[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":890},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-cat-wordpress-en":3},[4,319,518],{"id":5,"title":6,"body":7,"category":305,"date":306,"description":307,"extension":308,"faq":309,"image":310,"meta":311,"navigation":312,"path":313,"readingTime":314,"seo":315,"stem":316,"updated":317,"video":309,"__hash__":318},"blog_en\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fmigrate-to-wordpress-without-losing-google.md","Moving to WordPress Without Losing Your Place in Google: The Full Checklist",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":292},"minimark",[10,14,22,25,30,37,40,46,52,58,65,69,72,78,84,101,107,111,117,123,129,137,141,164,168,186,192,196,222,228,232,235,245,251,257,263,267,273,277,284],[11,12,13],"p",{},"A platform migration is the project most people underestimate, and it's also where the ugliest drops in traffic happen. Not because the new site is bad - usually it's far better - but because someone treated the site's URLs as a technical detail.",[11,15,16,17,21],{},"They aren't a technical detail. ",[18,19,20],"strong",{},"The URLs are the asset."," Every link pointing at you from another site, every page Google has indexed over the last three years, every share on WhatsApp - they all point at a specific address. If that address stops answering, you've lost what it accumulated.",[11,23,24],{},"The good news: this sounds frightening and is really just orderly work. Here's the order.",[26,27,29],"h2",{"id":28},"before-touching-the-new-site-the-url-map","Before Touching the New Site: The URL Map",[31,32],"blog-figure",{"alt":33,"height":34,"src":35,"width":36},"The URL map: one to one",630,"\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fmigrate-to-wordpress-without-losing-google\u002Furl-map-en.webp",1200,[11,38,39],{},"This is the step you can't skip, and the step everyone skips.",[11,41,42,45],{},[18,43,44],{},"1. Export a list of every existing URL."," From Search Console (the pages report), from the current sitemap, and from Google Analytics - the pages that got traffic in the last year. The three sources together give a fuller picture than any one alone.",[11,47,48,51],{},[18,49,50],{},"2. Mark the important ones."," Not every page is worth the same. Sort by traffic and inbound links. The top twenty pages are 80% of the story.",[11,53,54,57],{},[18,55,56],{},"3. Build a two-column table:"," old URL → new URL. One row per page. That table is the entire secret of a successful migration.",[11,59,60,61,64],{},"The rule: ",[18,62,63],{},"one to one."," Every old page gets its closest equivalent. A page about \"air conditioner repair in Haifa\" goes to the page about air conditioner repair in Haifa - not to the homepage.",[26,66,68],{"id":67},"the-redirects-how-to-do-a-301-properly","The Redirects: How to Do a 301 Properly",[11,70,71],{},"A 301 is a permanent redirect. It tells Google \"this page moved there, pass along what it earned\". That's the tool, and there are three ways to get it wrong:",[11,73,74,77],{},[18,75,76],{},"Redirecting everything to the homepage."," The classic mistake. Google treats an irrelevant redirect as a soft error, and everything the page accumulated is discarded. If there genuinely is no equivalent, a proper 404 beats a dishonest redirect.",[11,79,80,83],{},[18,81,82],{},"Redirect chains."," URL A redirects to B which redirects to C. It works, but it wastes crawl budget and is slow for the visitor. Point straight at the final destination.",[11,85,86,89,90,94,95,100],{},[18,87,88],{},"Forgetting the variants."," With and without ",[91,92,93],"code",{},"www",", http and https, with and without a trailing slash. Every variant needs to land on one agreed version. This is an especially common source of quiet faults, and I wrote about that side of it in ",[96,97,99],"a",{"href":98},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fwebsite-not-showing-in-google\u002F","the indexing guide",".",[11,102,103,106],{},[18,104,105],{},"One more rule that saves pain:"," if you can, keep the existing URL structure. A migration where the addresses stay identical is the safest migration there is.",[26,108,110],{"id":109},"what-transfers-and-what-doesnt","What Transfers and What Doesn't",[11,112,113,116],{},[18,114,115],{},"What usually transfers fine:"," text, images, posts, basic products.",[11,118,119,122],{},[18,120,121],{},"What almost always needs manual work:"," the design (it doesn't transfer, it gets rebuilt), forms and their settings, existing redirects, per-page SEO tags, structured data, and every integration - payments, invoicing, mailing list.",[11,124,125,128],{},[18,126,127],{},"What doesn't transfer at all:"," the old platform's plugins and apps. Each one needs an equivalent, and it's a good moment to check whether you actually need it.",[11,130,131,132,136],{},"Also: if you're rebuilding anyway, this is the cheap moment to fix ",[96,133,135],{"href":134},"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Fweb-accessibility\u002F","accessibility"," and speed, because you're already inside the code. Fixing it later is a separate project.",[26,138,140],{"id":139},"a-week-before-launch","A Week Before Launch",[142,143,144,152,155,158,161],"ul",{},[145,146,147,148,151],"li",{},"The new site sits in a staging environment ",[18,149,150],{},"blocked from indexing",". Important.",[145,153,154],{},"Every 301 configured and tested - not \"should work\", actually tested, row by row against the table.",[145,156,157],{},"Accessibility and speed checked on the new site, before rather than after.",[145,159,160],{},"A full backup of the old site. Not just files - the database too, and a copy of the URL list.",[145,162,163],{},"Who holds the domain and who holds the DNS. Find out now, not at the moment of truth.",[26,165,167],{"id":166},"on-launch-day","On Launch Day",[169,170,171,177,180,183],"ol",{},[145,172,173,176],{},[18,174,175],{},"Remove the indexing block."," This is the number one launch mistake - the site goes live and stays hidden from Google for weeks.",[145,178,179],{},"Upload a new sitemap and submit it in Search Console.",[145,181,182],{},"If the domain is changing, use Google's Change of Address tool and add the new property.",[145,184,185],{},"Walk the top twenty pages and confirm they load, and that the 301 from the old address reaches them.",[187,188,189],"blockquote",{},[11,190,191],{},"A successful migration is measured in the fortnight after, not on the day the site went live. Until then nobody knows what broke.",[26,193,195],{"id":194},"two-weeks-later-what-to-monitor","Two Weeks Later: What to Monitor",[142,197,198,204,210,216],{},[145,199,200,203],{},[18,201,202],{},"The errors report in Search Console."," Growing 404s are URLs you missed in the table. Add a redirect and move on.",[145,205,206,209],{},[18,207,208],{},"The pages report."," Are the new pages entering the index at a reasonable rate?",[145,211,212,215],{},[18,213,214],{},"Organic traffic against the same period last year",", not against last week - so you don't confuse seasonality with damage.",[145,217,218,221],{},[18,219,220],{},"Speed",", on real field data rather than a lab test alone.",[11,223,224,227],{},[18,225,226],{},"And about a drop?"," A small, temporary dip in the first weeks is normal - Google has to re-crawl and digest the change. A sharp drop that hasn't recovered after a month is a sign something in the URL map didn't close.",[26,229,231],{"id":230},"if-the-domain-changes-too-what-to-do-with-the-old-one","If the Domain Changes Too: What to Do With the Old One",[11,233,234],{},"A platform migration with a new domain is the riskiest version, and it carries a question that's routinely forgotten - what happens to the old domain once the new one is live.",[11,236,237,240,241,244],{},[18,238,239],{},"Don't give it up."," Keep it registered and renewed ",[18,242,243],{},"for at least a year, preferably longer"," - for as long as traffic, links, or people typing it from memory still arrive. An active business's domain released to the market gets grabbed within days, and whoever grabs it inherits every link you accumulated.",[11,246,247,250],{},[18,248,249],{},"The redirects stay live."," The old domain keeps 301-ing to the matching addresses on the new one - not to the homepage - for as long as it's registered. A redirect that lapses after six months loses exactly what you were trying to keep.",[11,252,253,256],{},[18,254,255],{},"Update whatever can't follow a redirect:"," the Google Business Profile, Facebook and Instagram, the email signature, business cards, the sticker on the van. Redirects work in a browser - not on a sign.",[11,258,259,262],{},[18,260,261],{},"And email."," If mailboxes lived on the old domain, they need to keep receiving or forwarding. A customer who writes to an old address and gets a bounce assumes you've closed.",[26,264,266],{"id":265},"one-mistake-worth-avoiding","One Mistake Worth Avoiding",[11,268,269,272],{},[18,270,271],{},"Don't change everything at once."," New platform, new domain, new design and new content structure - all on one day. If traffic falls, you won't know which of the four caused it. If you can, separate them: platform first with the same URLs, then the rest.",[26,274,276],{"id":275},"the-bottom-line","The Bottom Line",[11,278,279,280,100],{},"Moving to WordPress isn't a risk in itself. What's risky is moving without a URL map. With an orderly table, one-to-one 301s and a fortnight of monitoring, you can move without paying for it in traffic - and come out with a site you can ",[96,281,283],{"href":282},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-vs-custom-website\u002F","take anywhere",[11,285,286,287,291],{},"Considering a move? ",[96,288,290],{"href":289},"\u002Fen\u002Fcontact\u002F","Tell me from what to what, and how many pages"," - I'll tell you what the URL map needs to cover and the specific risks in your case.",{"title":293,"searchDepth":294,"depth":294,"links":295},"",2,[296,297,298,299,300,301,302,303,304],{"id":28,"depth":294,"text":29},{"id":67,"depth":294,"text":68},{"id":109,"depth":294,"text":110},{"id":139,"depth":294,"text":140},{"id":166,"depth":294,"text":167},{"id":194,"depth":294,"text":195},{"id":230,"depth":294,"text":231},{"id":265,"depth":294,"text":266},{"id":275,"depth":294,"text":276},"WordPress","2026-08-22","Migrating from Wix or a closed platform to WordPress? What to map before launch, how to do 301s properly, and what to watch in the first two weeks.","md",null,"\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fmigrate-to-wordpress-without-losing-google\u002Fog-en.jpg",{},true,"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fmigrate-to-wordpress-without-losing-google",8,{"title":6,"description":307},"en\u002Fblog\u002Fmigrate-to-wordpress-without-losing-google","2026-08-30","_L_EppmG82EstuStHN0hEeTpL1iIwK57hz7wFDl7N00",{"id":320,"title":321,"body":322,"category":305,"date":510,"description":511,"extension":308,"faq":309,"image":512,"meta":513,"navigation":312,"path":514,"readingTime":314,"seo":515,"stem":516,"updated":309,"video":309,"__hash__":517},"blog_en\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-site-slow.md","WordPress Slow? Ten Common Causes, and What to Do About Each",{"type":8,"value":323,"toc":492},[324,327,335,339,343,376,379,383,388,396,400,403,407,410,414,422,426,429,433,436,440,443,447,450,454,457,461,464,468,471,474,478,481],[11,325,326],{},"WordPress isn't born slow. It becomes slow - update after update, plugin after plugin, banner after banner - until one day a customer tells you on the phone that \"your site is stuck,\" and you discover they're right. The good news: it's almost always one of ten causes, and most of them you can locate yourself, without understanding code.",[11,328,329,330,334],{},"Before the list, one distinction: this guide is about a WordPress site that has become slow, and how to find the culprit. If you want to understand Google's speed metrics in depth and what counts as \"fast\", that's in ",[96,331,333],{"href":332},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fpagespeed-100-guide\u002F","the full speed guide",". The two complement each other.",[26,336,338],{"id":337},"the-five-minute-check-find-the-culprit-before-fixing","The five-minute check: find the culprit before fixing",[31,340],{"alt":341,"height":34,"src":342,"width":36},"Four steps to locate the cause of slowness","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-site-slow\u002Ffive-minute-check-en.webp",[169,344,345,358,364,370],{},[145,346,347,357],{},[18,348,349,350,356],{},"Run the site through ",[96,351,355],{"href":352,"rel":353},"https:\u002F\u002Fpagespeed.web.dev",[354],"nofollow","PageSpeed Insights"," - twice."," Once for the homepage, once for an inner page. If only one is slow, the problem is in that page's content (usually images). If both - it's site-wide.",[145,359,360,363],{},[18,361,362],{},"Look at \"initial server response time\"."," If the server takes seconds just to start answering, the problem is below WordPress - in hosting or caching - and no amount of image compression will help.",[145,365,366,369],{},[18,367,368],{},"Test at different hours."," Fast in the morning and slow in the evening is the signature of oversold shared hosting, not of your site.",[145,371,372,375],{},[18,373,374],{},"Open a page in an incognito window."," If it's fast in incognito and slow while logged in, suspect plugins that run only for logged-in users, like page builders in edit mode.",[11,377,378],{},"Now that you have a direction - the list.",[26,380,382],{"id":381},"the-ten-causes-from-common-to-rare","The ten causes, from common to rare",[384,385,387],"h3",{"id":386},"_1-too-many-plugins-and-duplicates","1. Too many plugins - and duplicates",[11,389,390,391,395],{},"It isn't the count that kills, it's duplication and quality: two SEO plugins, three caching plugins \"just in case,\" a gallery plugin unused since 2021. Each injects code into every page. Go through the list and delete - not just deactivate - everything unused. A deactivated plugin is also ",[96,392,394],{"href":393},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-site-hacked-what-to-do\u002F","a security risk",", not just clutter.",[384,397,399],{"id":398},"_2-images-uploaded-as-is","2. Images uploaded as-is",[11,401,402],{},"A phone photo weighs several megabytes; the page needs it at a few dozen kilobytes. An optimization plugin that converts to WebP and compresses automatically solves it going forward; existing images get converted in a one-time pass.",[384,404,406],{"id":405},"_3-no-caching-layer","3. No caching layer",[11,408,409],{},"Without a cache, WordPress rebuilds every page on every visit - database queries, PHP, everything - even when the page hasn't changed in six months. A properly configured caching plugin is the biggest improvement per effort, and sometimes your hosting already includes one at the server level - worth checking before installing.",[384,411,413],{"id":412},"_4-hosting-that-profits-from-you-twice","4. Hosting that profits from you twice",[11,415,416,417,421],{},"Cheap shared hosting puts hundreds of sites on one server. You share a queue with all of them, and at peak hours - you wait. If the five-minute check pointed at server response time, the most cost-effective fix isn't in the site at all; I wrote about ",[96,418,420],{"href":419},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fchoosing-website-hosting\u002F","how to choose hosting"," without falling into the same traps.",[384,423,425],{"id":424},"_5-a-page-builder-on-every-page","5. A page builder on every page",[11,427,428],{},"Elementor and its kind are convenient to edit with - and add a code layer to every page, including ones with nothing dynamic in them. You don't have to abandon them; sometimes it's enough to rebuild only the genuinely heavy pages and keep the builder for content pages.",[384,430,432],{"id":431},"_6-a-slider-at-the-top-of-the-page","6. A slider at the top of the page",[11,434,435],{},"Five huge images and an entire JavaScript library so that almost everyone sees only the first slide. One good static image does a better job - marketing included.",[384,437,439],{"id":438},"_7-accumulated-third-party-scripts","7. Accumulated third-party scripts",[11,441,442],{},"An old pixel from a campaign that ended, a chat nobody answers, two analytics tools measuring the same thing. Each loads from a foreign server and delays. Do an inventory: whatever isn't in use - out.",[384,444,446],{"id":445},"_8-a-database-nobody-ever-cleaned","8. A database nobody ever cleaned",[11,448,449],{},"By default WordPress keeps every revision of every page ever, and plugins leave tables behind even after deletion. After a few years the database carries dead weight. A dedicated cleanup plugin - after a backup - drops it.",[384,451,453],{"id":452},"_9-a-heavy-or-outdated-theme","9. A heavy or outdated theme",[11,455,456],{},"\"Everything included\" themes with a thousand options load the code for all thousand even when you use ten. If the theme hasn't been updated in years it's also a security problem - and sometimes a sign it's time to reassess rather than renovate.",[384,458,460],{"id":459},"_10-an-old-php-version","10. An old PHP version",[11,462,463],{},"Upgrading the PHP version in your hosting panel is usually one click, and it delivers a real speed improvement for free. Check plugin compatibility on a backup first - then upgrade.",[26,465,467],{"id":466},"what-you-can-do-yourself-today","What you can do yourself, today",[11,469,470],{},"No developer and no risk: delete unused plugins, install an image-optimization plugin, enable one caching plugin (one!), clean the database after a backup, and upgrade PHP through the hosting panel. Five actions, and most slow sites feel the difference.",[11,472,473],{},"What does call for a professional: rebuilding a theme, replacing a builder, handling custom code, and diagnosis when the whole list above didn't help - because then the problem is more interesting.",[26,475,477],{"id":476},"bottom-line","Bottom line",[11,479,480],{},"A slow WordPress is almost always a neglected WordPress, not a broken one. An hour of housekeeping - plugins, images, cache, hosting - brings most sites back to life. And that hour is worth real money: every second of waiting is visitors giving up.",[11,482,483,484,487,488,100],{},"Went through everything and the site still crawls? ",[96,485,486],{"href":289},"Send me the address"," - I'll check, tell you exactly what's stuck, and whether it's something from the list or something more interesting. It's precisely what I do in ",[96,489,491],{"href":490},"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Fwebsite-fixes\u002F","website fixes",{"title":293,"searchDepth":294,"depth":294,"links":493},[494,495,508,509],{"id":337,"depth":294,"text":338},{"id":381,"depth":294,"text":382,"children":496},[497,499,500,501,502,503,504,505,506,507],{"id":386,"depth":498,"text":387},3,{"id":398,"depth":498,"text":399},{"id":405,"depth":498,"text":406},{"id":412,"depth":498,"text":413},{"id":424,"depth":498,"text":425},{"id":431,"depth":498,"text":432},{"id":438,"depth":498,"text":439},{"id":445,"depth":498,"text":446},{"id":452,"depth":498,"text":453},{"id":459,"depth":498,"text":460},{"id":466,"depth":294,"text":467},{"id":476,"depth":294,"text":477},"2026-09-20","Your WordPress site is slow and you don't know why: a five-minute check that finds the culprit, the ten usual causes from plugins to hosting, and what to fix yourself today.","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-site-slow\u002Fog-en.jpg",{},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-site-slow",{"title":321,"description":511},"en\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-site-slow","d2y3ZMgVpg59f6fQNfbyigAq_yhdq24xJ2xMsOX8gwg",{"id":519,"title":520,"body":521,"category":305,"date":880,"description":881,"extension":308,"faq":309,"image":882,"meta":883,"navigation":312,"path":884,"readingTime":885,"seo":886,"stem":887,"updated":888,"video":309,"__hash__":889},"blog_en\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-vs-custom-website.md","WordPress or a Custom Website? An Honest Guide from Someone Who Builds Both",{"type":8,"value":522,"toc":869},[523,526,529,533,536,543,547,551,554,580,587,591,594,620,627,631,646,657,661,748,753,757,760,766,772,778,781,787,798,809,813,819,825,829,832,836,839,859,862],[11,524,525],{},"Two sentences keep coming up: \"I was told WordPress isn't serious\", or \"I was told a coded site will cost me a fortune.\" Whoever told you that most likely builds only one of the two - and is selling you the thing they know how to build.",[11,527,528],{},"I build both WordPress sites and custom websites in Vue and Nuxt, and I've been doing it for over five years. I have no horse in this race. So here's the guide I wish someone handed you before you sign a quote.",[26,530,532],{"id":531},"the-wrong-question","The Wrong Question",[11,534,535],{},"\"Which is better, WordPress or custom code?\" is like asking \"which is better, a truck or a motorcycle?\" Depends what you're hauling, where to, and how many times a day.",[11,537,538,539,542],{},"The right question is: ",[18,540,541],{},"what does this website need to do, and who is going to run it day to day?"," Answer that honestly, and the decision almost makes itself.",[31,544],{"alt":545,"height":34,"src":546,"width":36},"When WordPress fits and when a custom build does","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-vs-custom-website\u002Fwhen-which-en.webp",[26,548,550],{"id":549},"when-wordpress-is-the-right-choice","When WordPress Is the Right Choice",[11,552,553],{},"WordPress was built to manage content, and it still excels at exactly that. If you recognize yourselves in any of these, that's probably your direction:",[142,555,556,562,568,574],{},[145,557,558,561],{},[18,559,560],{},"You publish content regularly."," A blog, articles, guides, updates - a site that lives on content needs a mature content management system.",[145,563,564,567],{},[18,565,566],{},"You want to edit things yourselves, without waiting for anyone."," Swap an image, update a price, add a page - no email to a developer, no invoice.",[145,569,570,573],{},[18,571,572],{},"Your needs are standard."," Service pages, about, contact, gallery. WordPress solves these fast, well, and at a sane cost.",[145,575,576,579],{},[18,577,578],{},"You want any developer to be able to pick up where the last one left off."," The ecosystem is enormous, and you're not locked in to a single vendor.",[11,581,582,583,100],{},"A WordPress site built properly - a lean theme, no pile of unnecessary plugins, solid hosting - is an excellent working tool. I go deeper into how I build them on my ",[96,584,586],{"href":585},"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Fwordpress\u002F","WordPress services page",[26,588,590],{"id":589},"when-a-custom-website-pays-off","When a Custom Website Pays Off",[11,592,593],{},"Custom code enters the picture when the site isn't just \"a business card with pages\" but a product in its own right:",[142,595,596,602,608,614],{},[145,597,598,601],{},[18,599,600],{},"You have a unique product or system."," A custom calculator, a members' area, an integration with an internal system, business logic no off-the-shelf plugin covers. Bending WordPress into that shape is building a house on a tent's foundations.",[145,603,604,607],{},[18,605,606],{},"Speed is business-critical."," When every tenth of a second of load time is worth money, a static or Nuxt-based site delivers performance that's very hard to match with a heavy, generic system.",[145,609,610,613],{},[18,611,612],{},"You want a user experience nobody else has."," Animations, interactions, a design that doesn't compromise around a template's limits.",[145,615,616,619],{},[18,617,618],{},"The site needs to grow with the product."," When the website is part of the system rather than a digital brochure, clean, well-structured code is an asset that appreciates over time.",[11,621,622,623,100],{},"The honest downside: day-to-day editing requires me (or another developer), unless you add a headless CMS - which is a project with a budget to match. More on my approach on the ",[96,624,626],{"href":625},"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Fwebsite-development\u002F","custom website development page",[26,628,630],{"id":629},"what-about-an-online-store","What About an Online Store?",[11,632,633,634,637,638,641,642,100],{},"A store is its own discussion, because there the platform dictates your daily operational routine. In short: ",[18,635,636],{},"WooCommerce"," (on WordPress) gives you full control and ownership of everything, and shines with complex catalogs or special requirements - but maintenance is on you. ",[18,639,640],{},"Shopify"," takes the operational headache off your plate in exchange for subscription fees and commissions, and shines for people who want to sell, not maintain. The decision hinges on your catalog, your business model, and who runs the store - I've laid out the considerations on the ",[96,643,645],{"href":644},"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Fecommerce\u002F","e-commerce page",[11,647,648,649,652,653,100],{},"And in Israel there's a further layer that decides more than any feature list: the payment provider, the invoicing system, the courier, and a theme that genuinely works in right-to-left Hebrew. The rule I work by: ",[18,650,651],{},"pick the payment provider first, confirm explicitly what it supports, and only then choose a platform."," I took that whole decision apart in ",[96,654,656],{"href":655},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fshopify-vs-woocommerce-israel\u002F","the Shopify vs WooCommerce guide for Israeli stores",[26,658,660],{"id":659},"the-honest-comparison-table","The Honest Comparison Table",[662,663,664,679],"table",{},[665,666,667],"thead",{},[668,669,670,674,676],"tr",{},[671,672,673],"th",{},"Criterion",[671,675,305],{},[671,677,678],{},"Custom",[680,681,682,694,705,716,726,737],"tbody",{},[668,683,684,688,691],{},[685,686,687],"td",{},"Setup cost",[685,689,690],{},"Low to medium",[685,692,693],{},"Medium to high",[668,695,696,699,702],{},[685,697,698],{},"Ongoing cost",[685,700,701],{},"Hosting, licenses, regular maintenance",[685,703,704],{},"Relatively low, mostly hosting",[668,706,707,710,713],{},[685,708,709],{},"Editing independence",[685,711,712],{},"Full - that's the whole point",[685,714,715],{},"Limited, unless a CMS is integrated",[668,717,718,720,723],{},[685,719,220],{},[685,721,722],{},"Good when built right, takes effort",[685,724,725],{},"Excellent by default",[668,727,728,731,734],{},[685,729,730],{},"Flexibility",[685,732,733],{},"High, within the ecosystem's limits",[685,735,736],{},"Practically unlimited",[668,738,739,742,745],{},[685,740,741],{},"Maintenance",[685,743,744],{},"Ongoing updates, non-negotiable",[685,746,747],{},"Minimal after launch",[187,749,750],{},[11,751,752],{},"The right platform isn't the one that sounds most impressive in a meeting - it's the one that won't get in your way a year from now.",[26,754,756],{"id":755},"hold-on-what-about-wix-squarespace-and-the-ai-builders","Hold On - What About Wix, Squarespace and the AI Builders?",[11,758,759],{},"This comes up in almost every conversation, and fairly so: these are real tools you can get a site live with over a weekend. So, honestly, when are they the right call and when aren't they.",[11,761,762,765],{},[18,763,764],{},"They suit a site that's a business card."," A small business needing a presence, a few pages, a form and a phone number - with nobody to maintain it. That's an entirely legitimate use, and I say so to my own clients when it's true.",[11,767,768,771],{},[18,769,770],{},"And the AI site builders?"," The new generation produces a whole site from a few sentences about the business, and it's genuinely impressive. But it changes the starting point, not the answer: the AI assembles variations of the same site for everyone, and the moment it's live you're on exactly the same field - same limits, same platform dependence.",[11,773,774,777],{},[18,775,776],{},"They suit less well when the site has to work."," The moment you need a connection to an existing system, a repeating content structure with many items, full control over speed, or deep Hebrew and RTL adjustments - that's where you start hitting walls you can't move.",[11,779,780],{},"Two things worth knowing up front, because they surprise people later:",[11,782,783,786],{},[18,784,785],{},"Portability."," A WordPress site can be packed up and moved to another host. A site on a closed builder can't, really. You can export content, but not the site; moving out is a rebuild. That's not disqualifying, it's simply a decision worth making on day one rather than in year three.",[11,788,789,792,793,797],{},[18,790,791],{},"Accessibility."," Builders are improving here, but their templates weren't built for the Israeli standard, and your control over the code is limited - which means your ability to fix what breaks is limited too. If you ",[96,794,796],{"href":795},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fisraeli-website-accessibility-law\u002F","have to meet IS 5568",", check this before choosing a platform, not after.",[11,799,800,801,804,805,100],{},"My rule is simple: ",[18,802,803],{},"a builder is a good choice when the site doesn't need to grow."," If there's a fair chance it does, better to start with something you can take with you. I unpacked this whole dilemma in depth - including when DIY genuinely wins, the five walls you meet after six months and the cost nobody sees - in ",[96,806,808],{"href":807},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fdiy-website-builder-vs-developer\u002F","the DIY vs developer guide",[26,810,812],{"id":811},"two-myths-that-deserve-a-burial","Two Myths That Deserve a Burial",[11,814,815,818],{},[18,816,817],{},"\"WordPress isn't professional.\""," Nonsense. WordPress runs a sizable chunk of the internet, including news sites, universities, and major brands. What's unprofessional is a WordPress site with forty plugins, a generic theme nobody hardened, and zero maintenance. That's not a platform problem - that's a builder problem.",[11,820,821,824],{},[18,822,823],{},"\"Custom code is always too expensive.\""," Also nonsense, just in the other direction. A landing page or brochure site in modern code can be a compact, fast project - and after launch there are almost no running costs and no security-update treadmill. Sometimes it's the WordPress site, with its plugin licenses and monthly maintenance, that ends up costing more over time. \"Expensive\" is measured over five years, not on the first invoice.",[26,826,828],{"id":827},"and-you-can-combine-them","And You Can Combine Them",[11,830,831],{},"A little secret that someone selling only one platform won't tell you: it doesn't have to be either-or. One of my favorite combinations is WordPress as the content management system behind the scenes, with a custom Nuxt frontend out front. You get WordPress's editing freedom and the speed and design of custom code - in the same project. It doesn't fit every budget or every need, but when it fits, it's the best of both worlds rather than the compromise between them.",[26,833,835],{"id":834},"so-how-do-you-decide","So How Do You Decide?",[11,837,838],{},"Ask yourselves three questions:",[169,840,841,847,853],{},[145,842,843,846],{},[18,844,845],{},"How many times a month will we edit content ourselves?"," Often - big point for WordPress.",[145,848,849,852],{},[18,850,851],{},"Is there a requirement with no off-the-shelf solution?"," Yes - the point goes to custom.",[145,854,855,858],{},[18,856,857],{},"How much is each second of speed worth to us?"," If the answer is measured in leads and revenue - another point for custom.",[11,860,861],{},"And if the answers contradict each other? That's fine - they do in most real businesses. That's what a discovery call is for.",[11,863,864,865,868],{},"Not sure which side your website belongs on? ",[96,866,867],{"href":289},"Tell me what you need"," - and I'll tell you honestly what I would build, even if the answer is \"not with me.\"",{"title":293,"searchDepth":294,"depth":294,"links":870},[871,872,873,874,875,876,877,878,879],{"id":531,"depth":294,"text":532},{"id":549,"depth":294,"text":550},{"id":589,"depth":294,"text":590},{"id":629,"depth":294,"text":630},{"id":659,"depth":294,"text":660},{"id":755,"depth":294,"text":756},{"id":811,"depth":294,"text":812},{"id":827,"depth":294,"text":828},{"id":834,"depth":294,"text":835},"2026-07-05","WordPress or custom code? An honest decision framework from a developer who builds both: when WordPress wins, when custom pays off, plus a comparison table.","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-vs-custom-website\u002Fog-en.jpg",{},"\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-vs-custom-website",6,{"title":520,"description":881},"en\u002Fblog\u002Fwordpress-vs-custom-website","2026-09-28","gq-2fMGhOd9hr7Q30KumOoyX_3WeSZaZ2NEUivwfJc4",1792660237085]