If you've been any of the websites I work on, you might have seen one of my footers appearing to criticise WordPress. So, you might be asking yourself something along the lines of...

"Hey! Why is this guy bashing on WordPress? WordPress is great, isn't it?"

If you're setting up a website, where the sole purpose is to be a blog, then I would be inclined to agree with you. Unfortunately, a lot of people wrongly assume that WordPress is a "CMS". Which it isn't.

As a website developer (website, not blog), you want a suite of tools that allows you to create content to form a fast and effective website. WordPress was built to be a blogging platform, not a CMS (Content Management System). So, the Page and Content Management tools that people use in WordPress came as an after-thought.

"You're still talking rubbish! It's great because it has good SEO!"

Only if you use a handful of third-party plugins - by default, the only thing of any use that WordPress has is "friendly URLs", which only do so much for your search ranking. You'll have much more success doing things like ensuring correct usage of meta-data, breadcrumbs (so Google can understand the context of your pages) and appropriate use of keywords in website content (but not keyword abuse) to make sure your site comes up for the right keywords.

These are things that you can bake into any project you work on, whether it be Drupal, WordPress, Laravel, or something of your own concoction.

My complaint about WordPress at the end of the day, is that it was built for a purpose other than how it is used today. It was built not with developers or designers in mind, but for content editors - for bloggers. If you're a blogger, then by all means, use WordPress. If you're starting an e-commerce business, social community, or something else, then I would suggest you look at other alternatives first.