After 777 WordPress Builds, Here is What I Tell My Clients Now

I built 777 WordPress websites. Then I started telling people to leave.

So here is something that has been sitting with me for a while now and I think it is time I just said it out loud.

I have built over 777 websites on WordPress. I know it inside out. I have taught it, I have defended it, and I still use it today. That last part is important. Do not skip over it.

But over the last couple of years, I have started recommending that some of my clients build on something else entirely. And honestly? That felt flipping weird at first. Because I am the WordPress girl. Right? That has been my thing for over 20 years. Lordy, showing my age big time.

It is how I built my business, it is how I have served hundreds and hundreds of you, and it is still a massive part of what I do every single day. So when I started saying actually, WordPress might not be the right fit for you... I had to really sit with that.

Most content on this topic is made by people trying to sell you one platform or another. I still build on WordPress when it is the right call. But after 777 websites, I have realised that most people are building on the wrong platform and they do not even know it.

This post is my honest take on who should be where and why.

In this blog

• Who actually needs WordPress (it is fewer businesses than you think)
• The hidden cost of the cheap platform
• Why face-of-brand businesses need business infrastructure, not a publishing tool
• WordPress vs heyCEOflow: where each one wins
• How to migrate without burning it all down
• What you actually get under one roof
• FAQ
• Your next step

Who actually needs WordPress (it is fewer businesses than you think)

For me, there is genuinely only a handful of businesses that need WordPress. And these are businesses that need what we call custom post types.

That sounds really techy, but in plain language, think of it like database-driven design.

Here is what I mean. One of my clients sells travel packages on resorts. They have over 550 resort listings. Each resort is set up as a custom post type with all its information stored in a database, and that information gets populated through to the design layer, which is separate. So if they decide to change the look and feel of their website, they do not have to go and manually update 550 different resort pages. The design changes, the data stays put.

Same thing with another client who runs a lodge with different room options. Each room has a very specific layout populated from the database. The design layer and the content layer are separate. Beautifully efficient.

And then there are certain e-commerce stores where the client has very specific layout requirements. Pixel perfect design. A very particular aesthetic they want nailed. That is the kind of thing I would still absolutely build in WordPress because with the tools I use, I can create anything.

The key here is that you or a team member updates content in the back end, not in the design tool. You do not need to know how to use Elementor or Beaver Builder or Kadence. You are just entering information into fields and the design handles the rest.

That is honestly the only scenario where I would still recommend WordPress. Full stop.

If you are running a directory, a listing site, a complex data-driven e-commerce store, or a publishing empire? WordPress. No question. I will still build that for you in a heartbeat and I will love every second of it.

Everyone else? Keep reading.

The hidden cost of the cheap platform

Here is what nobody tells you when you choose WordPress because it seems like the affordable option.

First, it needs regular updates. WordPress is an open source tool and the downside of open source is that you have to maintain it. The reality? Most people do not maintain their own websites very well. If at all.

And there is a lot of crap, frankly, that can happen if you do not. Viruses. Getting hacked. Things being out of date so you cannot log in. Functionality breaks. The dreaded white screen of death. If you have ever spent any time in WordPress, you know exactly what that is.

This is no problem for my clients who have care plans with me. But if you cannot afford a care plan, then you are having to become a mini WordPress expert yourself. And a decent care plan with anyone who is going to do a half decent job? That is in the region of $150 a month at entry level. So there is that burden.

Then there are the plugins. Not all good plugins are free. Want fancy functionality? You are adding plugins with annual fees. And those fees start escalating quickly.

So you need to maintain it yourself or pay someone. You need plugins that cost money. And then the final straw? The frustration of having to connect your website with everything else.

Your email is on MailChimp. Your invoicing is on Zoho. Your website pages are on WordPress. Maybe your store is on Shopify. Now you have got all these different platforms, all with subscriptions, all costing you money, and it is a mission to get them to talk to each other.

There is a hidden cost to the cheap fee of WordPress. Premium plugins, developer fees, your time, and every time something breaks. Most businesses using WordPress do not need any of that complexity.

They just need a website that looks bloody good, converts visitors, and connects to their calendar and payment systems.

This is not a WordPress problem. This is a wrong tool for the job problem.

Why face-of-brand businesses need business infrastructure, not a publishing tool

Here is what I realised.

For typical face-of-brand businesses like the kind I work with, coaches, photographers, health practitioners, designers, doulas, consultants, they are not running their businesses on infrastructure built for publishers and developers. Right? That is what WordPress was built for. Publishing.

They need to be running on something built for businesses.

And so that is what led me down the road of exploring all-in-one systems. In the past I had never considered them because I thought WordPress could do everything. But it was not serving all of my clients perfectly. For some, it is still the perfect match. But not for everyone.

So I went down a rabbit hole. Signed up for every all-in-one system I could find. Tried them all out. Created one mega mental spreadsheet of pros and cons. Whittled it down until eventually I landed on HighLevel.

And then of course, being who I am, I could not stop at just using HighLevel. I had to use that platform to create my own software version of it. And so I built heyCEOflow.

WordPress vs heyCEOflow: where each one wins

Let me make this really simple.

WordPress wins when:

• You have structured, data-driven content (custom post types)
• You need complex content filtering and searching
• You are building a directory, listing site, or publishing empire
• You have a specifically detailed e-commerce store with pixel-perfect design requirements
• You have developer support and budget for ongoing maintenance

heyCEOflow wins for literally everyone else:

• Service providers
• Personal brands
• Coaches and consultants
• Practitioners
• Creatives who want to look beautiful AND actually convert

The question you need to ask yourself is: am I building a content database or a personal brand that needs to convert?

If it is the second one, you should be building on heyCEOflow.

How to migrate without burning it all down

I know some of you have already built your websites on WordPress or Squarespace or Wix or whatever. So let us talk about the migration question.

Here is my rule of thumb.

If you have cobbled together or DIYed a WordPress website and it is half a sales page that does not flow well and certainly is not converting? Hell no. We should not be doing anything but rebuilding that from scratch. You really want to Marie Kondo your online life.

But let us say you already paid a professional to design your website. It is built out in WordPress and it is absolutely gorgeous. Cost you an arm and ten legs. You do not want to lose all that hard work. Then hey, leave your web pages on WordPress, but connect everything else behind the scenes to heyCEOflow.

Have a chatbot on your WordPress site capturing leads. Every form is an embedded form from heyCEOflow. All payment links go through to a checkout on heyCEOflow. Basically your WordPress website becomes your very pretty shopfront window into your business.

What I typically recommend for most clients is this: take your most successful offer. The thing that is selling most or takes the most work to deliver. Build the entire flow out on heyCEOflow. Sales page, checkout, CRM behind the scenes, all the emails going from your heyCEOflow account.

And once that is done? To clone it and copy paste your content in and swap some images for all your other offers is child's play.

There is no one answer here. There are certainly a lot of options. But importing your email list is really simple. Warming up your email sending domain is really simple. All of these processes are straightforward, and of course I hold your hand through the whole thing.

What you actually get under one roof

This is the part that still gets me genuinely excited.

heyCEOflow is not just a website builder. That is the whole point. We do not want to go down the same road and make the same mistake of just looking for a website. This handles:

• Unlimited websites and funnel pages
• Full CRM tracking and maintaining everything to do with your customers
• Payments and invoicing built right in
• Automations running in the background so you are not doing everything manually
• Online courses and memberships with no extra platform needed
• Online community groups for your clients
• Email marketing and campaigns with proper segmentation
• Scheduling calendars for bookings and appointments
• Social media management and scheduling
• Affiliate system so your super fans can sell your services for you
• Beautiful checkouts with order bumps and one-click upsells

And frankly, one of the most powerful features? The unified inbox.

All your conversations, whether they started on Instagram DMs, email, or SMS, are in one thread. No more squirrelling through your social posts, DMs, and email trying to find what you agreed with a client three weeks ago. It is all in one place. If team members are talking to them, you can see that too.

One login. One subscription. One place.

And here is the bit I am really proud of. Part of what I specifically built into heyCEOflow is a system of globally branded templates. You set your brand colours and fonts in one place. Every template, every layout, every page automatically picks up that branding. This is not by default how things work on HighLevel, by the way. This took me a lot of time to set up. But it means I can ship out different templates for sales pages, funnel pages, whatever you need, and they automatically pull in your branding.

You swap out some images, and hey presto. Gorgeously designed, pixel perfect page. Without having to go through every single text element and set your brand colours. Because who has time for that? Not me. And certainly not you.

FAQ

Should I use WordPress for my business website?

Only if your site is genuinely database-driven. Directories, listing sites, publishing operations, anything running hundreds of structured entries, and e-commerce stores with very specific pixel-perfect layout requirements all belong on WordPress, and I will still build those in a heartbeat. If you are a service business or a personal brand who needs a site that looks good and converts, you are running on infrastructure built for publishers and developers rather than for businesses.

What is a custom post type in WordPress?

In plain language, it is database-driven design. One of my clients has over 550 resort listings, each one set up as a custom post type with its information stored in a database and pulled through to a separate design layer. Change the look of the site and you are not manually updating 550 pages, because the design and the content are held apart. The practical test is whether you or a team member update content by typing into fields in the back end rather than opening a design tool.

How much does it really cost to run a WordPress website?

More than the cheap headline fee. WordPress is open source, so it needs regular maintenance, and if you cannot do that yourself a decent care plan starts around $150 a month at entry level. Add premium plugins with annual fees for anything fancy, developer time when something breaks, and the subscriptions for the separate platforms doing your email, invoicing and store. The hidden cost is your own time as much as the money.

Do I have to rebuild my website to move to heyCEOflow?

Not necessarily. If your site is a DIY effort that does not flow well and is not converting, rebuild it, there is nothing there worth carrying over. But if you paid a professional and the design is gorgeous, leave those pages on WordPress and connect everything behind the scenes to heyCEOflow instead: a chatbot capturing leads, embedded forms, payment links running through to a heyCEOflow checkout. Your WordPress site becomes a very pretty shopfront window into the business.

What is the easiest way to start migrating?

Take one offer, the thing that sells most or takes the most work to deliver, and build the entire flow on heyCEOflow: sales page, checkout, CRM behind the scenes, all the emails sending from your heyCEOflow account. Once that one is done, cloning it for your other offers is a copy-paste and an image swap. Importing your email list and warming up your sending domain are both straightforward, and I hold your hand through it.

Is heyCEOflow just a website builder?

No, and that is the whole point of it. It covers unlimited websites and funnel pages, a full CRM, payments and invoicing, automations, courses and memberships, community groups, email marketing, scheduling calendars, social media management, an affiliate system and checkouts with order bumps and upsells. The feature I would point at first is the unified inbox, where Instagram DMs, email and SMS land in one thread, so you are not hunting through three apps for what you agreed with a client three weeks ago.

Your next step

So at the end of the day, I am not getting paid to say any of this. I use both platforms. I will happily support you on WordPress or on heyCEOflow. I just want you to build on the right platform for your actual situation because getting it wrong costs you more than money. It costs you time you will never get back.

I made a YouTube video that walks through the whole thing honestly. No agenda. No trashing WordPress. Just my genuine take after 777+ builds.

Chantal