If you’re new to websites and web design, there’s never been a better time to launch your own personal or professional WordPress website. This open source software is the content management system of choice, running more than one-quarter of every website on the internet. When you break that down further, you find that WordPress is running nearly 60 percent of websites that have known content management systems.
WordPress was designed to be easy-to-use and is certainly one of the most flexible options on the market. It is popular for users in all industries and sizes for personal and professional use. WordPress is used by both nonprofit and for-profit organizations primarily for one reason: The WordPress publishing platform is the best one you can choose for your website’s quick growth.
In the Beginning
In 2001, Michel Valdrighi launched b2 cafelog, a program he promoted as a classier news and weblog tool. The software allowed users to quickly publish posts, with a dynamic MySQL database and a clear “blog this” button. The company quickly reached 2,000 users while drawing the attention of various developers and engineers, including Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg. They forked the structure of b2 and created WordPress: a free, open-source CMS that now powers more than 76.5 million blogs and website, including those from Best Buy, Mashable, and The New York Times.
Regular Updates
Developers and engineers regularly release updates to the software, both fixing and repairing bugs while adding new support and compatibilities and support for new, popular additions for graphics, emojis, and shortcuts. As a result, WordPress is a fantastic option for anyone looking to build a website that will experience consistent growth.
There are many reasons why the WordPress publishing platform has become the leading choice for all types of enterprises.
Cost Efficient: WordPress Is Free
Right there, it has a significant benefit over content management systems that need to be purchased. The software began as, and continues to be, an open-source project, with thousands of contributors making changes and developments to WordPress. Its open source roots mean that the software isn’t looked at as if it were a physical, unchanging object. Instead, WordPress and other open source software developers look at the software as though it were a living entity. These leaders view the profits of corporations on software as unfair and are determined to keep WordPress readily available to the public.
Easy to Search and Index
WordPress has tremendous indexing power, which means that when individuals are searching for topics similar to those on your site, you have a greater chance of coming up higher in the search results. This built-in search engine optimization will expose your website and products or services to a wide audience, giving you quality prospects. With good SEO practices being so important to the online growth of your website, it’s nice to know that WordPress has built in some key factors and components that will enhance the work you’re doing to come out on top.
Secure Platform
It’s been 13 years since WordPress was released after being forked from a previous system. Many, many developers and engineers have looked at the software since it is open source. As a result, you can count on the WordPress publishing platform to be highly stable and secure. Engineers continuously work to add functionality and to integrate new platforms while bringing bug-free updates, patches, and various repairs through the updated version.
Flexible with Room for Growth
Because it’s open source software, WordPress is made available to designers, who are then able to modify and enhance the program. Developers and hobbyists alike can contribute patches, report bugs, add benefits and features, and think about ways that will make WordPress the best option for its customers. That’s why there are so many plugins, themes and other components that will improve your WordPress website. This flexibility makes it a wonderful option for clients of all types and sizes, from small, one-person blogs to multi-national mega-corporations.
Easy to Learn and Use
Some of the reasons why many people refrain from running their websites is because they don’t know the coding necessary, aren’t able to differentiate between HTML and text or feel overwhelmed by the enormity of such a large undertaking. Luckily, with one-click installs and an intuitive, user-friendly platform, WordPress is the ideal CMS for beginners. WordPress has a five-minute install, and its platform logical and understandable. Functionalities are placed right where you think they should be placed which makes remembering how to access the different tools a breeze.
The Advantage of Being Part of a Community
WordPress provides incredible levels of support for users of all abilities. Because it’s an open source project, there are many people who have a relatively deep level of understanding of the project as well as a great deal of experience working with the bones of the CMS. Many others have extremely in-depth knowledge of different facets of WordPress. Understanding how to use your new tool is the best way to ensure you maximize its abilities. There are countless tutorials on WordPress and its capabilities, and you’ll be able to find help around every corner.
Responsive
Over the past few years, Google has been making a push for websites to become more mobile-friendly, even releasing a mobile-friendly test where you can enter your website’s address. The analyzer will look at your site and give you a report that shows how responsive your site is to various devices while giving you areas in which you can improve. The theme you choose is important, but theme developers recognize the importance of responsive websites. They are building themes that open and operate seamlessly regardless of the device you use.
A Wide Variety of Impressive Themes
Speaking of themes: We’ve talked about them several times, but I think the fact that there are so many available themes bears repeating. There are thousands of themes, many of which can be found in the WordPress theme market. Here, there are free themes and ones that cost money. Additionally, there are many different theme markets where you can browse for the best template for your site. While many of those sites either require a one-time fee for a theme, some allow you to purchase a subscription. Either way, you can view a wide variety of themes. Some are very straightforward with little room for customization. However, latest trends migrate towards drag-and-drop themes that let you easily move the content blocks to the ideal location.
Simple Integration
There are many different platforms on the market that do everything from run e-mail campaigns to manage customer service and habits to accepting payments. Because it has open source software, many of these platforms have been able to build integrations that allow their products to work seamlessly with WordPress. Popular e-mail service providers like Constant Contact and MailChimp both have WordPress integration, and that means you’ll be able to provide your website’s visitors with an easy way to stay updated on your e-mail newsletters.
Hosting Flexibility
Websites need hosts. These hosts are companies with large, powerful servers where your website and its databases reside. There are hundreds of hosting companies in the industry, and while they all host websites, many go about it in very different manners. It’s important to monitor things like your uptime, page load speeds and the quality of their customer service. Luckily, almost all of these hosts not only have specific WordPress hosting but if you choose one with a standard cPanel control panel, you’ll most likely find a hosting company that will migrate your site to its servers for little or no cost.
Different Levels of Users
If you work in a larger company, you might find that there are quite a few people who need access to the back-end of the website. WordPress allows you to create different roles for users, from the super admin (who can access all of the network administration) to the administrator (who can access everything on the WordPress dashboard), to the editor, author, contributor and subscriber. Each category has greater restrictions. This way, you can have someone write and upload posts, someone else edits them, and a third person publishes them after a review. Another person can handle all of the network administration.
Automated Posting
WordPress offers a great scheduling tool that allows you to write your posts in advance, upload and then schedule when they will be published. Whether you are an at-home blogger or running a busy department or business, you don’t want to be chained to your computer at all times. Scheduling posts in advance mean that you can take a block of time to write and prepare your posts and then schedule them at the most strategic time. Studying your visitor’s traffic patterns and the most popular times they arrive at your site will allow you to make the most of the scheduling capabilities.
With all of these features at your fingertips, WordPress is clearly a good choice for your company website and blog.
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