In the 21st century, the internet has come to rule the world. We carry around tiny computers in our pockets that help drive our everyday actions and behaviors by putting a plethora of information at our fingertips. The internet isn’t just about data and information, though; it’s about interacting with people, businesses, and the world around us.

All businesses, for this reason, need a website. The leaders in Pittsburgh web design know that getting started online is a big step for small businesses—a step that involves a number of decisions along the way. One choice you’ll make is choosing Webflow vs. WordPress for your website platform. Since this decision is so consequential, Responsival is here to break down for you the difference between Webflow and WordPress from the perspective of CMS design and usage: one of the most important aspects of your web design journey. 

Why does my website need a CMS?

CMS drives some of the most important pages on your website

A CMS, or content management system, is a vital part of nearly any website architecture. Allowing you to design and format the appearance of a page on your site as a backend template, a CMS is necessary for businesses looking to create a simple, scalable design that can be updated with ease.

Using a CMS is one of the smartest things a business can do on the site for a number of reasons. CMS pages are extremely easy to use, making it possible for multiple editors to post on your blog without coding a new page every time. This is an extremely cost-effective way to build out a website with many pages, which in turn helps boost SEO value and diversify keywords. Some common applications for a CMS include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Blogs: More than 82% of businesses say that blogging is important to their business because it helps SEO, establishes the business as an industry leader, and helps customers engage with the brand on a deeper level.
• Menus: CMS is the perfect way for restaurants and multi-service businesses like spas to build out a menu because it is easy to edit and update as needed.
• Location Pages: Localized SEO is extremely important for small businesses and businesses serving a diverse area, and a CMS with location pages can help businesses expand into new markets with ease.
• Portfolios: Businesses who like to showcase their work online benefit from a CMS by making it easy to put example work and a portfolio online.

Webflow vs. WordPress: Creation and Management

How easy is it to build a CMS on Webflow vs. WordPress?

We’re experts in a number of different web design platforms, but favor Webflow for its ease of use, intelligent features, and unlimited design capability. Most businesses need a CMS on their site, but on sites like WordPress building a CMS involves several lines of coding, complex PHP knowledge, and markup specific to WordPress that entails an in-depth learning curve. Additionally, WordPress by nature requires multiple plugins to achieve the functional capabilities of Webflow and other platforms, making it difficult for web designers and businesses alike to be in full control of their online presence. 

On the other hand, Webflow has an easy-to-integrate CMS that is completely customizable depending on your application. Not only is adding a CMS (or two!) to your website a simple task for your web team, but it’s scalable enough to grow as alongside your business.

Webflow vs. WordPress: Adding Pages to Your Site

How a Pittsburgh Web Design Firm Make Your Site Grow with a CMS

Whether you’re using your CMS for a menu, local SEO strategy, or a blog, your website should always have room to grow. A CMS makes it easy for you to do this, but not all content management systems are created equal.

Webflow allows you to copy and paste blog posts and page copy directly from a Google Doc—images and all—for incredibly fast edits and page creation. This is partially due to Webflow’s powerful CDN: a file storage location that lives directly on the site rather than linking back to the source Google Doc. This not only keeps your website looking great, but helps your website load quickly and maintain simple content organization. 

While WordPress has a similar file storage method, it’s not nearly as fast and efficient as Webflow’s CDN. WordPress, because of this, can have slow page loading speeds and frequently has broken or missing images in the CMS.

Webflow vs. WordPress: Search Engine Optimization

SEO Rules the World & the Way Your Site is Designed

Here’s the thing: it takes a lot more than a pretty homepage and some social badges to make a good website. A great website needs keyword-optimized copy, effective title tags, descriptive meta descriptions, and a responsive design to function to the best of its ability.

Webflow’s CMS is made with this in mind, providing a visible mobile-friendly editor on the page This helps boost your site performance and aids in SEO efforts. Additionally, Webflow’s CMS easily allows you to create an SEO-friendly URL structure, title tags, and meta descriptions. In other words—Webflow CMS is a search engine marketer’s dream.

WordPress has SEO features, but most need to be built on with an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO that comes at an extra price. SEO abilities on Webflow are baked right in to the platform, making it easy to ensure your CMS pages are eye catching and effective.

Webflow vs. WordPress: Backend and Site Speed

A Clean, Simple Backend Ensures Optimal Site Performance

When choosing between Webflow vs. WordPress, we know that keeping the backend clean is key (and not in a Charmin commercial kind of way). Websites are made of thousands of tiny lines of code. The more lines of code there is on a website, the slower it is for the site to load and function. WordPress codes—due to poor formatting and the addition of a plethora of plugins necessary to appease businesses’ needs—are huge and lead to slower websites. This can hurt your SEO, increase your bounce rate, and therefore impede your ability to make sales and attract new customers.

Webflow, thanks to their focus on the no-code revolution, uses clean, simple, and fast code on the backend. Additionally, Webflow allows you to minify your CSS and HTML, condensing your code into fewer lines for a quick, optimized website.

Think it’s time to make your website work for your business? Get in touch with the leaders in Pittsburgh web design at Responsival to get started today.