Are you currently searching for a new content management system (CMS) to power the backend of your website? Both Sitecore and WordPress are popular digital platforms, but how do you know which one is right for your business? Their differing features and functionality make each of them better suited to different types of businesses with differing goals and requirements. It is therefore important to differentiate each platform to identify which best fits your business’ needs.
As you know it’s vital to choose the right CMS for your business, so in this blog post, we’ve outlined some of the key differences between Sitecore and WordPress and provided insights into which would be the best platform for your business.
Sitecore is one of the world’s leading CMS platforms. It originated in Denmark, where it was first introduced to the market in 2001. From there, it has grown from strength to strength to become an extremely successful global business, that supports some of the world's most trafficked websites and companies, like EasyJet and L'Oreal.
Pros:
Personalisation – Sitecore offers the option to use personalisation to improve UX as well as increase conversion rates. Marketers can choose to display personalised content based on what web pages customers have previously visited and what emails they have opened. Sitecore Cortex, a feature of the Sitecore 9 release provides machine learning and marketing automation capabilities that will further help create seamless customer journeys.
When creating a website for Smart Energy GB we utilised personalisation strategies to keep their site customer-centric as well as promoting the adoption of smart meters.
Content Management - Sitecore and WordPress’s content editors are both easy to use and provide the standard scheduling, editing and other tools you’d expect to find in a modern CMS platform. However, we love Sitecore that bit more as it goes one step further with its ability to publish content across multiple sites with one single authorisation, making it much easier for you to use, as well as saving time and money.
Scalability – Sitecore is designed to work over multiple territories as well as increasing audience volumes, giving businesses all the room, they need to grow.
Testing – Testing content and learning from test results is an important part of marketing. Unlike WordPress, Sitecore doesn’t require any additional budget as testing features are inbuilt. Marketers can use A/B or multi-variate testing without additional support.
Cons:
Deployment – Sitecore builds can be anything you want them to be, meaning it is perfect for bespoke website builds, hence it takes longer to build. Everything about Sitecore websites are unique to the organisation’s requirements. Understandably it takes longer than one month to design websites that are robust, versatile and deliver a high level of functionality and security.
The price tag - A Sitecore website comes at a much higher cost than that of basic CMS providers as each Sitecore build is entirely bespoke and customised to meet the individual company’s needs and requirements.
WordPress appeared way back in 2003 as an open-source blogging platform. As its popularity grew, it morphed into a content management system, supporting a huge array of plugins.
Pros:
Cost – As WordPress doesn’t require a licence this means it’s ‘basically’ free. However, while WordPress itself is free, if you want to benefit from the same capabilities as Sitecore then you will need to spend on added plugins and development time, meaning the cost of total ownership can work out on par.
SEO - Being one of the most popular platforms in the world, it’s well trusted by Google. There are also many plugins available to boost your site’s SEO performance.
Cons:
Originality - Whilst WordPress may be easy to use this strength is also one of its biggest flaws. Organisations looking for a unique brand identity might struggle to achieve this without a team of skilled developers due to the restrictive themes. To change anything or be original with content, requires plugins, time, and money.
Security - As WordPress wasn’t built as a CMS, many plug-ins must be added to fill in the gaps. Without close monitoring, they are especially vulnerable to hacking.
Speed - It’s not the fastest. Some themes contain lots of unnecessary coding, which can slow your site down. WordPress sites are usually especially slow.
Updates - Keeping up to date with the latest update of WordPress is important for your site’s health. Sometimes, the plugins or layout of your site are not compatible with the latest upgrade, meaning you’ll have to revert to the old version of WordPress. This can obviously cause issues for security and speed.
If your company receives high volumes of traffic and is looking to grow, wants to take advantage of AI and personalisation and puts security at the forefront then Sitecore is the best option for you.
However, if you run a small business that receives low levels of traffic and you’re keen to quickly deploy a simple website then WordPress is your best option. It’s worth remembering that WordPress wasn’t built to be a CMS so for anything more complicated than a basic brochure website, WordPress won’t be the best option as technological advancements are limited.
If you have any further questions about how your company can harness the power of Sitecore get in touch here to book a Sitecore consultation today.
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