, who would knock you out in about 3 seconds.

After dealing with Wordpress, Joomla! and a smattering of other content management systems, I'll say this for the video game avatars: prior to being knocked out, torture was minimal.

30 years ago, entrepreneurship was about sales, cold calling, print marketing and relationship building. Now, entrepreneurship is about templates, pre-customized themes, FTP access, stylesheets and thousands of useless plug-ins.

People always talk about the importance of having a good website as an entrepreneur, however not many people talk about the giant that stands in the entrepreneurs way also known as Wordpress.

I would think that I've accomplished a decent amount in my career at a young age and would describe myself as resilient and someone who has the ability to complete tasks, however I have met my match.

A few months ago I knew that if I ever wanted to open up additional businesses, I would have to learn advanced WordPress techniques all the way to learning what is called CSS or referred to as a stylesheet which is the backend design of a website.

After hundreds of hours I have come to a few conclusions regarding WordPress and tips for the first time entrepreneur who is venturing into planning out his or her website design and layout.

The two main content management systems out there are WordPress and Joomla! and, both have thousands of websites that contain themes that the website owner can install to make their website look beautiful….or so we thought.

If you think you can simply buy one of these WordPress themes and have an All-Star website, you are a far ways away. However, you can have professionals install these Wordpress themes, though you must figure out the layout of the template and put content in accordingly.

I do recommend that you outsource this, as I've seen it come with a high opportunity cost and a huge frustration toll. Though, here are some tips to do so:

– installation, regardless what you are told of a WordPress theme takes about 20 min.

  • You want to get pricing for things such as a static homepage which only takes about 15 min. for the programmers. That is, if you design your own homepage which, for costs' sake I highly recommend. Also, if you want photos, do not waste your time enhancing, cropping, resizing photos when the programmer could do it for a few dollars.

– Before you go to a programmer, have everything regarding the design of the template as well as the content present so the programmers can transfer the files easily and cannot make the argument for hitting you with an excessive bill

– You can install your own plug-ins just get recommendations from the programmers

– There are programming options overseas for about $15 an hour, though after speaking with them, I found many companies to be disorganized and many eating me to type pages of directions instead of being able to get on the phone.

–Decent WordPress programmers in the U.S. should cost around $50 an hour and make sure you layout hourly predictions with these individuals in a firm, yet professional manner.

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