Today, I have an article that’s a bit out of the ordinary. I’m going to explain my transition from Wordpress to Webflow for building websites.
To introduce myself briefly, my name is Thibaut, and I’m 22 years old. Currently, I work on the search engine optimization (SEO) aspect at Digidop and assist clients with their content strategies to improve their site rankings. I have a good understanding of the web and enjoy learning how to use new tools.
In this article, I will quickly share how I learned to build my first websites and why I chose the Webflow solution today.
Chapter 1: How to Create Your First Website?
During my university studies, I had the opportunity to create a few websites. The first website I created was built solely through code (HTML + CSS) and aimed to showcase the 2018 World Cup. I was 17 at the time. Initially, I had no coding knowledge, so the process was long and required a great deal of effort to achieve a result. It was a real puzzle 🤯.
I learned to code through YouTube videos, articles, online resources, and forums. Gradually, the site began to take shape. Just being able to navigate it was magical for me. Wow, one of my creations was potentially visible worldwide; this might have been the beginning of my glory 😎.
After a month of work, I finally accomplished what I originally set out to do. The task wasn’t easy; the work was laborious, and the result wasn’t extraordinary (compared to what can be done today), but I was thoroughly satisfied. Indeed, it was the first time I created a site accessible on the web.
Some time later, I had the opportunity to recreate websites. However, this time, there was no question of coding everything from scratch. I needed a solution to develop websites without spending too much time learning coding languages. That’s when I discovered Wordpress among the various CMS available.
Chapter 2: My Discovery of Wordpress
Wordpress was a "magical solution" for creating a website quickly, easily, and "for free". That’s the first thought I had upon discovering this platform. The possibilities seemed endless. I believed I could create a multitude of websites, even large-scale ones. However, the task proved to be more complicated than I initially thought.
First of all, like many people, I mistakenly created a site on wordpress.com instead of wordpress.org. The former is a hosting platform, while the latter is a self-hosted solution: a free (open-source) version. The issue with wordpress.com is that the free offer is very limited; there's even no opportunity to install plugins, and the paid plans are also quite restrictive. In contrast, wordpress.org is a completely free solution with all possible features (including some that are paid), requiring only installation from your web hosting solution. Being misled in such a way left me with a slight taste of bitterness afterward.
After making this mistake, I was able to start learning how to build a site with this CMS. Fortunately, there is an abundance of online resources: videos, YouTube tutorials, blog articles, etc., to learn how to build your site from A to Z on Wordpress (and on Webflow too 😉).
That’s when I began working in a group to build a site and blog about sports news in my region. The result was far superior to what I had managed to create by coding 😅. We had a functional site, but it was very limited in terms of features. The design was satisfactory but not extraordinary (from a current perspective). Many small things needed improvement, but overall, I had made significant progress. Finally, a decent site! At that moment, I was determined to build more websites.
Some time later, I joined a business project to work on site management and the SEO aspect (SEO). Still using Wordpress, our team worked on a site redesign, content optimization, and increasing content publication while maintaining a focus on SEO. My experience with the CMS grew as I continuously learned from blogs and YouTube channels. With various plugins and tools (Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, etc.), we improved our online visibility. After so much effort, I could truly see a site grow. I witnessed my first top rankings on Google. Another milestone achieved; we were no longer just content with having a site but began generating organic traffic through acquired positions on search engines. My satisfaction grew even more 🤩.
From my experience with Wordpress, I will share my insights on using the open-source CMS in the upcoming chapters.
Chapter 3: The Advantages of Wordpress
As I mentioned earlier, Wordpress is an easy tool for creating a showcase site, personal website, blog, etc. With a bit of motivation and some web knowledge, learning Wordpress is manageable, and the learning curve is always increasing (even exponentially, depending on your initial level).
Moreover, you can manage all aspects of your site from the interface. For this, nothing is simpler; you can install plugins. The plugins allow you to add functionalities to your project and manage, for example, SEO, statistics, newsletters, etc. Simply put, there are plugins for everything or almost everything. Of course, some extensions are paid.
When you have no prior knowledge about building and managing a site, Wordpress helps you get your feet wet. Anyone can start a website to share their passion or grow their business with ease.
Chapter 4: The Limitations of Wordpress
Unfortunately, like every platform, Wordpress has its limitations. The main issues that have bothered, slowed down, or even frustrated me are as follows:
- Too many plugins: the plugin marketplace is a great idea, but for the slightest reason, you end up needing to install a plugin (even for SEO; ranking your site without a plugin is almost impossible in Wordpress). The accumulation of plugins clutters the interface and makes it confusing to navigate. You don’t even remember what each plugin is for.
- Frequent bugs: this point is related to the previous one, but not only. There have been times on Wordpress when the admin interface crashed, or the accumulation of plugins slowed down the tool’s performance.
- Security issues: even with secure access measures, our site occasionally faced security errors, spam, and other problems.
- Limited design: creating a fully customized site in Wordpress is not easy. You have to either install themes (like templates), which are difficult to personalize, or rely on additional paid solutions like Divi, Elementor, etc.
Chapter 5: Is Webflow the Miracle Solution?
Upon discovering Digidop, I also discovered Webflow. I admit, aside from Shopify, I hadn’t really explored any other CMS besides Wordpress for building sites. Even though the famous Webflow ads promoting “controlling the web by thought” were well-made, I hadn’t taken the time to delve into this no-code tool.
I initially began testing Webflow on my own. Wow, it was both amazing because I could place everything exactly where I wanted, but also overwhelming because I had no prior knowledge. In fact, looking at the basic interface left me confused compared to Wordpress. I attempted to find tutorials on YouTube, but at the time, there wasn’t much, especially in French (now, we have a great specialized channel on Webflow that offers plenty of content in French 👀). So, I stopped using the tool for a while before I realized what was possible with it.
At Digidop, we believe that Webflow is currently the most optimal web development platform. Indeed, in comparison to Wordpress, Webflow offers so many solutions. Almost every feature is natively included in Webflow. You can manage forms, SEO, and e-commerce directly from the Designer. If a feature isn’t yet available, integration with other applications happens without hassle. The design is customizable down to the pixel. In short, all the limitations I encountered on Wordpress no longer exist on Webflow. A new world opened up before me; I felt like a child in front of a gift 😯.
Admittedly, the learning curve is steep, and it requires a lot of dedication to build on Webflow, but the results are much more impressive. Now, I learn new things about the platform every day. I’m learning gradually, but I’m starting to understand the machine better. Furthermore, the new features being introduced in 2022 will make the platform even more magical.
Having praised Webflow so much, here are some small comments based on my “limited experience”:
- The interface is not very intuitive (at least not at first)
- The tool is more challenging to grasp than Wordpress (especially for beginners)
- There is no built-in statistics tracking (You have to rely on Google Analytics and Google Search Console)
- To avoid ending up with a bug-ridden and underperforming website, the structure & architecture of your site must be meticulously constructed
Conclusion: From Wordpress to Webflow
Here is my account of the transition from Wordpress to Webflow. In summary, I’ve found that Webflow is a powerful CMS for building your website, even though its usage is less straightforward than Wordpress. To draw a comparison, it’s like moving from Android to iOS; at first, you feel lost, but eventually, you realize the power of the new system.
It all started with code, which presented limitations for me. Then came Wordpress as a remedy for the coding limitations (from my perspective) before I discovered new limitations as I continued to learn. Finally, Webflow, despite its complexity, revealed itself as the no-code tool enabling me to achieve what I couldn’t with code or Wordpress. Perhaps (likely) one day, another solution will emerge for me, and I’ll migrate from Webflow to that new tool.
However, at this time, I believe that Webflow has a bright future ahead. Additionally, we eagerly await the new features. Yet, we mustn’t get stuck in our comfortable habits; change is sometimes the best way to continually improve quality.
Regarding Webflow, determination and a desire to create powerful, customized sites will help you navigate the Webflow platform. Nothing is impossible, and I strongly encourage you to try the platform to get a feel for it, and who knows, you might want a Webflow site afterward.
In any case, if you need help with your Webflow project, Digidop will be happy to assist you in building it.
