In this post I will try to cover the reasons behind so many businesses now trying to move there website from a Content Management System like Joomla to the all conquering WordPress. It goes without saying we are massive fans of WordPress and therefore this post may be a little bias but at the same time the trend these days is to get away from the Joomla CMS and get onto WordPress, so why is this the case and why is this trend growing, and why move from Joomla to WordPress? Before we even list out the reasons it’s important to note that you need to consider what you are trying to achieve with your website. For the majority of our clients, the goal is:

• to build attractive websites that are easy to use/update,
• they are easy to maintain from a core software and plugin point of view
• they are reliable and rank very well on Google and other search engines

I want to use a Custom CMS am I making a good decision?

Before I consider WordPress I want to know why I don’t use a custom or Propriety Content Management System. Well here at JamJo we do not use them at all and for good reason we believe. With new browser versions coming out weekly, new technology, new coding languages and security threats etc, it simply takes too much time and staffing resources for any proprietary solution to develop fast enough and keep up with the times whilst also staying secure and safe. Right now even after you launch your website you will almost definitely need a support plan from your website design company to keep the core CMS and it’s plugins up to date and there is no way a cost effective propriety solution can really claim it can do this.

 WordPress and Joomla the benefits!

Obviously both CMS systems have great benefits. Here at JamJo we have intimate knowledge of Joomla and have used it exclusively in the past so we certainly do not hate it and it has it’s place for sure.

• Both are open source solutions open to the public to download and try out at any stage.
• Both have a large community developing new extensions and plugins daily.
• Both stay up to date releasing new versions to fix bugs, create security patches, and enhance the CMS.
• Both are easy to customize and have extensive support and help documentation.
• Both are SEO friendly and allow you to modify the meta tags, page titles, and set up search engine friendly URL structures.
• Both have a large design community who have developed many different theme frameworks.

So why move from Joomla to WordPress then?

• Fast set up, easy and quick to deploy. Seems lighter and faster to develop on top of.
• Speed and website load time is faster than most. (Better for SEO and visitor retention).
• File structure is simpler than Joomla and more intuitive. Very easy for first time users to understand.
• Handles content and photo websites very well – it began as a blogging platform and continues in this vein.
• The most common customization options are built in and easy to understand.
• Navigation and widget management is drag and drop. Much easier to use than Joomla Modules.
• Basic computer users can learn to manage a WordPress website easier. In fact its the easier option out there.
• Has very good documentation about all the hooks that can be used a massive community of developers.
• Shortcodes make it easy to code custom features that a website admin can easily drop in where needed like buttons and forms.
• Site URL structure is easy to set up through Permalinks and using Categories – great for Search Engine Optimzation.
• More stable than Joomla. It doesn’t seem to break quite as often. This means a reliable site far into the future.
• WordPress uses many less files to operate and seems to have less code bloat – meaning speed and Google search engines love speed.
• SEO changes are easier to admin, pages are easier to find.
• Very fast powerful search features on the back end help you find what you are looking for quickly.
• The best solution for the majority of business websites.
• A first time user on Joomla will need days to understand even how it’s all organised. WordPress is simple in comparison.
• Super for eCommerce in the past year.

Security a major concern.

We have seen in the past year alone an alarming amount of websites which were built on Joomla becoming unusable due to a hack or malware of some kind infecting the website. The same can be said of WordPress of course however the WordPress website can be kept up to date so much easier and rarely breaks when you update it and if you have a good WordPress maintenance plan you need never worry about this. Joomla sites on the other hand tend to require loads and loads of work in order to get the theme and plugins to work if you move from say Joomla 1.5 to Joomla 2.5 for example. The upgrade process is very involved and rarely smooth on Joomla websites. WordPress on the other hand has a very smooth and reliable upgrade process. Business clients appreciate a website that is well maintained and supported after it is launched. JamJo supplies this service in the form of our WordPress Maintenance plans in a very cost effective way.

We sometimes get asked if the price of these maintenance plans is too high. For the sake of paying for 1 hour a month of development time your WordPress website will be running the lastest CMS version and the latest plugin version and reduces the possibility of ever being hacked, pitch this against a WordPress website without a maintenance plan and well, it’s simply a matter of time until that threaded day comes and you are spending many multiples of this fee to even recover the site – and after that you need to pay again to get it up to date or your site will simply get infected again. In the past a website without a maintenance plan would last some time before it went out of date. In today’s world it will last about 1 month maximum before any plugin will be out of date and about 2-3 months before the entire WordPress website itself is out of date. What does this mean; well it means you will get infected and your site will go offline at some point.

Our advice is always keep your WordPress core up to date and also all the plugins. WordPress allows this process to run smoothly and reliably and Joomla does not, so we always recommend WordPress. We most definitely recommend it when it comes to eCommerce, never launch an eCommerce website without a regular maintenance plan because we customer information on your website and also even payment information on your website you cannot afford to not keep your WordPress core and plugins up to date. If you are using an old Joomla website for eCommerce we certainly recommend moving from Joomla to WordPress.

Moving from an old Joomla website to WordPress – just get in touch and we can see how we can help with the migration and the setup of a professional WordPress maintenance plan to make sure your site never goes out of date again.