CourseCo versus Wordpress - Why Choose Us?
In this article we look at these two leading course website platforms in depth.
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Control. At CourseCo when we build you a website we build it from scratch with our own platform. We developed this platform ourselves and know it inside out - which means that it’s very unusual for anything to break. When something does break however it can always be easily repaired.
Wordpress on the other hand is a tool that thousands if not millions of developers around the world use on a daily basis to create websites. When something goes wrong for these developers they have no control over the platform that the website is built on. If something they do does not fit right with the Wordpress platform there is room to toggle the platform as it is out of their control.
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Ease of Use. To put it simply the CourseCo content management system is much easier to use than Wordpress, though Wordpress in general is seen as a fairly flexible platform. If you are a confident developer or coder you will find that you will get a lot out of Wordpress, but if you are non-technical it is unlikely you will be able to master all of the features of the platform. Wordpress customisation requires some knowledge of plugin integration and coding.
Because CourseCo includes a WYSIWYG website builder, you can fully personalise your site pages using drag-and-drop functions in the CourseCo content management system (CMS). You simply choose an element like a text box, drag it to where you want it, and drop it. You see your page exactly as it appears once it’s live. It couldn’t be easier!
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Features. You want your website to look good, but beneath the attractive design you also want it to pack a punch with useful site features and integrations. Both CourseCo and WordPress have lots of features. Here’s a list of some of the features that are included with CourseCo.
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Website System
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Administration
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Portal System
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Ecommerce System
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Contact System
All of these feature plus much more come as standard with CourseCo. There’s absolutely no need to install extra plugins – users simply log in to their site and go to the dashboard to select the feature they wish to use. No waiting around and no technical glitches – you’re ready to go and start selling courses straight away.
While WordPress does have a good number of useful features, many come in the form of plugins which need to be installed on your site. This is a technical process. Also, because plugins are created by developers from all over the world, having a number of separate plugins installed on a site can lead to conflicts and technical issues as it’s impossible to police the quality of all the products being created by the larger Wordpress community.
All of the comparable features on a CourseCo site on the other hand have been built by the CourseCo team which eliminates the risk of conflicts and technical issues that will lead to downtime, vulnerabilities or worse. It’s also important to mention that CourseCo clients do not need to worry about site management or updates. WordPress is a little different though as site owners or their development company need to constantly check for and install new releases and updates to keep up to speed and ensure that their site does not break or get hacked. This is an important consideration because an outdated site is at a much higher risk of being hacked.
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SEO. What’s the point in building a website if you can’t drive quality traffic to it? With CourseCo you’re covered when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) thanks to the platform’s built in SEO tools. These tools give all of the content that you publish a boost so that people find it in Google search. CourseCo automatically indexes your website pages on Google, allows for tagging and the creation of clean URLs. All of this functionality is fully integrated so you don’t have to worry about the technical aspects of SEO.
WordPress can also create SEO-friendly websites, but there’s a lot more you have to do to reach a point where you are ready to start seeing results. As always, it comes down to plugins, and you will have to install SEO plugins on your Wordpress site to get eyeballs on your website content. That said, Wordpress does offer a good range of SEO rated plugins.
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Security. Your website needs security to keep it safe from intruders and hackers. CourseCo looks after the security of your website for you. The CourseCo team see it as their responsibility to make sure your website is safe from hackers, and that the system stays online and running smoothly.
All CourseCo websites come with the option of an SSL certificate. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and encrypts data which is entered into your site. This is incredibly important if you’re selling through your website. Having an SSL certificate will also help with rankings and building customer trust.
With WordPress, it’s your responsibility to look after the security of your website. This involves carrying out regular backups. There are a number of security tools available to help you manage site security, but ultimately securing the site is down to you. The main difference between WordPress and CourseCo is what happens if something does go wrong. If your website was to come under attack, CourseCo have in-house experts on hand to sort everything out for you.
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Support. When it comes to support, WordPress has a great community and vast amounts of resources and tutorials to help you. However, it can sometimes be hard to find relevant information when you are overloaded with resources. In any case, you will be required to implement the changes and updates on their CMS following any training.
CourseCo support on the other hand is driven by the small CourseCo team that are committed to their base of clients. This means that there’s always someone on the other end of the phone willing to help and advise you if you run into trouble with the platform. We developed a CMS that’s quick and easy to us. Mary the CourseCo senior product manager has developed a series of articles, instructional documents and videos to help all users get to grips with CourseCo.
