Why We Love WordPress and Shopify

When it comes to content management systems (CMS’s), we’ve tried, tested and even built a LOT over the last 19 years. But it’s safe to say that WordPress and Shopify have firmly cemented themselves as our OG’s recently – and they’re what you can expect us to use in all of our website design, website build and web development projects when creating a new site. 

Read on to find out why WordPress and Shopify stand out as our platforms of choice – and why we’d recommend them to anyone embarking on a web design project.

The Journey Through Various CMS Platforms

Giant Peach’s journey with CMS platforms spans nearly two decades. In the early days, we even built our own – they just didn’t exist as they do now. But while that original build served its purpose at the time, maintaining and updating it quickly became impractical and a massive pain in the proverbial. 

Over the years, we experimented with several platforms, including Statamic which almost stole our hearts. But WordPress came out as a consistent favourite for lead generation, brochure and B2B websites thanks to its flexibility and robust framework.

Why We Love WordPress

1. Flexibility and Control: WordPress sites are pretty much infinitely customisable, and are incredibly user friendly in both the back and front end. We’re all about highly customised beautiful sites that can perform intricate tasks, complicated development and seamless integrations with CRMs – and WordPress helps us deliver those better than any other 
2. Our Bespoke Framework: We’ve created a bespoke framework within WordPress that we use to build. It enables quick development and offers clients significant control over their sites – and allows us to keep our pricing competitive 
3. Developer Availability: With WordPress being a widely-used platform, it’s easier to find and onboard developers familiar with it, ensuring seamless scalability for the business
4. Client Familiarity and Ease of Use: Many clients are already familiar with WordPress, which simplifies training and transition. While there are concerns about WordPress being vulnerable or slow, these issues are typically due to poor builds. A well-built WordPress site is secure and efficient.

The Elephant in the Room: Elementor

Despite WordPress’s strengths, we’d always express caution regarding the use of Elementor. Although it offers flexibility and makes it feel like it’s easy to edit, it can also introduce a huge amount of complexities, and make your site vulnerable to attacks. We prefer not to take on sites built with Elementor, and certainly would never use it in a new website build. We opt for custom-built solutions that ensure security and usability.

E-Commerce Platforms: The Shift to Shopify

For e-commerce websites, Shopify is the gold standard – and the only platform we use. The decision was influenced by Shopify’s powerful and flexible platform, which really came into its own during the COVID-19 pandemic when, of course, online shopping surged. 

Shopify’s app ecosystem and subscription business support make it our preferred choice for e-commerce projects.

How WordPress and Shopify Help Deliver Great Projects 

1. Custom Design and Scalability: Each website is designed from scratch, allowing unique branding and user experience. Clients can easily add new pages and content without needing extensive technical knowledge, thanks to the custom patterns and blocks we develop that look good no matter how they are arranged 
2. Cost-Effectiveness: Clients can manage their websites independently, reducing the need for constant agency intervention. This autonomy translates into significant cost savings over time, as clients don’t need to pay for every minor update or new page creation
3. Future-Proofing: Sites built by us are scalable. Clients can re-skin their website with a new design without needing a complete rebuild, making it a long-term investment that adapts to evolving needs

Ongoing Support and Training

Whilst our builds are simpler to use than most – we still give our clients plenty of support before we hand over the reins. Training, screen recordings and ongoing assistance – plus a real person at the end of the phone – are always there to ensure they can manage their websites effectively. 

We also provide a whole suite of digital marketing services, conversion rate optimisation, and performance improvements for both websites we have built – and those we haven’t – to help clients achieve their business goals.

The Future: Integrating AI

Looking ahead, we’re working on integrating AI into our WordPress framework to help clients create content quickly. We’re hoping it’ll streamline the process of generating blog posts and other content such as landing pages, making it easier for our clients to maintain an active online presence.

If you’d like to know more about how we could design and build you a website that is flexible, scalable and user-friendly for both you and your visitors – let’s chat!