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I am launching a Wordpress eCommerce platform in the form of a marketplace to sell courses, appointments and events... what are the security and scalability challenges do I need to look at? Using Wordpress, Buddypress, custom events and courses plugins.. any advice on where I can hire talent?
Answers
Hi
I have personally used Wordpress for numerous projects - both simple and complicated, and in all cases the websites have worked fine and have been easy to manage.
A good place to hire someone to build the website for you at reasonable prices is on Fiverr. Just be sure that you have a very clear specification document (description of the project) and that you clearly define expectations with the programmer.
If it’s a project that costs more than $3,000, and if you’re using someone in the same country as you are located, then I would consider drafting a services agreement.
I can help you with any and all of the above if needed.
Good luck
I won't recommend building on Wordpress for anything big. Security and scalability challenges will be huge. In addition to that, performance is going to drag with Wordpress.
Money is going to change hands on the marketplace and Wordpress is not known for its security. One hack and you will be on your knees.
Scaling might seem easy if you find the right plugins but if you didn't, things will come to a standstill. A lot of customization will mean paying a huge amount for a 'patched-up' solution.
Go for a modern technology. A lot of PHP frameworks will work and the best one right now is Laravel.
If this is a hobby project, go ahead and use Wordpress.
If it is something that you feel strongly about and want to build right, then, go with a better technology.
Drop me an message if you want to connect with a company that can build it right. I don't want to drop links and look spammy. Cheers!
I host 1000s of WordPress site projects.
WordPress security is rock solid, if you...
1) Only use repository themes + plugins. If you use random paid themes + plugins, you'll likely get hacked.
2) You must install an auto update plugin, which installs all core + theme + plugin updates, as they occur.
Note: Hackable themes/plugins + people reusing weak passwords across many sites is the primary ways hackers get into sites... through WordPress...
3) That said, for my 5% of all site hacks occur through WordPress 95% of site hacks occur because the hosting company is 100% incompetent.
If you're truly concerned about security, the most effective part of your security is the one person you pay (normally a king's ransom) to keep all your OS code updated, which also means you'll be running on dedicated servers... rather than normal shared hosting.
The quality of the person you hire to setup + maintain your security, will determine your security.
Scalability: This also depends on the person you hire for this. Normally one person will take care of both.
When I deliver a WordPress site to a client, normal site speeds run at 1,000,000+ requests/minute throughput... which means...
Anyone who tells you WordPress is slow... simply doesn't have the experience to tune WordPress to run fast.
WordPress is secure + scales, directly related to the intelligence of your Server Savant... you have doing all your server work on a regular basis.
WordPress is the world's most popular content management system powering 34% of all websites on the internet. On top of that: WordPress has a 60.8% market share in the CMS market. WordPress powers 14.7% of the world's top websites so security and scalability is never an issue if managed properly.
I have worked for Fortune top 500 companies and helped more than 100's of clients in creating startups using wordpress and most of them are still running successfully. You can schedule a call for more detail or refer https://www.fiverr.com/mvpexpert/create-an-online-marketplace.
For a small/medium-sized project WordPress might be acceptable. However, if you plan to scale up and expect a lot of traffic it will be quite difficult to keep up.
Security of WP has improved in recent years, however, it still relies in PHP one of the languages that historically has suffered of prevalent security issues.
Scalability will be difficult at some point, you will need professional infrastructure to get a lot of transactions and other operations smooth. I would recommend research dedicated eCommerce platforms, remember Wordpress was originally conceived as a blogging platform.
Security is challenge in wordpress if you are using anything from the market. Most of the themes & plugins do get the job done by at the end of it also leave your website vulnerable to attacks.
I would recommend using custom developed website for such purpose & get a 3rd party security testing done before you go live so that you ensure atleast the regular known attacks are taken care of.
The number of concurrent scripts that a simple WordPress blog executes can sometimes overwhelm servers. From there, imagine in the case of a busy eCommerce site. This is not saying that none of the plugins can manage this, and we will look at the next post in the series. Specifically, we will be covering some of the best plugins that can address this particular problem. Most of the eCommerce sites using the WordPress platform tend to use other third-party payment methods and merchants to handle the cash transaction, this is much easier, and it will take a lot of paperwork and procedures to be allowed to store customers debit and credit card details on your database.
You can read more here: https://code.tutsplus.com/articles/problems-and-challenges-of-wordpress-ecommerce-solutions--cms-21701
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
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It sounds like you have plenty of skills to get started now. There's no need to keep re-training in different areas when you have experience to get started today. My suggestion would be to pick a niche and try and become the go-to guy in that particular niche. Let's say, for example, you are interested in men's fashion. You have experience in creating Wordpress ecommerce sites. You could call up maybe 10-15 of the local businesses in that niche in your local city/state and offer to make their website and get them in on a set-up fee and then a monthly maintenance retainer. This approach would be lower stress (because it's something you're interested in) and also because you could create a methodical framework that you could apply to other businesses in that niche. That's just one idea. Second idea - create a course on WooCommerce development and put it on Udemy (or Coursera etc). Note down 10 of the biggest obstacles you've had to overcome when building sites for friends and family and then note down 10 of the most important considerations people should consider before people get started. Now you've got 20 video lessons for your course. Charge for the course on Udemy or use it as a marketing tool to get more b2b development work. Idea 3: Go make money on freelancer.com, peopleperhour etc. Perhaps you've tried this already? Skills like yours are in demand on those platforms. Idea 4: Take the things I noted in the second idea above, and turn it into a handbook. Sell that book via Amazon. Idea 5: Go on Tweetdeck. Create a column that searches for people who are using keywords like "Wordpress woocommerce issue" "Wordpress woocommerce help" "WordPress woocommerce problem". Give them your clairty.fm link and tell them you'd be happy to have 5 minute discussion to see if you could help them resolve their problem. Idea 6: Find 10 major theme development companies. Sign up to their help or support forums. Do a similar thing to what's noted above on Twitter and offer to have a quick call via clarity.fm to see if you could help. Idea 7: Go down the route of finding existing Wordpress/Woocommerce blogs. Write posts for them about specific WooCommerce issues, problem solving or project management tips. Do this with the aim of improving your inbound consulting gigs. Idea 8: Do the exact opposite of whatever those friends are telling you. Idea 9: With your skills you could easily start a dropshipping company. I won't go into all the details here but just start looking at sites like Clickbank or Product Hunt to get a feel for something you're interested in. Build your site and start dropshipping products. https://www.woothemes.com/2015/06/dropshipping-beginners-guide/ Wordpress consulting alone, yeah it's probably quite competitive, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of opportunities for revenue. I think you will be even more motivated, successful and less stressed if you pick a niche industry, product or service to focus on. Enjoy it!SC
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I want to build a expert marketplace directory listing website, which wordpress theme I should use?
Checkout is a high-quality WordPress theme by Array built for marketplaces of any kind. https://arraythemes.com/themes/checkout-wordpress-theme/ Let me know if you have any questions about implementation, and I'd be happy to setup a call.LL
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