Introduction
In the fast-paced world of digital commerce, establishing a robust online presence is non-negotiable for businesses of all sizes. While convenient SaaS platforms like ClickFunnels, Shopify, Kajabi, or Thinkific may seem like easy solutions, savvy entrepreneurs understand the long-term benefits of owning and controlling their website – rather than merely renting website space on someone else’s digital property.
In this article, we delve into the reasons why investing in a WordPress open-source site hosted on a reliable platform like the Zero2Webmaster SuperSite is a strategic move that can safeguard your business against potential pitfalls.
Website Systems You Own
Website Systems You Rent
Art created by Dr. Kerry Kriger in Midjourney
Autonomy and Control
Owning your website provides unparalleled autonomy. With a WordPress open-source sites, you have complete control over the design, functionality, and content. This independence allows for seamless customization, ensuring your website aligns perfectly with your brand identity and business goals.
Protection Against Unforeseen Changes
SaaS services often come with the risk of unexpected policy changes, price hikes, or sudden cancellations. In 2023, thousands of ActiveCampaign users were informed that the price of their subscriptions would soon double or triple, which led to a mass migration away from the platform. By having your own website, you shield your business from these uncertainties. No longer will you be at the mercy of external decisions that could impact your online presence and revenue stream.
Long-Term Cost Efficiency
While the initial investment in building and hosting a WordPress site may seem higher, the long-term cost benefits are substantial. Unlike traditional SaaS services, for which costs generally escalate over time, the ownership of your website minimizes ongoing expenses and allows access to numerous freely available open-source tools, making it a financially prudent decision in the long run.
Flexibility and Scalability
WordPress, coupled with reliable hosting services like Cloudways or Rocket.net, offers unmatched flexibility and scalability. As your business grows, you can easily adapt your website to accommodate increased traffic, integrate new features, and scale your online operations without the limitations often imposed by SaaS platforms (who often charge you more as your customer base grows, and who cannot guarantee implementation of your feature requests).
The flexibility of a WordPress site enables you or your developer to design the perfect customer journey that maximizes conversions from cold leads to warm prospects to happy customers who refer others to you and your business.
Security Assurance
Security is paramount in the digital landscape. WordPress, when properly configured and maintained, is a highly secure platform. Hosting providers like Cloudways and Rocket.net prioritize security measures, offering robust protection against potential threats.
The Zero2Webmaster SuperSite (which is built on WordPress and hosted on Rocket.net) includes security plugins, automated updates and daily site backups. This three-pronged approach helps ensure that your business data and customer information remain secure and uncompromised.
Ownership and Migration of Data
With a WordPress site, you retain ownership of your data, you can create and store backups of your entire site, and you can migrate your site to a host of your choice if you so desire.
Compare this with most SaaS platforms, who will never give you a copy of what you built on their platforms, and who will neither assist nor allow you to migrate your site elsewhere.
To make matters worse, if you just want to take some time off and not pay anything while your site is offline, the SaaS platforms will either keep charging you or shut your site down permanently. This happened to me with my Shopify store in 2017: all the products I built on their platform got permanently deleted. Had it been WordPress, I just would have taken my site offline and then when ready to re-start product sales I would have turned it on as if it had never been gone.
The ownership and control that comes with a WordPress website is crucial for maintaining control over customer information and other vital business data, and it provides peace of mind in knowing that you will always have access to the website you put so much time and energy into building.
Duplication
It may be hard to imagine having multiple websites if you are just starting out, but eventually, most website owners find a use for a second site (e.g. a personal site, a site about their favorite hobby, another business site, or a site for a friend or family member).
With a traditional SaaS platform, you would purchase a second account and start building from scratch. With a WordPress site, you could simply duplicate your original site, and then swap out the content, all at a fraction of the cost of the original site.
Here’s a real world example: I spent a full year building a website; when I needed another site similar to it, it took me just sixty seconds and ten dollars to create my new site!
Brand Credibility and Professionalism
A modern and aesthetically-pleasing WordPress site with a well thought out domain name enhances your brand’s credibility. The powerful SEO features available from free WordPress plugins like RankMath SEO can help raise your website towards the top of search engine results pages. The quick to load pages of a well-built WordPress site maximize the number of visitors who actually see your webpages. The professional appearance and seamless functionality reflect positively on your business, instilling trust in your audience. This is a crucial element in converting online visitors into loyal customers.
Content Control & Controversy Avoidance
Owning a WordPress website provides writers more control over their content and community. Unlike platforms such as Substack, Medium or Twitter (X), on your own platform you can set and enforce your own content policies, thereby avoiding association with problematic content or controversies caused by other writers on the platform. On your own website, you can build a direct relationship with your audience, free from the dynamics and algorithms of other companies. This independence can be valuable for writers who want to maintain a specific image and avoid the pitfalls of moderation conflicts seen on other platforms.
Conclusion
Building your business on a traditional SaaS platform or relying on social media is risky. You would be at their mercy, since you would merely be renting space on their platforms. They could shut down your account; triple their prices; get bought out by a billionaire lunatic; or shut down their service at any time, and you would have zero recourse.
Alternatively, you could OWN your own WordPress site, and have 100% control over everything related to it. You could post whatever legal content you want. You could modify your site, duplicate your site, migrate your site or sell your site, and nobody could stop you.
That is freedom. That is the path on which to build your business.
In conclusion, while traditional SaaS platforms may offer initial convenience, the decision to own and control your website is a strategic investment that pays dividends in the long run. The autonomy, cost efficiency, flexibility, and security that comes with a WordPress site provides a solid foundation for your online success. Take charge of your digital destiny – invest in a website that truly belongs to and works for your business.
We created the Zero2Webmaster SuperSite to give you the best of both worlds…the ease of a SaaS platform, and the ownership, control and flexibility of WordPress, all at an affordable monthly price. No contracts, no lock-in.
