Why is WordPress so popular?
While WordPress powers a considerable percentage of sites, it was designed as a blogging platform. This cheatsheet will help you explain to potential customers why a website built on the Mono platform is beneficial for small- and medium businesses (SMBs).
Open source
As an open source solution, everyone is free to constantly develop and improve upon the publicly available source code of WordPress, which can be a great advantage if you know how to use HTML code.
However, this requires SMBs to ensure their website installation is up-to-date on an ongoing basis to minimize any potential security risks, and to keep up with changes in SEO requirements and technical requirements to the website. This is where most SMBs fall short on the necessary technical knowledge needed to maintain their website on their own.
Plug-ins
WordPress offers a wide variety of available plug-ins developed by third-parties. This offers endless possibilities for adding specialized functionality to your website.
However, plug-in solutions require continuous updates which could be a challenge for SMBs that need their website to work at all times. The open sourced nature of these plugins means that it is hard to distinguish reputable developers, and many SMBs will find themselves lost in the jungle of available plugins and need guidance to choose solutions that fits their needs.
Security
Some argue that they feel more secure with using an open source CMS as they will always have control of their own website code.
However, with open access to the backend code, as well as untested plug-ins, building a website on WordPress requires constant updates to not only the platform itself, but also to each and every installed plug in, to maintain security. This makes the SMBs website and business very vulnerable to attacks by hackers, from with the SMB will not be safe.
Usability
Wordpress originated as a blogging platform and quickly gained popularity due to its ease of use compared to other open source CMS.
However, since the Wordpress interface was made for blogging and content management, the tool is not made with a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor interface. Instead, you create your content in one interface, and then it is displayed in another. This setup can be confusing as users cannot see how their content will be displayed.
Portability
A website built on the WordPress platform can easily be moved to a service provider of choice, whether it be fulfillment or hosting.
However, changing service provider can be confusing for SMBs and business owners can be faced with having to redesign their website, if the existing design was based on a proprietary theme. SMBs may also be faced with multiple technical alternatives which they do not understand and may therefore not be able to choose a technical setup that meets their needs at a reasonable cost.
True cost
Building a website on the WordPress platform is completely free.
However, there are many hidden costs associated with a fully-functioning WordPress website, including hosting, themes, plugins and support. This makes the exact pricing of building, and maintaining the website very untransparent for the SMBs.
Benefits of building on our platform
While WordPress has many benefits, the Mono platform is developed and designed for SMBs. This means an easy-to-use interface, as well as features and modules that cater to the needs and functionality desired by SMBs.
Single user interface
The platform features a drag-and-drop functionality which enables you to add and edit content within our Site Editor interface, while simultaneously getting a preview of the final result. This makes it easy and intuitive to make quick updates and changes to a website built on our platform.
Content grabber and global data
Already have an existing website? Import the content using the built-in content grabber and simplify the process of building a website by importing all of the content elements of your website. These elements will be stored in our platform’s Global Data content depository which allows you to manage and display important business information, such as opening hours, reviews, images and more across multiple pages from a central content management system.
Professional design
With hundreds of ready-to-use templates included in the our platform at no extra cost, websites built on our platform have a professional design and can easily be customized with SMB customer branding and colors
No hassle hosting, security and updates
We offer a fully-hosted solution, and all websites are hosted on a fast and secure content delivery network. We handle all security risks and automatically push updates to all websites on a weekly basis. This means your customers can worry about their business and not their website.
Fully-native add-ons
We offer several add-ons that are developed with SMBs needs in mind and are are fully integrated in the platform for ease of use. This means SMBs can have access to common add-on functionalities, including on-site engagements, landing pages and customer relationship management.
Third-party integrations
We work closely with all third-party providers to ensure that their integrations are secure and that their functionality is tested. This ensures high performance and high security of SMB websites at all times.
Support
There is a fully white-labeled manual with video tutorials on the Mono platform available for you to share with your SMB customers. The availability of these self-help materials opens up the possibility to allow them to edit their website themselves.