WordPress Websites & Other Website Builders

In this episode of Cinch Academy, Mandy and Shyan are joined by special guest Lindsey Loring to discuss the pros and cons of modern website-building platforms, including WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and Shopify.

The conversation explores why WordPress remains popular despite its complexity, how plugins can create major maintenance issues and why platforms like Wix and Squarespace are becoming increasingly attractive for visual designers and businesses focused on user experience.

The team also dives into modern web design trends, AI website tools, storytelling in branding and what Canadian consumers are looking for in 2026.

Main Takeaways:

• WordPress can become unstable when overloaded with plugins

• Many businesses struggle to maintain WordPress websites independently

• Wix offers stronger drag-and-drop design flexibility

• Squarespace provides a user-friendly visual editing experience

• Figma integration allows for more customized website design workflows

• SEO tools and user experience remain essential regardless of platform

• AI tools are increasingly simplifying web development

• Consumers are prioritizing authentic experiences and community connection

• Storytelling and personal branding are becoming major marketing advantages

• Small businesses are outperforming larger brands through authenticity

The Abridged Transcription (Listen for full content!)

Shyan: Welcome back to the Cinch Academy marketing podcast. Today, we’re joined by Lindsey to talk about WordPress, Wix and other website-building platforms.

Lindsey: Hi everyone! I’m excited to be here.

Mandy: Welcome to your own company’s podcast! Let me give us all a bit of an introduction to WordPress.

The platform was originally released in 2003 and focused heavily on blogging. Because it was free and open source, it exploded in popularity and eventually became one of the most widely used website platforms in the world. But over time, the ecosystem became extremely dependent on themes and plugins.

Mandy: One question often asked online is: How many plugins are too many?

Lindsey: Honestly? One. Modern WordPress sites require plugins to function properly, but that also creates complexity. Plugins need updates, subscriptions and ongoing maintenance, and many clients struggle to manage that themselves.

Shyan: WordPress has a very steep learning curve. When clients inherit websites with dozens of plugins installed, it becomes difficult to identify what’s broken or conflicting.

Mandy: We often see sites with 20 or 30 plugins interacting negatively with each other and causing performance issues.

Shyan: Beyond functionality, WordPress can also limit design flexibility.

Lindsey: Exactly. I approach websites from a visual design perspective first. That’s why I originally gravitated toward Wix. It allowed true drag-and-drop design freedom without needing to code every customization manually.

I started using Wix years ago because I came into marketing through graphic design, not coding. I wanted a platform where I could visually create layouts that aligned with a brand’s identity. With Wix, if I want something in a specific place, I can simply drag it there and design around the user experience directly.

Wix also now includes built-in AI tools and code-generation features.

If I need movement or animation on a page, I can often generate the functionality directly inside the platform instead of manually coding it from scratch.

Shyan: You also mentioned using Figma in your workflow.

Lindsey: Yes. Figma allows me to design custom website layouts visually and then import those layouts directly into Wix. That opens up much more creative flexibility while still keeping the website responsive and functional.

Shyan: I’ve also found Squarespace surprisingly intuitive for editing and SEO work.

The interface is visually focused, which makes it easier to work inside the website directly rather than navigating raw code. Wix does go a bit further with SEO checklists and optimization guidance, though.

Mandy: One thing WordPress still does extremely well is SEO through tools like Yoast SEO. It teaches users important concepts like:

• focus keywords

• meta descriptions

• internal linking

• image optimization

• readability

It’s essentially a built-in SEO checklist system.

Lindsey: One feature I really like in Wix is the built-in AI chatbot system. You can upload PDFs, brochures and company information to train the chatbot so it can answer customer questions accurately. And because it’s integrated directly into the platform, it’s much easier to manage than third-party plugin systems.

Shyan: We also came across some interesting Canadian consumer trends recently.

Canadians are increasingly spending money on:

• local businesses

• authentic experiences

• wellness products

• small luxuries

• community-driven brands

Lindsey: People are craving real human connection and authentic experiences. One thing I’ve consistently noticed among fast-growing businesses is strong storytelling. The businesses growing the fastest are often the ones where the founder becomes the visible face of the brand. That authenticity creates trust and emotional connection.

Mandy: We’ll still work on WordPress websites when clients need support, but it’s definitely not our preferred platform.

Shyan: In a perfect world, we prefer building websites ourselves so we fully understand the infrastructure from the beginning.

Lindsey: Every platform has strengths and weaknesses, but accessibility, flexibility and user experience are becoming more important than ever.

Mandy: The web design landscape is changing quickly, especially with AI and visual design tools evolving so rapidly.

Shyan: And businesses that focus on storytelling, authenticity and user experience are the ones standing out most.

Lindsey: Thanks for having me!

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