Kajabi vs WordPress: What is the Right Platform for Your Small Business?

The decision of whether to use WordPress or Kajabi will depend on your needs and goals. You should consider these questions:

1. What is your business model?
2. What is your goal with your website?
3. How much time are you willing to put into managing and building your following

It’s natural when comparing two platforms such as WordPress vs Kajabi which have quite different goals in mind such as eCommerce Vs Blogging but, to be honest, will come down to the personal business model you run and your current needs vs future needs.

So the following are a few of my thoughts:

Let’s start with a general overview of each platform:

What is Kajabi?

Kajabi is a platform for creating and managing membership websites. While it is not the only membership site, it has become one of the go-to platforms for new Dentists. Many of whom build their marketing funnel through Instagram.

What are the benefits of Kajabi?

• You can make money through upsells, down sells, or affiliate marketing by adding products to your site. These could be items like eBooks or courses that you create on Teachable where all the profits go straight into your pocket.
• You can create simple landing pages
• The ability to clone products and offers for white-label options
• 100% focused on digital goods such as software, apps, and information products that have higher margins than physical items.
• Your customers must pay upfront in full which means less stress when it comes to chasing payments every month.
• When someone subscribes they enter into a membership agreement which means that you have a legal contract with your customers. If they break the terms of this agreement, it’s possible to take them to court if necessary;
• You can export and import memberships meaning that you could sell one course on Kajabi then import all of those customers into another platform such as Teachable for example.
• Great for DIY for those that have the time to learn and manage everything on their own and don’t need customization options.
• Easy payment system setup and easy to manage (Click the link to learn more on the benefits of Kajabi!)

What are the drawbacks of Kajabi?

• You will still need to invest time in building up an audience – this is primarily a sales stop for your membership to go to. So you will need to also invest in marketing and SEO strategy (meaning you will probably end up having to use WordPress to supplement missing features.)
• It’s not tailored for blogging so if you want an easy way to publish content to build SEO-focused “know, like and trust” then using WordPress might be better suited for your needs.
• It’s not built for google’s preferred SEO structure.
• Pricing is highest in the marketplace vs value received. As matter of fact considered the highest pricing in the industry, when compared to WordPress, Square Space, and others.
• Assessment customization is limited
• Students can not be issued certifications for completed courses
• There is no fully accessed coding customization for a truly 100% control.
• Any allowed coding must be re-done on every system update
• No staging error for testing changes
• Forms are limited in intact functionality
• Lack of media library centrally located
• Minimal integration to other software systems
• Not open sourced
• Unable to export all your content

What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source publishing platform 100% focused on building out SEO for long-term growth.

What are the benefits of WordPress?

• WordPress core design was built for blogging. Meaning it was built to create content and share your expertise. It is considered the most popular Content Management System in the world.
• Google preferred platform
• It’s fully scalable from the basic user and small business to large corporation integration. Companies who use WordPress for their websites include, Disney, Time Inc, Microsoft, BBC America, Playstation, Skype and so many more
• You will be able to track keyword performance which is better for SEO and marketing purposes than other platforms like Kajabi where there isn’t this level of tracking.
• It’s open-source – meaning there are millions of customization options
• 100% built for mobile devices
• Built for user control and ownership. You own your content and no other company may use or resell it.
• Multiple memberships and community options are available to add on for custom options for different business needs
• Plugins Plugins Plugins. You want something, chances are someone else has already built it. If not – you can hire a developer to build custom plugins just for your business. (Yes, we do this! We have built auto features and behavior customizations to full-on logistic platforms for cities, all using WordPress!)
• You can have built-in eCommerce or connect to any other eCommerce platform out there. (We personally love Thrive cart)
• If you have the know-how, it’s possible to make money from affiliate marketing by registering with different networks such as Amazon Associates. This means that once someone buys a product via one of these links, they’re tracked, and then commission might be paid out depending on what referral network is used.
• There are also ways within WP to detect if something has been bought using your affiliate link so that you can track how much revenue is generated from these links.
• WordPress has great SEO and marketing tools built-in whereas Kajabi doesn’t offer any of these features

What are the drawbacks of WordPress?

• If traffic or site performance starts to decline then it might be difficult to get things back on track without having any programming knowledge or having a monthly maintenance plan.
• You are responsible for maintaining and updating plugins. Meaning the system won’t update and you are responsible to make sure everything is staying updated. (Just like you have to update things on your phone or windows machine.)
• You need to learn basic structure on built but to fully master many hire designers and developers do this.
• Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance. Yes mentioned this now 4 times but seriously – this is the biggest drawback and the only main drawback – you must maintain your website. Updates happen weekly/sometimes daily and if you are not willing to take care of this you have two choices, pay Kajabi and sacrifice the above benefits or outsource/hire someone to do this. (BTW – this is why we require maintenance plans, we get how important this is .)

OK… Let’s drill down into the top three questions:

What is your business model?

I’m going to break this out into three business models

1 – Membership Driven: Where you are looking to create a more influence-based structure and fewer one-on-one or high-ticket offers. More like following the $27, $37, $57 offers.

2 – Service Driven: You work on more personal, or high-ticket offers selling workshops, masterminds, one-on-one coaching, or group coaching. Most likely you are niched and sell to them only.

3 – The hybrid: OK let’s be honest many have a hybrid of the two! For example, you might have a niche membership where you sell courses, templates, or have a monthly membership option AND you do high-end one-on-one coaching or group workshops

My Quick Feedback:

If you are business model 1, you could easily use Kajabi and do GREAT. No lie, that is probably the best option for you at this time for simplistic reasons. While you are missing a lot of features we 100% support, at the end of the day, the goal is for you to focus on building a business that works for YOU and your clients. Use what works!

If you are model 2 or 3 WordPress is going to be the best fit for you. If for no other reason then it has the flexibility to grow with your business and you 100% own all the content and have full control. You can also, at this point, hire an agency or firm to make sure everything is taken care of for you – so you can 100% focus on your zone of genius and generate sales working with your dream clients.

What is your goal with your website?

Listen, the goal of your website should be to let your ideal client they have landed in the right spot and what to do next. HOW you do this is through design, content, and CTA.

So think about your target market: Are they here to learn and build know, like, and trust with you? Do they need to know you can help them solve their issues and problems? Are you there to support them as they do so? Then WordPress is the right fit for you.

But if your target market doesn’t need the support, they are there for the quick win then Kajabi is the perfect fit. This is why it’s so popular for simple memberships and eCommerce.

How much time are you willing to put into managing and building your following?

We, of course, are huge fans of inbound marketing using StoryBrand and They Ask You Answer techniques. And mastering sales physiology to find the right solution for each of our clients and clients’ clients.

So how much time do we build into building our following? Honestly not a lot. We are more focused on building strong relationships than getting millions of likes that have a low conversion rate. We want to focus on creating high value for our niche market.

This goes back to question #1 – What type of business are you building? If you are focused on membership growth you MUST spend time becoming an influencer, in this day and age. Your goal is to build up likes and follows to drive a volume percentage point to your sales. I call this the Walmart business model and it’s a very strong business model and it works! This is quantity-driven management

The other model is to niche and customize, which is how we operate and who we service. We know our clients (even if they have a huge following in the hundreds of thousands) still focus on creating high-end services and growth for their clients. This is quality-driven management.

OK we covered a lot here and there is still so much to review – but at the end of the day, I want you to really think about HOW your best work, the business you want to run, and how much time you want to spend on this side of your business vs working in your zone of genius!

I hope this article helped answer some of your questions about what is the right platform that works best for different types of businesses models.