Is there a way to get the flexible layout/design of not using wordpress, and get the seo advantage using wordpress?

What SEO advantage are you referring to? Some of the plugins they have?

You can fully theme your own WordPress site. It doesn't limit your creativity, it's just a content management system.

Creating flexible layouts & design depends on your css mostly. If you're looking into responsive design you'll want to learn about media queries & css percent/ems.

If you look at places like ThemeForest, you'll see a lot of designers pushing things like "fully responsive" or "retina ready." Looking at "theme sites" is a good way to get an idea of what's possible on a given platform often times.

Also, be sure to keep an eye out for Treehouse's upcoming series on WP theme creation!

To answer the first question - you can literally build and configure Wordpress to look and run as about anything you could conceive of. If you are trying to get away from a full-blown CMS then you could build your microcms or just one of the alternative platforms out there (links below).

As to the second question - that is a bit more complex. Out of the box wordpress is well suited for SEO (no doubt) but it is nothing overly magical.

But the biggest question you should be asking yourself is why? As developers it is extreemly easy to get in the trap roll your own - but if you are trying to roll out amazing products then question is it necessary to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes the answer will be yes but more often than not it is always easier to stand on the shoulders of giants as it were.

I am not suggesting to always start with an opensource project sometimes they can be more trouble than they are worth. But regardless of the situation always consider your options carefully. I have seen many great products / projects collapse when they failed to account for development times and missed the market and I have also seen projects fail that were overly dependent on a solution that was no longer being built.

The great news with a system like Wordpress is it is likely to be around for a very long time.

• Perch
• BoltCMS
• Habari

Great point Mark, I was just thinking the other day, what is the long term for word press and what would happen if they were bought out by a social media giant or if they closed shop. We just saw the demise of other popular platforms after being taken over.