WordPress Platform - Good or Bad Idea?

[suddenly]

I have a site that ranks well, but looks pretty bad and so I would like to get it redone. Right now the site is all in html. The guy that I'm thinking about hiring to do my web site redesign wants to build it using a word press platform because he said wordpress has all the tools needed to properly SEO the site. Do you guys think its a good idea? What would be the limitations for my site if I decided to go ahead and allow him to do the redesign using a wordpress platform? What should I do to make sure I dont lose my current rankings?

[bill]

WordPress comes with its own set of vulnerabilities you'll need to address. It's certainly not a panacea for SEO. It may make it easier for this person helping you to slap up a per-configured design though.

I guess the question to ask would be whether you need a backend CMS or just site design?

[londrum]

i use wordpress and i think it's great. if you are happy with php and can rewrite the templates then you can do pretty much anything you want with it.

but i wouldn't say that wordpress is great for SEO straight out of the box. sure, it's got that permalinks thing which makes search engine friendly URLs, but there is a lot more to SEO than that. if that's all he's going to do then forget it. you have to be prepared to get your hands dirty a little bit.

[phranque]

What should I do to make sure I dont lose my current rankings?

what are you doing about the urls?
how many are there?