Why outdoor companies should use Webflow instead of Wordpress

Have you heard that Wordpress powers over half of the internet’s websites? With over 50% of the entire internet using it, it seems like Wordpress should be a given for what to choose when you’re looking for a website builder. You might even be asking why it matters what platform you build your website with. After all, a website is a website no matter what it’s built on.

The truth is this question doesn’t matter for everyone. If you don’t really care about your website, then it doesn’t matter what you use to build your website. But if you are someone who wants your website to be fast, accessible, have good SEO, and be easy to maintain, then this question should matter to you. Outdoor brands, specifically, have a few niche requirements that make Webflow a much better choice for building a website than other builders like Wordpress.

Website Maintenance

No one wakes up in the morning excited to do website maintenance, least of all outdoor professionals. The less maintenance required to keep your website healthy, the better. So let’s compare Wordpress to Webflow on maintenance for an outdoor brand’s website.

Wordpress

Wordpress requires plugins to be installed for a site to work well and rank highly. These plugins can conflict with each other and require constant updating. Most Wordpress websites end up having lots of plugins and managing them is a constant chore that has to be done to keep your site healthy and secure.

Wordpress also requires that you stay up-to-date with it’s platform and the version of code it runs on. This will require at least 1 platform update a year, which if done incorrectly, can delete your entire website. You will probably also have a theme builder to help design your site, and this also will require updates.

Webflow

Since Webflow is software-as-a-service you don’t need to worry about much. There are no plugins to install, no platform updates, and nothing special you need to monitor or change month-to-month or year-to-year. You just need to make sure your card is on file and your domain is connected properly and the site will simply work.

Webflow does have an app marketplace where you can install apps that extend the functionality of the Webflow designer. Unlike Wordpress plugins, these apps will update as Webflow does so they don’t require any addition work from you to keep updated.

Web Design

When people thing of websites, design is probably the first thing that comes to mind. For outdoor companies, design is a big part of showing potential clients what you do. A well designed and strategic website can get your clients excited and prepared to experience the outdoors with you before the trip even starts. There are different levels of web design - everything from purchasing a template, to AI generated designs, to entirely custom designs. For our purposes we’ll be talking about a site with an entirely custom design - no templates.

Wordpress

In the past few years Wordpress has made big steps towards giving it’s users the ability to do custom-ish designs without coding and without a theme builder. However, unless you want to spend time coding, you’ll want to either pay a web developer to implement your design or purchase a theme builder. Both of these options are paid - the developer being much more costly than a theme builder. Using a theme builder can be a great option, but it’s easy create a website that looks like every other website that uses the same theme builder as you.

Webflow

Webflow is a fantastic website designer for outdoor brands because it allows you to engage with it on as deep of a level as you want. You can build a very nice looking site with some simple training or you can dive deep into the Webflow designer and learn how to build an incredibly customized design.

If you choose to work with a Webflow developer you get all the benefits of the Webflow designer with a tried-and-true setup that  allows you to easily update and change your website in the future. This makes it a fantastic choice for outdoor companies since it’s easy to build and maintain high quality design without a lot of overhead.

Website Cost

Cost is the single biggest concern I hear about when I talk to clients about Webflow. In comparison to Wordpress, most people think Webflow is really expensive. I’m here to tell you it’s not. In fact, it will probably be cheaper than an equivalent Wordpress site.

Wordpress

Let’s start with the most basic thing on a website - the design. The cost of theme builders vary widely, but average around $45/year. For our purposes, we’ll say we’re using a free theme builder!

Design: Free

You’ll also need plugins to handle some basic functionality like SEO, security, and forms. We’ll stay as minimal as we can and only use paid plugins for our forms ($49/year - wpforms) and SEO ($49/year - AIOSEO).

Plugins: $98/year

Lastly, we’ll need to host our website somewhere. There are a lot of options out there for hosting, but since we really care about our website and want it to be fast and reliable, we’re going to stay away from budget website hosts. In fact, we’re going to choose a host that is comparable to Webflow’s hosting so we’re on a similar level.

Hosting: $10/month or $120/year (Nexcess Wordpress hosting)

Wordpress Annual Cost: $218

Webflow

Getting the total cost for Webflow is much easier - it’s listed on their pricing page. You don’t have to choose between plugins, theme builders, or hosts. You can even start building and design your site for free. Once you are ready to go live, you can start a Site Plan for as low as $14/month.

Not only is it much easier to understand how much you’ll be spending with Webflow, but you don’t have to worry about plugins or theme builders conflicting with each other or your hosting platform.

Webflow Annual Cost: $168

Final Thoughts

There are people who love to get into the details of websites and the nuances of the tech stack. But most people that work in the outdoor industry are more interested in getting outside and connecting with people. The ease of maintenance, powerful designer, and reasonable cost are why I think Webflow is a stand-out for outdoor companies and a much better choice than Wordpress.

Whether you hire a designer or build it yourself, do yourself a favor and give Webflow a try. It will allow you spend more time doing what you love about your job and less time tinkering with your website.

There are some cases where Webflow may not be the right call. This includes if your website requires an online store or some other deeply customized needs. However, if you work with a Webflow developer, there’s a good chance you can still use Webflow even with these requirements. If you are looking for a good Webflow developer to help you build a website, we’d love to help!