So which CMS platform is better – EpiServer or WordPress? Continue reading to find out how migrating EpiServer to WordPress compares with on a number of dimensions.
Ease of Use
Although EpiServer is most known for its simple design and ease of use, you need to know basic HTML in order to make updates. The platform provides less ready-to-use features and doesn’t provide many templates to help get you started. In addition, installing third-party plugins can negatively impact performance and do not allow for software upgrades. If you don’t plan well at the beginning of your EpiServer project, you could be locked in to very specific configurations that make even minor edits difficult and expensive.
In contrast, the WordPress community has developed thousands of free and paid themes that you can use to get your site looking just the way you want it to look. Whether you desire a more lightweight, simple theme or prefer a theme that is pre-populated with images and content, applying a theme to your site can take just a few minutes. If you are looking for simplicity, or desire a more customized experience, WordPress is easy to get up and running.
Establishing the look and feel of your site is one of the most important areas to consider. At WordHerd we offer custom theme development and theme matching that goes above and beyond any off-the-shelf theme you can apply. Our clients who take the time now to make custom user interface design decisions reap the benefits of higher user engagement and conversions.
Advantage: WordPress
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SiteAttention is an add-on you can install on EpiServer that provides real-time search engine optimization feedback as users create content. This approach makes for a more fluid content creation process and prevents you from retroactively tuning your content. The only problem is that you’ll pay a monthly fee for SiteAttention’s premium advice that incorporates Google data.
While WordPress also makes use of SiteAttention, it also ensures that the code it generates follows SEO best practices. As a result, WordPress sites tend to rank well on Google by default. In addition, WordPress includes SEO-specific features and free plugins that enable you to customize meta-data for each page, and uses a simple framework and link structure that increases site load speed and makes your site’s pages easy to find, index, and rank.
Advantage: WordPress
Cost
Cost is obviously a huge factor in determining which platform you choose. There are a variety of factors that determine pricing for your particular needs.
Obtaining pricing information for EpiServer is difficult as EpiServer does not provide public pricing information. Building the website can cost upwards of $40,000 and higher. According to recent research, EpiServer CMS ranked in the 78th percentile for cost in the Web Content Management category.
With WordPress, other than paying for web hosting, it’s FREE. A free CMS platform allows you to invest the money you’ve saved so WordHerd can work with you to create a custom branded theme. A custom theme (or a matched theme) is a service that WordHerd provides; our goal is to align the look and feel of your site with your business objectives. And even with the cost of designing and implementing a finely tuned site, you’ll still be way ahead financially by choosing WordPress.
Advantage: WordPress
Market Share and Community
By a large margin, WordPress is the dominant CMS on the market today. When compared to WordPress, EpiServer:
• Lags behind WordPress in top 10K sites, top 100K sites, and top 1M sites
• Loses to WordPress in 242 website categories, including Business & Industry, Arts & Entertainment, People & Society, and Shopping.
• Doesn’t have a lead over WordPress in 233 countries, including the United States, Japan, Russia, and Germany.
WordPress’ dominant force in the market is supported by an equally dominant and robust community of developers and partners that contribute code to the platform and provide support and service, should you ever need it.
WordPress also offers ample documentation to get you started. YouTube and WordPress.tv provide a wealth of material from beginner guides to advanced tutorials.
Advantage: WordPress
Framework and Performance
EpiServer is a .NET application and as such its functionality is limited to a Windows-based platform. WordPress is written in PHP which means that it works across all operating systems.
In general, PHP applications perform better than .NET applications, especially when the PHP application runs on a Linux OS.
Advantage: WordPress
WordHerd is here to help
WordHerd specializes in migrating content from EpiServer to WordPress. We will consult and partner with you through every step of the migration process.
WordHerd provides the following services:
• WordHerd will create a project plan that includes dates, time frames and milestones for the migration and theme creation.
• Content migration occurs in the background, while your current site continues to operate. Working closely with you, we will ensure that all of the data from your current site is thoroughly exported to the new system.
• We re-link content, media and images to the new WordPress website. Media, and documents and images are migrated to the media WordPress media library.
• After the migration process is complete, our Quality Assurance department will test your new site to ensure that it is operating as expected.
• At the specified date and time, we will seamlessly cut over to the new site and ensure that you experience no downtime for your business.
• Where required, 301 redirects are implemented to ensure SEO equity is retained.
• Post go-live we can maintain and manage WordPress websites for optimization and security.
Conclusion
If you are considering a migration from your current CMS to WordPress, please reach out to one of our Migration Specialists for a FREE consultation by calling 602-402-9035 or email us directly at migrate@wordherd.io