What's Wrong with WordPress

Did you know there's a war on security and cybersecurity? If you have a WordPress site, there's a possibility you're at risk. But that's only one of the reasons why a WordPress site might not be the best fit, especially in Economic Development. Another key concern is its code quality. An important issue is the quality of WordPress code itself, such as the use of old versions and contributors who did not follow the strict structural standards.

If that still doesn't have you convinced, remember WordPress is designed for generic use only. WordPress is designed to be a free tool. Free comes at a big cost when hackers strike.

Two other issues with WordPress include a steep learning curve in working with CMS systems if you don't already have the experience, as well as expansion support issues related to the plugins.

At Golden Shovel Agency, we worry about all these things for you. We use a highly advanced platform, specific to Economic Development needs, built by our own programmers. Here's the Economic Gateway platform explained by our designers that built the sites:

Code quality: Economic Gateway code uses PHP version 5 standards. The entire system was designed and built by a small team of dedicated developers to run as cleanly and efficiently as possible for economic development websites, which means it is user-friendly for the target audiences.

Security: As a custom-built system, Economic Gateway flies very low on the radar as far as hackers are concerned. We also run constant security scans of our system to watch for any attempts to attack it.

Development beyond a generic theme: Each Economic Gateway site is designed from scratch (rather than plugging things into a pre-existing theme) based on what the client wants and needs. We take into account the specific needs of the client and the audiences they are trying to reach in both the site design and content structure. This creates a brand-integrated, unique face for the organization which focuses on getting the right information to the right people. Our system was designed for the economic development industry to be used by organizations seeking an audience of site selectors. Each module was designed and customized to best accommodate and present industry-specific information.

Steep learning curve: Economic Gateway's industry focus means that everything in our CMS is designed to house economic development info, not pictures of cats or a company's latest product line. The admin system takes into account the user's workflow and makes the most common features/content fast and easy to access, all while logically organizing more specialist features where they can easily be found.

Expansion support issues: Economic Gateway has a wide array of in-built modules that meet the majority of needs for economic development websites. These modules have been thoroughly tested and are included in any relevant updates which are made to the system. On the occasion where third-party tools need to be integrated into an Economic Gateway site, we utilize non-invasive techniques to make sure that neither the Economic Gateway system nor the third-party provider's system is unnecessarily exposed.

Download the Website Project Planning Guide