In this article, we’ll address why you shouldn’t hire a marketing firm to develop your website using a proprietary content management system (CMS).

A proprietary CMS has only one advantage, and that is to ensure the agency will lock you in for many years by making it very difficult for you to leave their agency and work with someone else.

“This is the oldest trick in the book. Provide an animal hospital with a brand new shiny website that can only operate on the agency’s proprietary content management system,” said DJ Vallauri Founder and CEO of the VET Marketing Agency. “Should your relationship go awry or you just simply decide to work with another agency in the future, you will not be able to operate your website as it won’t operate without the proprietary CMS.”

Why Proprietary Content Management Systems are a Bad Idea for your Veterinary practice.

The effectiveness of any proprietary CMS is contingent on the continued investment in technology by whoever owns the proprietary CMS. In other words, if your veterinary marketing agency does not continually invest to upgrade its proprietary CMS on a regular basis, your veterinary practice will be working with an out-of-date operating system that may limit your options and future strategies, not to mention expose you to security issues.

“In order to continually upgrade a CMS, an agency must have deep pockets and external equity partners in the venture capital world. Do you really want to get involved with this?” added Mr. Vallauri.

WordPress Owns the Global Website Market.

There are an estimated 64 million websites currently using WordPress. Over 400 million people visit WordPress websites every month. 661 new WordPress sites go live each and every day. There are over 50,000 plugins available to enhance your WordPress website.

The above is precisely why at the VET Marketing Agency all our websites are designed and developed on the WordPress platform. Companies utilizing WordPress for their websites include the BBC, The New Yorker, Bloomberg News, Sony Music, MTV, The Walt Disney Company, and the Microsoft New Company, to name but a few.

Veterinary Hospital Can Easily find WordPress Developers.

Developing a veterinary website on WordPress also gives animal hospital website owners access to tens of thousands of WordPress coders from across the world. This is in stark contrast to utilizing an agency’s proprietary CMS.

Working with the VET Marketing Agency allows you to be certain that your website can be transferred to another WordPress developer and hosting company. You want to maintain control, and the VET Marketing Agency allows you to remain nimble rather than being bound by a proprietary CMS.

WordPress for Veterinary Practices is Open Source.

WordPress is considered an open-source software platform. The term “open-source platform” refers to a software system in which the source code is accessible and editable by anyone who wants to improve it.

The WordPress organization keeps an eye on all updates and improvements. It’s because of this open-source architecture that the platform is able to expand. Your animal hospital can use this to create and launch new features for your customers as they are developed and released by WordPress developers around the world. The flexibility that WordPress gives you in this area is unrivaled, and it can’t be matched by any internal proprietary CMS at any given time.

WordPress is Very Secure (and that is VIP).

WordPress is also one of the most secure platforms for your website, thanks to its security features. WordPress is also widely used, so any issues with the platform are immediately addressed by the worldwide community.

“My advice when your website is built on a proprietary CMS, make sure you thoroughly evaluate your agency’s solutions for migrating to another provider should you choose to do so in the future,” said Mr. Vallauri.

To find out more about how we can help your animal hospital and develop a new WordPress-powered website for your business, please check out our information below and reach out.

About the VET Marketing Agency

The VET Marketing Agency is the premier provider of digital marketing and social media engagement services to the veterinary animal hospital industry. Services include veterinary website design and development, veterinary search engine optimization, veterinary paid advertising programs, social media marketing, and engagement services for animal hospitals, and 24/7 reputation management services for veterinarians.

Headquartered in New Jersey, the VET Marketing Agency offers full-service, cost-effective digital solutions to ensure its veterinary customers remain competitive and, on the marketing cutting edge. The VET Marketing Agency is a certified Google Partner and a member of the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA) and the Independent Veterinary Practitioners Association (IVPA).

Contact us to find out more about the VET Marketing Agency, visit VETMarketingAgency.com or call (800) 609-7657 ext. 700.