WordPress vs Website

[kidino]

Just would like to share that I LOVE WORDPRESS. I've been building websites for offline business lately and I use WordPress for ALL OF THEM. OK, I can design a WordPress theme and make it to behave more like a corporate website than a blog. And at the same time, using the Settings > Reading, I can move the blog to the side, having more corporate pages as main...

Running a website on WordPress makes so much easier to maintain and update.

I shameless plug - if you need a corporate / business website running on WordPress, look me up, OK.

[Monna Ellithorpe]

Thanks everyone for all of the advice and help.

I got sidetracked this week with being ill and the 1st anniversary of my husband's passing, and outside business meetings, so I hope to get back to work on it next week.

[carlos123]

Sorry to hear of your husband's passing last year Monna. That must have been real hard on you. Good to see you getting back into the swing of things.

Regarding whether to use Wordpress or your own web site...I am a bit late to the party here but I did have a couple of thoughts that might prove useful.

Wordpress code is not written as efficiently as it could be. The source code that one would be modifying for example to create a custom theme is filled with all kinds of superflous code fragments that really aren't neccessary and make the code harder to read and harder to work with. That's because the code is written in a way that attempts to make it easier for people that don't know how to write PHP which of course makes it real hard to work with for people that know how to create PHP scripts in that they have to trudge through all the uneccesary code fragments.

More importantly, I don't know if you all know this, but any source code developed to create a Wordpress theme does not belong to the creator of that code. It belongs to Wordpress! Legally it is considered a derivative work of Wordpress itself and must be licensed under the same license as Wordpress itself.

The graphics and such used in a theme belong to anyone creating them but not the source code.

Just something to bear in mind.

I worked with Wordpress some but decided to develop my own PHP scripts and otherwise hand code my web sites from now on. It's much cleaner that way. The code loads quicker and uses less server resources and bandwidth. And I have complete control over what I do with it.

It is true that I lose some time effectiveness in having to re-create things but in reality I gain in the long run in that I am not tied to Wordpress.

A Wordpress installation uses a lot of files that one may not even use in one's web site. My custom installation takes less than 1/10 of what Wordpress uses and the final result is the same as far as what appears on the screen (or will be as soon as I add some more functionality to my code classes).

There's just no substitute for doing things yourself if you can do so and know how to. I can do whatever I want, when I want, and however I want to do it on my site without having to wait for Wordpress to make some capability available through a plug-in.

For example one thing Wordpress does not have that I will add to my own blog. The capability to have readers sign up to receive email notification of new posts only in a certain category, only once a week or every day, only to receive notication of new comments or no comments, only for so long, and so forth. I can work all that and more into my own blog.

With Wordpress...well...I am entirely dependent on them.

Just some thoughts to ponder. Rolling one's own site is really not that difficult if one knows how to do it.

Carlos

[Monna Ellithorpe]

Thank you Carlos. Yes it has been hard and today was especially hard.

I did try to work with WordPress some a little today, although I know not a good day to try and concentrate on anything but I am beginning to wonder if I do want to transfer everything to WordPress.

I cannot write code from scratch but I can edit and do what I need to do on a regular website and looking at the WordPress codes today, I was totally lost and had no idea of where to start to even make one small change in the header.

I am definitely not happy with the way my website looks now but at least, like you said I can change it and I know how to change it and work with it and have total control and not have to learn something completely new again.

[carlos123]

Hi Monna,

If I can perhaps bring some cheer into your difficult day I will be happy to look at the source code in Wordpress that you are having trouble understanding to see if I can help you make heads or tails of it.

I can't guarantee that I will be able to spend a whole lot of time helping you understand it Monna as I am very busy (trying to make a conventional living while I continue hoping for my day of success at building an internet based business of passive income ) but I will certainly give you whatever tid bits of insight I can share with you on the code you are having trouble with.

Just cut and snip it into this thread, post your questions about it, and I'll see what I can see in it to help you understand it.

Carlos

[nar321]

Thank you, I will.

I am still working on it and trying to decide exactly how I want to proceed.

This is the site I have up now, thanks to the help of Loretta and Val in helping me get it set up (they are in no way responsible for the mess I have created with it).

http://www.beginnerinternetmarketingcenter.com

I am just not happy with the look of it. It looks boring, cluttered and just overall unappealing to me and I was thinking if I switch it to WordPress, I could do a lot more to improve the looks of it and the layout.

I also know I am in a competitive market but it's something I've wanted to do for a long time, so if it takes me a while to get somewhere with it, that's okay, I have other things I am working on too (but not too many).

I went to your Site and would have to agree with your assesment. The pea green header doesn't cut it, you have at least one broken link as the "Contact me" didn't work.

I would agree that a WordPress theme , with the right plug-ins and less content on the home page or put better more focused content. prehaps a "Static page" for the home page on some aspct of IM or your take on IM(internet Marketing) after exploring it for awhile(Good.bad, or indifferent is okay & how it can or should be improved) Think of IM as the Wild West(which I assure you it is)and go from there. With SSWT being both a fort and a beacon of light to guide you along the IM path. The only silly questions are those you self censor.

[nar321]

There is a option, fully or partially customized WP themes.Do a Google search for both. Or use Elance.com, also RentaCoder.com to have someone do it for you

[carlos123]

I agree about the pee green header not looking very good Monna. Other than that though your site is not too bad in appearance. It does look like a marketing web site to me though.

And if truth be told like a site from someone who has not actually succeeded in the field of internet marketing yet from some of the ways in which you express yourself. There seems to be little cofidence behind your words Monna. Nothing personal...just stating it like it comes across to me.

May I make a rather bold suggestion Monna?

I would highly and I mean highly suggest that you get away from the IM niche entirely and create a sight centered around something else in your life that you are passionate about.

Otherwise you are going to be trying to make a living from a niche that is filled with gurus all over the place all trying to make a buck. Offering the latest key and the latest red hot idea, so called, that will catapult the rest of us into internet success.

Lynn is really one of the most refreshing internet marketing voices around I think. Even better than Jimmy D. Brown in my opinion in some respects (he comes across like a typical internet marketer...always trying to sell you something but unlike many he is really good in what he says so I put up with it). Lynn comes across like just a common lady doing an uncommon thing really well! I can relate to that and while I have dropped a gazillion other internet marketing newsletters filled with rah, rah marketing gibberish I have held on to hers and almost always read every word.

Anyway back to your site Monna...I don't have time to really dig into it on my own and give you feedback on changing the underlying Wordpress code. But if you post a section of actual Wordpress code that you need help to understand I will be happy to help you with that.

Carlos

[Monna Ellithorpe]

Carlos and Nar321,

I thank you so much for taking the time to make suggestions and I know you are right. I have tried to go into something I can't compete in.

I have a blog that I have had for about a year now, ever since my husband passed away. I started it to get through my grief and I also have a few Squidoo lenses on the same subject and I get a good amount of traffic to those.

I have not tried to monetize them really but do have some affiliate links in them. To be honest, I felt like I would be taking advantage but there are so many issues I have had to deal with being a military widow that I could expand on in that area. Veterans benefits, health care costs, dealing with loss, dealing with children and grief, taking care of yourself going through grief and I could go on and on.

If you wouldn't mind taking a look at those and see what you think. I would appreciate it.

http://grief-life-during-and-after.blogspot.com/
http://www.squidoo.com/How-To-Write-a-Funeral-Eulogy
http://www.squidoo.com/hellofromheaven
http://www.squidoo.com/howtodealwithgrief
http://www.squidoo.com/iwasntreadytosaygoodbye

[anitahampl]

Hi Monna,
My thoughts are with you during such a difficult week. I cannot imagine how it all feels to you, I hope happy memories fill your mind.

Re: your websites, your heart and your attitude are sincere and you are providing a real service to people who are bereft and not sure where to turn for advice.

One thing that was emphasized at the NAMS conference (we're saving you a seat for January 29-31 BTW ) was, "It is spiritual to pay your own bills." I heard that from more than one presenter.

Monna, you are uniquely qualified to offer advice, ideas and links to resources to this NICHE. I could cobble together some stuff from Google and throw together a few 7-step Ezine Articles, or whatever, but YOU are investing your time and hard-won knowledge to assemble this stuff to help people.

Your time is valuable, you are saving people time and from being mislead when they are vulnerable, and it is okay for you to be compensated if the market will bear it.

Go get 'em, girl!

God bless you,
Anita