Is Wordpress still "the one"?

[hazelisours]

Looking to re-ignite my business after a year or so off for maternity.

I want to rebuild my website as the current one looks tired and I'm altering my specialisation. Last time I paid -too much- to have one built. It looked good, but I couldn't make changes myself. This time, money is -non-existent- a bit tight.

I currently look after my OH's which was built on Wordpress, so have taught myself how to manage it. My site will need to have pages for info, a blog and a shop....possibly a booking calendar although I might keep this off the website as I should really consult with a client before booking them in.

Is Wordpress still the best option to go with, or is there now something better out there. Feel I have been out of the loop for a long time!!!

Thanks :)

AgainsttheGlock akkakk I haven't really looked into it yet - so I may well decide against it. I like the idea of being able to offer clients a simple, updatable website based on templates that can be financed on an affordable monthly basis, rather than pay a developer/designer thousands upfront, hundreds every year in hosting and have less flexibility.

I know there are benefits both ways - as I said, I'm just considering.

Will probably stick with Wordpress, though.

akkakk you must've been very unlucky. :( I've never had a plugin clash with either a WP update or a theme - I suppose the danger or someone attempting their own WP site is that they download and run all sorts of daft plugins from dubious sources. What happened with the extension, what exactly did it break?

Wordsmith - it still doesn't make sense to me. If you want an "easy" website with no particular thought then you take the easy option of e.g., wix.

Hosting is not 100s per year - and, if you were paying 100s a year there are three reasons why:

1. you're with a really good host who's got the latest PHP installed which is x-tested, or
2. they saw you coming
3. your bandwidth (and presumably paying clients) is so high that cost is irrelevant as is pontificating over which CMS to use because you pay a designer

I"m a total novice & could do it myself. It's v simple.

squarespace that is.

Thanks, Grumpy. My DS recommended Squarespace but I wasn't sure it was feasible for a beginner.

againsttheglock when I do pay for hosting (or clients do) it is indeed for a very professional site and includes support, so I'd say between £100-£250 is average. (certainly not the high hundreds).

You can do a free trial of Squarespace so you could have a play and see if it's too difficult for you

If I can manage Squarespace, I'd say anyone can ...

wordpress certainly as you have more control over your SEO or even blogger. I used blogger as an ecommerce for 3 years until last year when I moved over to wordpress.

I've gone for Squarespace.

Sorry that was a bit short!

So I've signed up for Squarespace so if anyone has any views or tips I'd love to hear them.