vBulletin CMS vs Wordpress homepage?

So as of right now if you are running vbseo on your forum, which do you guys all think is a better route to take... the vbulletin CMS system or Wordpress 3.1 to run the homepage and why?

It is a personal choice.

Originally Posted by joeman

So as of right now if you are running vbseo on your forum, which do you guys all think is a better route to take... the vbulletin CMS system or Wordpress 3.1 to run the homepage and why?

If you are not ready to customize VBCMS, then definitely Wordpress.

However, if you have some html knowledge and ready to change a few things, then vbCMS being integrated with VBulletin is a good choice. Basically the main problem with vbCMS is that content is buried deep deep deep deep (did i say deep?) down under a mess of html. But the underlying php widget framework of vbCMS is pretty good. What I have just recently done on test site is write my own grid and customize the article, section and widget templates. Now my html output is as good if not better than Wordpress. But it requires lots of work. The upcoming VBSeo 3.6 relevant replacement will help though.

IMO, if you expect comments/interaction beyond you, use the vbcms as otherwise you need to mess with vb/wp bridges and all kinds of mods/etc to make it happen.

If you're just going to use it as a 'site blog' and don't expect anyone to comment, using wp would be fine.

But, it's another system to learn, maintain, upgrade, and keep up to date.

Using 1 core system is always the easier choice.

Originally Posted by Sadik

If you are not ready to customize VBCMS, then definitely Wordpress.

However, if you have some html knowledge and ready to change a few things, then vbCMS being integrated with VBulletin is a good choice. Basically the main problem with vbCMS is that content is buried deep deep deep deep (did i say deep?) down under a mess of html. But the underlying php widget framework of vbCMS is pretty good. What I have just recently done on test site is write my own grid and customize the article, section and widget templates. Now my html output is as good if not better than Wordpress. But it requires lots of work. The upcoming VBSeo 3.6 relevant replacement will help though.

Hey Sadik thanks for the reply. No Im not quite ready to do any CMS customizing I'm still working and reading towards grasping all the other items to getting a site up and running properly. I don't know a whole lot about wordpress yet but I've seen some vbulletin/wordpress sites that are doing extremely well when it comes to homepage high SEO rank.

For a new website builder who is on their 2nd site I'm just trying to figure out where I should be spending all my time.

I'm still not really seeing great results with this CMS thing yet for some of the main keywords I am trying to rank for... my homepage and CMS is way back on like page 8 of Google. I've been working on the site for quite a while now and reading on this vbseo site just about every day in making sure I'm doing things right. I understand SEO takes time and doesnt happen overnight but being so far back on google is a bit frustrating I wont lie.
However, I have learned alot here on vbseo and I'm glad to have the help while learning. The forum section of my site appears to be doing pretty well but the home page and CMS pages are another story.

So I am debating if I should keep messing with the vbCMS and continue adding content so I can get somewhere near page 1 or 2 of google, or, if I should try to learn new software and how to link it with vbulletin knowing that its a software that will perform very well.

I just don't know and thats why I'm trying to get the opinions of seasoned veterans like some of you on the best route to take.

Originally Posted by Brian Cummiskey

IMO, if you expect comments/interaction beyond you, use the vbcms as otherwise you need to mess with vb/wp bridges and all kinds of mods/etc to make it happen.

If you're just going to use it as a 'site blog' and don't expect anyone to comment, using wp would be fine.

But, it's another system to learn, maintain, upgrade, and keep up to date.

Using 1 core system is always the easier choice.

Thanks for the response Brian... is there really alot involved in bridging the two softwares together? I was under the impression that its more like just creating two separate folders on your hosting database so in one folder theres the forum vbulletin software and the other would be the homepage wordpress, but maybe I misunderstood the ease of doing this...

Let me ask you this question, in your opinion do you think the vbulletin CMS can, and will be as good as the wordpress software for SEO for a website's homepage?

Is there any chance for the CMS to rank as well as wordpress?

To just USE wordpress, you're right-- just put each in their only folder.

But if you want one LOGIN across vb/wp, you need to integrate them with the bridge mods available on .org. Ultimately, you now have 3 pieces of software to maintain compatibility with. And the .org mod may not be updated. Who knows. That is why i brought up the 'user comments/interaction' point. If it's just you, it's no big deal to make a duplicate account. But if you want your members to login twice to your site to leave comments/interact on WP, it's not going to happen without some kick-back.

Wp MAY rank a little better as it sits now, but down the road, that gap may close as the CMS improves. WP is a better (in my opinion) item to use right now compared to the CMS, but i'm not sure i'd put it in favor over something that is built in that is 'good enough'.

It's really up to you.

Originally Posted by Brian Cummiskey

To just USE wordpress, you're right-- just put each in their only folder.

But if you want one LOGIN across vb/wp, you need to integrate them with the bridge mods available on .org. Ultimately, you now have 3 pieces of software to maintain compatibility with. And the .org mod may not be updated. Who knows. That is why i brought up the 'user comments/interaction' point. If it's just you, it's no big deal to make a duplicate account. But if you want your members to login twice to your site to leave comments/interact on WP, it's not going to happen without some kick-back.

Wp MAY rank a little better as it sits now, but down the road, that gap may close as the CMS improves. WP is a better (in my opinion) item to use right now compared to the CMS, but i'm not sure i'd put it in favor over something that is built in that is 'good enough'.

It's really up to you.

Thanks for your input on this Brian. Now that you bring up the main points and differences, I do like the convenience of having the CMS integrated with the forum as one program.

I have seen one website that does extremely well and uses the wordpress as a home page with no member interaction or comments, BUT, it is updated daily and all they do is show an image with text and then a "read more" link which then takes you to the area of the forum of the discussion. I do like the way it works how they link it directly to the forum page but what I'm wondering is this...

Over time as the vbCMS does improve, would a wordpress homepage (like the one I just described ) that has no user interaction or comments rank the same as a vbulletin CMS that does allow comments and member interaction, or even a vbulletin CMS that doesn't allow comments?

Also if I were to keep using the vbulletin CMS and updating it all the time with new content the way I have been doing, when vbulletin makes the vbCMS system work better, will the better SEO'd CMS automatically happen on my website by just doing a vbulletin update?

It's pure speculation. There's no way to say with any amount of certainty that one will rank better than the other if comments are off or on/etc. And who knows what the future brings for the CMS. It may improve, it may not. It's a gamble either way, and only you can make that decision and live with the results, which ever way they may go.

If it's just a "Homepage" you are interested in, go with the vbCMS. If you and your members intend to write articles, wordpress would be a better choice SEO wise. It may involve some initial work for you to get everything integrated.

Originally Posted by Sadik

If you are not ready to customize VBCMS, then definitely Wordpress.

However, if you have some html knowledge and ready to change a few things, then vbCMS being integrated with VBulletin is a good choice. Basically the main problem with vbCMS is that content is buried deep deep deep deep (did i say deep?) down under a mess of html. But the underlying php widget framework of vbCMS is pretty good. What I have just recently done on test site is write my own grid and customize the article, section and widget templates. Now my html output is as good if not better than Wordpress. But it requires lots of work. The upcoming VBSeo 3.6 relevant replacement will help though.

Sadik, any advise on fixing the "content buried deep" problem? I'm ready to abandon vbcms but I'd be willing to try hacking it first.