The original title of this post was supposed to be the “The Top Ten Reasons I Love WordPress”. The problem with the title is that I love WordPress for so many more reasons!
A Bit About WordPress
In case you don’t know (or understand), WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS). It’s like a website on steroids. It was released 10 years ago as an Open Source Project (that makes it free!).
The core of this awesome CMS are two key components:
1) PHP: This is what makes what happens in WordPress… well happen. PHP is also Open Source (and free to use)
2) MYSQL: As mentioned before, WordPress is also a CMS. In other words you can easily (dynamically) manage the content of your website. MYSQL is also Open Source software. It is what where all of your site’s content is housed.
Secondary to what I just mentioned is HTML & CSS. These are the tools one uses to give the face to one’s website.
Simple enough…. Here are some compelling points that will help you fall in love with WordPress!:
Security
An odd place to start. But you have to start somewhere! Many will say that WordPress is vulnerable to “hacking”. This is true. But it also true that any website / platform is open prey to hackers and other malevolence. The sheer volume of installations worldwide (more on that later) drives a hard working community of Developers who are on constant alert for possible entry points into the CMS. 8 years of personal experience with WordPress have demonstrated time and time again that potential breach points are quickly corrected and updates issued.
Ease of use
WordPress is dead easy to use. Having worked with countless other platforms, I can categorically say that this CMS in particular, is dream to work with. I get the same feedback from clients who we have trained to manage their own WordPress websites.
Globally Accepted
WordPress websites have been created in almost every spoken tongue. They are in use around the world. Every TLD points to a WordPress website. Some real stats here.
Availability of Dedicated Hosting
Nobody thinks about this one. But WordPress is so prevalent, there are companies that have thrived on providing website hosting dedicated to WordPress websites. They don’t market to anybody who doesn’t have a WordPress website. Nada!
Note: WebFuel uses dedicated WordPress hosting for our own, and our client’s websites.
Gazillions of Users & Websites Worldwide
I alluded to the before:
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- Over 67 Million websites – wow!
- Over 373 million people view more than 11.0 billion pages each month
- Users produce about 47.8 million new posts each month
- …and 62.4 million new comments each month
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Open Source
The 4 primary components of WordPress are Open Source and free to use. Not much more to say on this one.
Constant Updates
I have been building & managing WordPress websites for a long time. I can honestly say that there are lots of updates. As of this writing we are at Version 3.52. Do the math over 10 years of existence.
Different Levels of Access
You can predetermine who sees what in the backend of WordPress. This may sound a bit weak. But when you have a website with dozens if not hundreds of access points, you will want to be sure who gets access to what content.
Adding Users
It’s drop dead simple – only takes a minute. Getting rid of them is just as easy. And you can assign content very quickly too!
Feature Expandability via Plugins
Out of the box, WordPress is pretty cool. It gets even cooler with the added magic of plugins. In short, plugins are custom pieces of code designed to add specific functionality to a WordPress website. There is a very active community out there. They are constantly building and improving on a vast array of of plugins.
Adding Content
Type it up however you want. Copy > Paste> Publish. Grab a coffee.
Best support community around
No matter what website one goes to, there is great support for whatever part of WordPress may challenge you.
SEO
We also provide Search Engine Optimization Services. WordPress rocks in terms of implementing every single SEO technique we know (and recommend). Enough said.
Blog Integration
Every CMS I have ever worked with started off as a Content Management System – and then the authors bolted on a blogging component. WordPress started out as blogging platform and became a CMS. There is a big difference. One you will appreciate very quickly if you intend to blog (you really should blog as it is an awesome tool to help improve your website’s SEO karma.).
Categories & Tags
Once your Blog gets to a level where the content starts to become difficult to find, you will be glad you gave your audience a way to find specific topics.
Fun to code
Last but not least, it is really fun to code a WordPress website. The syntax is simple and intuitive.
Believe it or not, this is not an exhaustive list. But Blogging 101 tells me that I am pressing my luck in terms of audience engagement. 😉
It goes without saying… But I’ll say it anyways. At WebFuel we develop our Responsive Websites solely on the WordPress platform. This website is run on the latest version of WordPress. What platform is your website built on?
Maybe you should consider a move over to WordPress?