It can seem almost impossible to decide between the two, as both Shopify and WordPress have their merits and pitfalls. Ultimately, which one is the right choice comes down to your specific needs and what matters most to you when building an eCommerce site. In this article, we’ll thoroughly explain the Shopify vs WordPress debate so you can make an informed decision about which one is best for your business.

What Is WordPress?

WordPress is a content management system that allows online store owners complete control over their website’s customisation, hosting, and plugins. As a result of this high level of customisation and control, WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world – approximately 43% of websites in the world are powered by WordPress.

WordPress is an open-source software, meaning it’s free to use, modify and distribute. As a result, WordPress is home to a vibrant community of developers who are constantly creating new WordPress plugins and extensions, as well as WordPress themes. Most of these are free to use, and new ones are added every day, meaning WordPress is an extremely flexible way to build a website. The downside is that WordPress website owners have to pay for hosting, maintenance, and domain name registration from a third party.

It’s important to note that in this article and our website as a whole, we’re referring to WordPress.org instead of WordPress.com unless specified otherwise. WordPress.com is a pay-to-use website builder rather than an open-source content management system. If you’d like to learn about the difference between the two and the pros and cons of each, we covered it extensively in our article ‘WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – What’s The Difference?’

What Is Shopify?

Shopify is an all-in-one platform that was founded in Canada in 2006 and has since gained a reputation as one of the best eCommerce website builders around. Shopify was designed to simplify the process of creating and managing an online store by bundling everything you need into one package. This includes web hosting, security, payment processing, and even inventory management. 

Overall, Shopify is a popular option for business owners who don’t have the budget or tech knowledge to develop a custom website and are looking for a hassle-free solution for building an eCommerce site. However, the downside of Shopify is that website owners have to pay to use Shopify, and the website builder offers limited customisation options when compared to WordPress sites.

Choosing Between Shopify And WordPress

When choosing between any CMS or website builder, here are the top things to consider:

• Pricing and costs
• Ease of use
• eCommerce capabilities
• SEO and marketing power
• Level of control and customisation
• Customer support available
• Security

We’ll go over each other these considerations below and give a full comparison of Shopify vs WordPress to help you make up your mind! It’s important to take into account your specific needs and preferences – no website builder or CMS is perfect, so making a list of your priorities will help you assess which one works best for you.

Pricing and Costs

Pricing is one of the main differences between Shopify vs WordPress, and it’s a big one! Here’s how WordPress and Shopify stack up when it comes to your wallet:

Shopify Pricing And Costs

Shopify offers tiered pricing plans, each with different features and transaction fees. While the basic Shopify plan is relatively cheap at $56 AUD a month as of 2023, you’ll have to upgrade to pricier plans like Advanced Shopify for added functionalities like multiple staff accounts or third-party calculated shipping rates. You’ll also have to pay $14.95 per year for your domain name. Even taking into account what you save on third-party hosting costs, this results in a lot more money spent in the long term than WordPress. Here are the different Shopify plans:

WordPress Pricing And Costs

While the WordPress software itself is free, there’s still a variety of costs involved. These include: 

• Hosting Costs: Unlike Shopify, WordPress requires you to arrange your own web hosting. WordPress hosting costs can range from affordable shared hosting plans to more expensive dedicated hosting, depending on your website’s size and traffic.
• Themes and Plugins: While there are thousands of free themes and plugins available, premium options often come with a price tag. These can enhance your website’s functionality and design but will add to your overall expenses.
• Development and Maintenance: If you’re not tech-savvy, you might need to hire a developer for initial setup or ongoing maintenance. This can be a one-time cost for setup or an ongoing expense for regular updates and troubleshooting.
• Additional Costs: Depending on your needs, you may incur additional costs for things like premium plugins for SEO, e-commerce functionalities, enhanced security, and backup solutions.

WordPress is known for its flexibility, but this can also mean variable costs. It’s best suited for those who want more control over their website and are willing to manage and pay for the associated responsibilities that come with it.

Ease of Use

Shopify Ease Of Use

Shopify is designed with a focus on simplicity. Its user-friendly interface allows for straightforward setup of an online store, even for those with limited technical skills. The process of adding products, customising the store’s design, and managing daily operations like order processing and product updates is facilitated by intuitive tools and clear directions.

WordPress Ease Of Use

WordPress, while offering more flexibility and customisation options, has a steeper learning curve. Setting up a site with WordPress means dealing with hosting, choosing themes, and integrating with third-party apps and plugins. The process can be overwhelming for beginners, especially if you want to custom-develop features or have issues that you need to troubleshoot. WordPress is great if you’re already comfortable with website development and ready to put in the elbow grease or are willing to outsource the process to experts – resulting in a more customised and powerful website overall. 

eCommerce Features: Shopify vs WordPress Comparison

Shopify eCommerce Features

It’s all in the name: Shopify is an eCommerce platform designed specifically for online retail, and that comes with a lot of benefits for Shopify users. It offers a comprehensive set of built-in eCommerce tools that are ready to use out of the box, covering everything from product management to payment processing and shipping, making it easier to set up and run an online store. 

Overall, Shopify is ideal if you’re looking for an eCommerce solution that’s straightforward to manage. However, this does come at a significant cost: Shopify charges a fee ranging between 1.4% to 2% of each transaction if you don’t use their integrated payment processing system, Shopify Payments, which can add up quickly and eat into your long-term profits.

WordPress And WooCommerce eCommerce Features

Setting up an eCommerce store in WordPress isn’t as straightforward as with Shopify, and you need to install a plugin like WooCommerce to sell products on a WordPress site. Although this may seem like an additional step tacked on to the already arduous process of creating an online store, it offers greater flexibility and control over the design and functionality of your store.  Most eCommerce sites on WordPress are run using WooCommerce, and it’s widely considered the best eCommerce plugin on the market.

WooCommerce allows you to create themes suited to your brand and industry, optimise your checkout experience and create custom product pages quickly. One of the biggest advantages is that it’s completely free and open-source. This means that you won’t have to pay any transaction fees or other hidden costs that are associated with other eCommerce platforms like Shopify.

All up, while setting up an eCommerce store on WordPress might need you to go through some extra steps compared to other platforms, installing WooCommerce offers greater flexibility, control, and cost-effectiveness in the long run. WooCommerce was created by the founders of WordPress, so you know it’s legit!

SEO And Marketing

Shopify SEO And Marketing

Shopify has built-in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) features and tools that make it relatively straightforward to optimise your Shopify stores for search engines. It offers basic SEO settings like editable meta titles and descriptions, automatic sitemap generation, and mobile-friendly themes. Shopify also provides integrated tools for email marketing, social media integration, and creating discount codes. However, for more advanced SEO and marketing needs, you might need to rely on third-party apps available in the Shopify App Store.

WordPress SEO And Marketing

WordPress offers you complete control over every aspect of your website’s SEO and access to thousands of free and paid SEO plugins – this is ideal if you like taking a more hands-on approach to SEO and don’t like leaving anything that important up to chance. 

Using WordPress allows you to oversee every step of the development and design of your website, meaning you can make sure your website is as SEO-friendly as possible from the very start instead of relying on Shopify and its systems and tools. Additionally, the ability to choose a reliable hosting provider yourself and choose your hosting plan means you can get complete assurance your website is fast and reliable, both important factors for SEO.

Control And Customisation 

Shopify Control And Customisation

Shopify offers a moderate level of control and a high level of ease of use. It provides a range of themes and an intuitive drag-and-drop editor that allows for basic customisation without needing extensive technical skills. However, there’s a limit to how much you can customise on Shopify without delving into more complex features like editing the platform’s Liquid code. Despite Shopify’s focus on eCommerce, this level of customisation isn’t the best for your online store. To stand out in the competitive environment of online shopping, it’s important your website is as custom as possible to match your branding and increase customer memorability. 

WordPress Control And Customisation

As an open-source platform, WordPress offers users unparalleled control and customisation. You can modify essentially every element of your site with complete access to the code and thousands of themes and plugins – the possibilities are almost limitless. This level of control is ideal if you have a specific vision for their site or require custom functions that simple website builders can’t offer. However, this also means that taking full advantage of WordPress’s customisation potential often requires technical knowledge or the budget to outsource development to a professional or agency.

Customer Support

Shopify Customer Support

One of the things Shopify is most known for is stellar customer support. Shopify support includes a 24/7 phone line and live chat, meaning you can get instant support, even in the middle of the night. This 24/7 support is available no matter what type of plan you’re on. Shopify also has highly active forums, thanks to the millions of Shopify sites, and a help centre with helpful FAQs to answer any questions. In the WordPress vs Shopify debate, there’s a clear winner when it comes to customer support. 

WordPress Customer Support 

Open-source platforms like WordPress don’t offer any formal support service. However, there are 810 million WordPress websites out there, meaning there’s an incredibly vibrant community of WordPress users and experts offering up a wealth of information and WordPress training. While this isn’t the same as a dedicated phone line for 24/7 support, any information you need to know regarding WordPress eCommerce, the different versions of WordPress, or updating a WordPress plugin is definitely out there.

Security and Compliance

Shopify Security And Compliance

As a hosted platform, Shopify takes care of almost everything concerning the security of your website, including security updates and maintenance, as well as providing SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates for all its websites. This ensures that all customer data is encrypted during transactions. It’s also important to note that Shopify has to comply with PCI (Payment Card Industry) standards, which is essential for safely processing credit cards. 

WordPress’ Security And Compliance 

In contrast, security in WordPress is more hands-on. While the platform itself is secure, being open-source means that the responsibility of maintaining security largely falls on the user. This includes implementing your own SSL certificates, choosing secure payment gateways, and ensuring regular updates of the WordPress core, themes, and plugins. Additionally, the vast array of plugins means you’ll need to be cautious about what you install to avoid vulnerabilities. 

Essentially, choosing WordPress means you need to take a proactive approach to security. This either requires some technical know-how on your part or the assistance of a professional.

Shopify Vs WordPress: Final Thoughts

If you’re still wondering whether to choose Shopify or WordPress, let’s break it down:

If you’re just starting out or if you need a simple, straightforward solution without much technical hassle, Shopify might be the better option. It’s tailor-made for ease of use, offering an all-in-one package that takes care of everything from hosting to security. This user-friendly approach allows you to focus more on running your business and less on the nitty-gritty of website management.
Overall, it’s a solid choice if you don’t yet have the technical skills or the budget for a custom-built website. 

On the other hand, if you highly value customisation, flexibility, and having control over every aspect of your site, then creating an eCommerce site with WordPress and using WooCommerce is a better option. WordPress offers an unparalleled level of customisation, which can be a significant advantage for those looking to create a unique online presence. It’s well-suited for businesses that have specific requirements or those who plan to scale up significantly and need a platform that can grow and adapt with them.

In the end, the choice comes down to your individual business needs and what you want to get out of your website. They’re both great options on the whole – just make sure you take the time to do your research and make a clear list of your priorities before jumping in.

The different ideas below are ones we have experience with, except for idea number 42(!) which is crazier than anything else. So they are tried and tested, guaranteed to bring you results.

If you would like to consult with us about any marketing ideas below, or if you would like to work together, feel free to get in touch!

1. Start a podcast (we’ve done this recently ourselves!)
2. Write articles on LinkedIn
3. Start direct email marketing
4. Develop an online course
5. Create a Facebook Group
6. Create a Marketing Plan
7. Put up an advertisement on Gumtree
8. Conduct a focus group
9. Do some market research
10. Create a website
11. Redesign your website
12. Explore your customer’s journey
13. Update/create a business card
14. Go to a conference
15. Take an online course
16. Present at a trade show
17. Join a business club/group
18. Conduct A/B testing on everything possible
19. Do a letterbox drop
20. Launch a discount/coupon campaign
21. Advertise on the radio
22. Record a video ad using your smartphone
23. Order stickers with your logo on them
24. Advertise in the local paper
25. Order an A-Frame for your shopfront
26. Create a social media presence
27. Create/update your Google My Business
28. Start writing a blog
29. Set up Google Analytics on your site
30. Add an email subscription form on social media
31. Create a free download for website visitors
32. Create/update your email signature block
33. Add sharing buttons on your website
34. Send out a customer satisfaction survey
35. Ask for referrals
36. Help a local club/group
37. Donate prizes for a local contest/trivia night
38. Establish a cross-promotion with another business
39. Hire a marketing firm
40. Request a website audit (many sites offer them for free)
41. Create a mascot for your business
42. Tattoo your logo (a little crazy!)

If you’re a Canberra business looking for help in marketing to Canberra, or even beyond, we’d love to offer you a no-obligation consultation. Simply get in touch with us and we can either meet in person or via video chat.

However, it’s certainly not all bad and there are plenty of Canberra based companies that are doing it right. So we thought we’d give you the rundown on what influencers are, why they are becoming more important and how they can benefit businesses big and small.

What is an influencer?

Put simply, an influencer is an individual or collective who has built an online following in a particular niche (e.g. gaming, makeup, fitness, etc.) via content creation. This relationship with the audience can then be leveraged by said influencers to influence the purchase decisions of their audience. 

Canberra native Camille Aniversario is a perfect example of what a modern influencer is. The mother of three originally started a personal Instagram account based around sharing photos of her young family and writing accompanying blog posts about their lives and blog posts of her family (https://www.instagram.com/camilleaniversario/). The account quickly gained attention from other Instagram users and traditional media outlets which allowed her to not only promote other local brands but also her personal endeavours.  She now is the owner of four Instagram accounts with a combined audience of over 22 thousand followers. The content found on these accounts ranges from simple lifestyle blogging to business promotion and more recently, advocating for local women’s rights organisations.

Why are companies moving from celebrities to more niche influencers?

As online content platforms have drastically changed the media we engage with and how we consume it, so too has it changed people’s views of mainstream celebrities. The younger generation no longer looks to inaccessible Hollywood movie stars for guidance and instead turn to more relatable online content creators. I mean who are you more likely to trust; a movie star who you might see in one, maybe two movies a year, or an online blogger who’s personal and professional content you consume everyday?

The statistics reflect this shift as well. A study conducted by Roth Capital found that 78% of millennials aren’t influenced by celebrity endorsements, whilst another conducted by MediaKix showed that over 80% of marketers find influencer marketing effective. Moreover, industry experts believe that as traditional media platforms continue to become eroded by online content hubs, global expenditure on influencer marketing is expected to reach $6.5 billion annually by the end of the year. This figure is even crazier when you take into consideration that expenditure was only $1.7 billion in 2016.

Why would you hire an influencer?

1. Improves Brand Awareness – Tapping into a highly engaged online audience is an effective way to further the reach of your brand as well as its general salience. The key to maximizing influencer strategy is ensuring that you’re providing valuable content that adds to their social media presence also, ensuring value on both sides.
2. People value authenticity (which is something that typical celebrities lack) – Influencers have spent years in some cases building relationships, trust, and credibility with their fans. People not only respect their content but also their personal recommendations which is something your brand can leverage in order to motivate their audience to purchase your product
3. Allows more niche-targeted marketing – Through relevant influencers, your content is placed in front of social users that are already interested in your niche. This means you can forgo spending additional funds on market research in order to find and test your target audience – the influencer has already done the leg work by curating an engaged audience
4. Cost-effective – Recruiting influencers to market your product is much cheaper than other traditional avenues. A study by Bloglovin’ shows that a majority of micro-influencers charge less than $500 for a sponsored post. Additionally, because of the targeted nature of influencer marketing that the strategy is effective in bringing in better quality customers which further increases its return on investment.
5. Can assist in content marketing – Most businesses are unable to dedicate the resources needed to constantly create engaging content for their customers. This is where influencers come in as they can help fill in the gaps of your own content schedule by producing more diverse (and in many cases higher quality) content.

Influencer marketing can be incredibly beneficial for startups, established businesses or simply those that have been struggling with gaining traction in their social media marketing.

If you wish to learn how you can effectively incorporate influencer outreach into your marketing strategy contact our team and schedule a consultation. We are proud to be on the cutting edge of this trend and we are excited to show Canberrans how this tactic can accelerate your online goals and benefit your brand! Keep an eye out for a list of Canberra influencers we are currently developing and will be launching very soon!