Send Me Your WordPress Clients
A story about a Laravel developer and WordPress
So you’ve got a new client. You signed them on for a discovery session to define the requirements for their new website. You call them into the office and outline the process and start diving into their website requirements. It’s a clean slate.
In the middle of the meeting, seemingly out of nowhere, they bring up WordPress.
“We really would like you to build the new site on WordPress,” they explain.
Your heart instantly sinks.
“But I just completed a series of Laracasts, teaching me everything I need to make the most cutting edge Laravel site, complete with live data binding and easy-to-create data models!”
You try to convince your client to trust in your newfound skillz with this “Laravel” framework but the client insists, it must be WordPress. You begin to seethe with hate. You begin to turn to the dark side.
“But WordPress is not secure and it’s slow and our team hates it!” you exclaim, pointing out every flaw as if they were glaringly obvious to even a newborn child who hasn’t even opened her eyes yet.
The client looks at you and calmly says, “Our old website was on WordPress, our whole team already knows it, and we don’t want a custom CMS because that sounds expensive. WordPress is free, has a huge support system, and tons of plugins and themes we can rely on.”
You look at them with a look of sheer befuddlement and try to regroup your anger and focus it into a calm, firm explanation, “WordPress isn’t the best foundation for your website because it uses outdated coding practices and comes with settings and post types you don’t need. Newer web application frameworks use an approach called MVC, which allows developers to write more efficient code and very specific content management interfaces. In addition, WordPress has encountered a lot of security issues over the past year or so. That means your website could be hacked very easily and you don’t want that.”
The client looks at you and says, “Can Laravel apps be hacked?”
You sink in your chair, confused by this client’s persistence. Your inner monologue keeps saying, “Just let us build a cool Laravel app! It would be awesome!” After thinking through the list of possible rebuttals, you reply, “Yes, but we would write better code than WordPress!”
It is at that point you realize, judging by the client’s posture and lack of excitement for your Laravel proposition that they won’t back down. This client wants WordPress and it doesn’t matter how sexy Laravel may appear, they won’t budge.
Well, have no fear, Laravel champion of the universe. We love WordPress. With WordPress, we’ve built custom AngularJS-powered apps, SVG animated maps, ajaxified user interfaces, custom content management workflows for television producers, a project proofing system for Frito-Lay, and even an Emmy-nominated second screen app for The Walking Dead, along with numerous others for TV shows like Breaking Bad, Bridezillas, and more. Millions of hits at scale and WordPress handled it all like a champ.
So send us those stubborn WordPress clients. We’ll take good care of them.
