While learning about WordPress, I have found many helpful features of a CMS. Having the framework to build off of makes website building more accessible to more people who don’t have coding experience. Even if someone does have coding experience, it saves a lot of time not having to start from scratch – but also nice that the option is there if you still want it. There’s a huge community of support and creators to learn from, and likely all the integration tools and plugins you need to make whatever you want.

However, nothing is perfect. I have found that the sheer amount of pre-built plugins and themes can be overwhelming to search through and vet, even with articles guiding you in one direction or the other. As a complete beginner working with a CMS, the list of new things to learn can be daunting and a lot of resources assume you have a basic understanding already to work from. That problem is curbed by the ready-to-use themes available, so at least you can get started with something while you learn what you might really want and need. A hosting provider can also be a source of frustration so choosing well or being willing to try again with someone else is helpful – there were many times I couldn’t access what I needed to through IONOS. Fortunately, customer support was very responsive with issues, but it still doesn’t make for a good user experience.

With all the pieces that go into making a site with WordPress, I found the most difficult thing to do was finding my voice. With all the pre-built templates and options to create your own, it was difficult to narrow down what I really wanted from my site – what look to give it, how I wanted users to interact with it, and what sort of content to build for it. The more options I found, the more unsure I was about what to pick or what to make. Having a clearer image in my mind ahead of time may have made things easier, rather than looking for inspiration in the process.