You've probably heard a lot about WordPress, but did you know it's the most popular content management system in the world?
Here are a few facts to back up that statement:
- More than 35% of all websites in the world use WordPress.
- WordPress has a worldwide market share of more than 60% among all content management systems, far more than providers such as Wix, Jouwweb, Weebly. In addition, the number of WordPress users is growing every year.
- Many famous brand websites also use WordPress, including the White House, Coca Cola, and The Wall Street Journal.
Still, the question remains: “Why is WordPress so incredibly popular?“
Why are so many small and large companies, non-profit organizations, startups and even famous media outlets turning to WordPress for their website?
Well, we list you with a few reasons:
1. WordPress is open source software and free
WordPress is open-source software. It's free for everyone and you can easily download it from the WordPress.org website.
It is an open source project that has been around since 2003. This means that WordPress was developed by a collection of contributors. Open source projects are usually free, with large communities. The users often join this community as beta testers or simple brand advocates, but there is really no requirement to join this community if you don't feel the need to.
2. WordPress is simple and easy to use
WordPress is a WYSIWYG editor, which means "what you see is what you get".
The changes you make through the WordPress dashboard look the same as they do on the live website, so you don't have to guess what things will look like when editing.
In addition, the WordPress editor is as simple as Microsoft Word.
You can make text bold, italicize, insert media - whatever you want - all without touching the HTML. If you still want to work with the HTML, you can always switch from the visual editor to the text editor.
3. WordPress is safe and plugins are kept up-to-date
WordPress has regular updates to the core software and releases the new version every few months. It is important to ensure that the WordPress installation is always up to date. This of course also applies to the plugins that are used.
The reasons for updating your WordPress include:
- Security. Provide security and limit the risk of being hacked by malicious parties.
- New functionality. Every major WordPress update comes with beautiful innovations that often make it easier to use.
- Speed. Not only good for yourself, for your visitors but of course also for SEO search engine optimization!
- Bug fixes. Despite the huge amount of testers & users, there can always be issues that are resolved with updates.
- Compatibility. Updates often ensure that both WordPress and the plugins are compatible with each other and continue to work properly.
Make sure that you have backups (preferably several times a day) before running updates.
4. With WordPress themes and plugins, the possibilities are endless
In addition to the huge amount of themes that offer something for everyone, WordPress has an incredibly wide range of plugins and thus expansion options. You can't think of it that bad and there are often multiple plugins available for it. This then offers the opportunity to orientate which best suits your wishes and then get started here.
There are thousands of WordPress plugins, and they provide great extra features for websites. If you come up with a functionality that you would like to add to the website, you will find a plugin to make this possible.
Whether you want to create a contact form, create a photo gallery or portfolio of images, use Google Analytics, or add another feature in WordPress, you can install a plugin to get the job done.
In addition, you can also use WordPress plugins to change the entire purpose of your website. Think of a plugin for a (protected) member area up to and including the eCommerce plugin WooCommerce with which you can turn the WordPress site into an online store.
5. With WooCommerce you turn WordPress into an online shop
WooCommerce is incredibly flexible. If you want to sell something, you can sell it with WooCommerce. That includes physical products, digital products, subscriptions, appointments and much more. Whether you want to sell a single digital product or a wide variety of physical products, WooCommerce is therefore extremely suitable as an eCommerce application.
6. Link with other company software? No problem with WordPress
Do you want visitors to sign up for your newsletter immediately? Shoot leads into your CRM package? Easily integrate events and calendar? Activate direct chat with your support department? All this is very possible and not rocket science with WordPress.
Whatever software you use to run the sales and marketing side of your business, you can bet there is a WordPress plugin to facilitate integration.
7. WordPress is scalable and can handle business growth
You started with a company website and you want to add an online store? That's easy: take advantage of the most popular ecommerce plugin (that's WooCommerce) and make sure you have a theme that supports it!
It's best to plan ahead and choose a theme that will support future growth - if you know you want to add an online store in the future, preferably pick the right theme in the basics!
8. WordPress is Search Engine Friendly and an Excellent CMS for SEO
It is important that every website is search engine friendly; otherwise you will never get the attention of the audience you are looking for. WordPress is designed and built with the best code standards and techniques, making it highly optimized for SEO.
If you have a website with WordPress, it will take precedence over search results. Google and other popular search engines really love WordPress-based websites. To further optimize your website and content, we use additional SEO tools to further increase findability.
9. WordPress supports numerous media types
You can easily upload images, videos, gifs and other media files to your WordPress website. Unlike many other website and content management systems, the WordPress text editor works like a piece of cake.
You can record, drag & drop images, videos & social media on the text editor screen. Once published, the media content is beautifully displayed on your pages and within news & blog posts.
WordPress also allows you to view and download documents, PDFs and other files. A plugin or other solution can be used for almost every file format. So, if you're envisioning a media-rich site, WordPress is the way to go!
10. WordPress can be used for all types of websites and suitable for everyone
One of the most common misconceptions about WordPress is that it is primarily for building blogs. In fact, that was the case at one point. WordPress was developed as a blogging platform, but that has changed drastically over the years with the various new releases.
In fact, WordPress has an advantage because of its blogging roots. It is by far one of the cleanest and fastest ways to write and publish blog posts, and it's all included from the start. Some website building tools think about design and apps first, then the blog interface comes as an afterthought.
That's not the case with WordPress, so you can create a beautiful ecommerce site and know that the blog is an integral part of the development process.
When we say that WordPress is for everyone, we really mean it. WordPress can be used to create ANY kind of website. You can also start a blog of any kind. Or you can use WordPress to create an online store and start selling your products. The possibilities are endless.
The list of WordPress possibilities is endless, but here's a taste of the different types of websites you can create with WordPress:
- Blogs
- Business websites
- Portfolio sites
- E-commerce sites
- Real estate sales and rental websites
- Reviews websites
- Membership sites
- eLearning modules
- Community, Forums and Chat Rooms
- Galleries and photo reports
- Personal Websites
- Vacancy websites
- Business directory
- Question and answer websites such as Quora
- Non-profit donation collection websites
- Wikis and knowledge bases
- Media-focused sites such as YouTube
- Auction and coupon sites
- Events and making appointments online
Obviously, the list goes on and on. The good news with WordPress is that functionality for things like forums and ecommerce websites is achieved with simple plugins and use of the right themes.
WordPress has been developed for beginners to advanced users. While beginners can use the drag and drop builders and live customizer to publish a website, advanced users (or we as a web agency) can fully customize the code and make the desired changes to the open-source software.
11. Support and knowledge of WordPress is always at your fingertips with the largest community worldwide
Because WordPress is such a popular CMS, you can find loads of information, training and expertise online. If you are looking for specific knowledge or are not satisfied with your current web agency, a new WordPress expert can be found in no time.
Due to its popularity, the WordPress community has grown around the world. The WordPress community has expanded to forums, social channels, discussion boards and more. People who work with WordPress also organize meetings around the world to talk about the platform.
12. So why use WordPress? Because it is great!
WordPress has a very strong following all over the world. Some developers prefer to use other platforms, but that often has to do with learning certain coding languages and throwing themselves into less user-friendly environments. As far as bloggers, business owners, developers with clients, and ecommerce professionals go, WordPress is a really good choice. Not only do you retain full control over your site or webshop, but you also get great benefits such as plug-ins, themes, many free tools and full media support.
Sources including BeaconMM (AND), IsitWP (AND), Kinsta (AND), Nexcess (EN), WebhostingThis (AND), WPBeginner (AND)