WordPress to PageMotor

WordPress was good to me. PageMotor is better.

I have been building for the web since 1984. WordPress carried a lot of that work for a long time. Then it stopped being a foundation and started being a job. So I moved to PageMotor, and I am not going back.

See working PageMotor sites Talk to me about switching

The dinosaur

Not bad software. Old software.

WordPress launched in 2003 as a way to write a blog. Everything a business needs from a website today has been bolted on since. Shops, bookings, forms, privacy, speed, security. More than twenty years of bolts.

I used it. I built on it. I defended it. Then I counted what it was really costing.

  • A website made of strangers. Most business sites I see run a dozen or more plugins from a dozen different companies. Each one has its own updates, its own licence fee and its own idea of how things should work. Nobody is in charge of how they fit together. Except you.
  • The plugins are where the holes are. Year after year, the security firm Patchstack finds that around nine in ten WordPress security holes sit in plugins, not in WordPress itself. Your site is only as safe as the weakest plugin you run.
  • Updating is a gamble. Update one plugin and another one breaks. Leave them alone and you are exposed. Either way, someone has to babysit the site, every week, for ever.
  • Nobody is quite sure who is steering. In 2024, WordPress’s co-founder and one of the biggest WordPress hosts ended up in a very public legal fight. One of the most popular plugins was taken over in the official directory. If you run a business on a platform, that is not the drama you want.
  • It was built for clicking, not for AI. WordPress assumes a person in an admin screen. AI tools arrive as yet more plugins on top. I wanted a foundation an AI could work with directly, properly and safely.

After forty-two years, I know the difference between a tool and a habit. WordPress had become a habit.

The paradise

A foundation built for the way we work now.

PageMotor is a modern content management system that people and AI can work on together, properly. It is a foundation unlike anything I have built on before.

  • AI that does the work, not just the chat. Every PageMotor site has its own API and MCP connection built in. Connect an assistant such as Claude and it can write and edit pages, arrange the layout, set up plugins and read your traffic. Not through a chat bubble bolted on top. Through the site itself.
  • The AI follows your rules. Access comes in tiers, from admin down to public. An assistant only ever gets the access you give it.
  • Problems do not hide. PageMotor passes its warnings to your assistant as well as your admin screen. Ask “Is anything wrong with my site?” and you get a straight answer.
  • Your site, your server. A PageMotor site can run on your own server, in the region you choose. You own it.
  • The boring part is handled. The building, the repetitive markup, the plumbing. What is left is the interesting part: ideas, craft and the people you serve.

A small proof: the first draft of this page was written by an AI working inside my own PageMotor site. It read my pages to get my voice and my prices right. I did the editing. That is the partnership.

One maker, not a dozen strangers

Everything a business site needs, built to work together.

I have built more than 120 plugins for PageMotor. One maker, one design language, one update channel. Each one is built to step aside quietly if something goes wrong, rather than take your whole site down with it.

What your site needs On WordPress, typically With ElmsPark on PageMotor
Contact forms and email that arrives A forms plugin plus a separate email-sending plugin EP Email, with add-ons for file uploads, quizzes and AI replies
Newsletters An outside mailing service and a plugin to connect it EP Newsletter, with Brevo, Mailgun or SendGrid behind it
Bookings, events and classes A booking plugin, often with its own yearly licence EP Booking, EP Events, class passes, waivers and Zoom links
A shop and payments A shop plugin plus paid add-ons for each extra EP Ecommerce with Stripe, PayPal, subscriptions and print on demand
Invoices and the books Usually a separate accounting service EP Finance: invoices, receipts and tax packs for Ireland, the UK and the US
Being found An SEO plugin, a sitemap plugin, a redirects plugin EP SEO, sitemaps, redirects, local business details and llms.txt
Privacy and security A cookie banner plugin and a security plugin EP GDPR, EP Security, passkey login and an audit log
Help for visitors A third-party chat widget EP Concierge, a visitor assistant that knows your services, prices and FAQs

See the full EP Suite Read the plugin docs

Straight talk

Not for everyone. Probably for you.

PageMotor is younger than WordPress and its world is smaller. I think that is a strength: fewer strangers in your website. But be honest about what you rely on before you move.

Come with me if

  • You run a business, a practice or a club, and the website should help run it.
  • You are tired of updating, patching and paying for plugins just to stand still.
  • You want AI to do real work on your site, safely, with you in charge.
  • You would rather have one maker to call than a dozen to blame.

Wait a little if

  • Your business depends on one unusual WordPress plugin with nothing like it on PageMotor yet. Tell me what it is. I may already be building it.
  • You run a WooCommerce shop with live orders. A shop needs its own migration plan, so talk to me first.
  • Your order forms take payments through a WordPress plugin. The form comes across, but the payment side has to be rebuilt.

The journey

Five steps from WordPress to PageMotor.

  1. Have a look around. Click through working PageMotor sites on my Layouts page. Use them. Try to break them.
  2. List what your site really does. Pages, forms, bookings, a shop, a mailing list, and the plugins you actually use. That list becomes the plan.
  3. Choose your route. Do it yourself, have it built, or have it built and run for you. The options are below.
  4. Keep your place in Google. Every old WordPress address gets pointed at its new home with EP Redirects, so search engines and old links follow you across.
  5. Switch over, then switch WordPress off. Once the new site is live and checked, the old one goes. No more babysitting a dozen plugins from a dozen makers.
Route For you if Cost
Do it yourself You like to tinker and want to learn Free step-by-step guide, with a prompt your AI assistant can follow
Built and handed over You want it live on your own server and to run it yourself £1,500 one-off, optional Cover at £25 a month
Built and run for you You never want to think about a server again From £1,750, then £145 a month
Launchpad You want the whole site designed and done properly, once From £28,500, starting with a £1,800 Readiness Audit

Moving a Thesis site yourself? My step-by-step guide takes two to four hours, and most of that is copying images. Divi and block editor sites have their own tools, and the guide points you to them.

Questions

What people ask before they switch.

Will I lose my Google rankings?

Not if the move is done carefully. The migration writes a redirect for every address that changes, and EP Redirects keeps them working. EP SEO looks after titles, descriptions and sitemaps from the first day.

Can I bring my content across?

Yes. On a Thesis site, my free migration guide brings your pages, posts, menus and design across. Divi and block editor sites have their own tools. A WooCommerce shop needs its own plan, so talk to me first.

What about all my plugins?

Bring me the list. Most of what a business site needs already has an ElmsPark equivalent. If something is missing, tell me. That is how new plugins get made.

Do I have to use AI?

No. PageMotor works perfectly well with you at the keyboard. The AI is there when you want it, and it only gets the access you give it.

Do I need to know code?

No. If you can write an email, you can run a PageMotor site.

Who owns my site?

You do. On a self-managed build the server is yours outright. On Managed, I run it for you, and it moves wherever you say.

Come with me

WordPress had a good run. So did the dinosaurs.

I have watched the web go through every fashion and every platform war since 1984. This is the first move in years I have made without looking back. If your website feels like a job instead of a tool, come and see what is on the other side.

A sentence or two is plenty to start. I reply personally.