Why I Moved My Website Away from WordPress

WordPress Was Holding Me Back

For years, my website ran on WordPress. It worked — until it didn't. Pages took 3-4 seconds to load. Every update meant checking if a plugin broke something. Customizing the design beyond what the theme allowed was a constant battle. And the security updates? Endless.

I wasn't alone. Many businesses I've worked with face the same frustrations: a WordPress site that started simple but became slow, bloated, and expensive to maintain.

So I did what I'd been advising my clients to do — I rebuilt from scratch.

What I Actually Needed

Before writing a single line of code, I asked myself the same questions I ask clients at the start of every project:

• Who is visiting this site? Potential clients and collaborators evaluating my work.
• What should they feel? That I'm competent, detail-oriented, and easy to work with.
• What matters most? Speed, clean design, and content I can update without friction.

These answers shaped every decision that followed. No feature bloat. No unnecessary complexity. Just a fast, focused site that does its job well.

The Results

The difference was immediate:

• Page load time dropped from ~3.5s to under 1s. Every page is pre-built at deploy time, so visitors get instant responses. Google rewards this — faster sites rank higher.
• Zero plugin dependencies. No more compatibility issues, no more security patches for plugins I barely use. The site is self-contained.
• Perfect Lighthouse scores. 95+ across Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO — out of the box, not as an afterthought.
• Content updates in minutes. I write blog posts in Markdown, push to the repository, and the site rebuilds automatically. No CMS login, no formatting headaches.

When Does a Custom Build Make Sense?

WordPress is still a great choice for many businesses — especially if you need a quick launch with lots of content management features. But a custom-built site starts making sense when:

• Speed is a competitive advantage. E-commerce sites, landing pages, and anything where a slow load means a lost customer.
• You've outgrown your theme. If your developer spends more time fighting the theme than building features, you're paying a hidden tax.
• Maintenance is eating your budget. Plugin updates, hosting costs, and constant troubleshooting add up fast.
• You need something specific. Unique interactions, complex integrations, or a design that doesn't look like everyone else's.

The Technical Side (For the Curious)

I built this site with Next.js and Tailwind CSS — the same stack I use for client projects. Every page is statically generated, meaning the server does the heavy lifting once at build time, not on every visitor request. The result is a site that's fast by default, not fast because of caching hacks.

The architecture is deliberately simple: minimal JavaScript shipped to the browser, no external databases, and automated deployments through Vercel. Less moving parts means fewer things that can break.

Thinking About Making the Switch?

If your current website feels like it's working against you rather than for you, it might be time to explore what a purpose-built site could do for your business.

I help companies move from legacy platforms to modern, performant web applications — whether that's a complete rebuild or a targeted migration of the parts that matter most.

Get in touch and let's talk about what your site could be.