Overview
WordPress is the most widely used Content Management System (CMS) in the world today. It is primarily used to design and develop websites, for the purpose of serving information to site visitors around the globe. It’s come a long way since the its inception, and its now a pleasure to use.
Today, it powers nearly a billion websites, more than any other platform. Initially launched in 2004, it was originally software meant to be used for blogging, or writing or articles. It is successful because is its openness. Most other platforms are tightly controlled and do not support adding outside technology, or even exporting your site.
This article will focus on the benefits of using WordPress, the technology that powers it, and the competitive space.
Benefits
The main benefit of WordPress is that it is free and open source. This means that the code is created by volunteers who make this web platform free for all to use. As a result, there are a considerable communities providing support in terms of articles, videos, and other forms of media. If you get stuck on something, there are lots of resources to guide you.
WordPress is also terrific when it comes to SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Right out of the virtual-box, WordPress is geared toward providing great search results. Especially when you follow the basic rules of HTML formatting.
Maintaining WordPress is easier than ever. You can choose to have it auto-update the platform itself, and the related plugins. You can also choose to auto-update with only major software releases, or every minor release in-between. We tend to not use this function because sometimes new releases may not go as planned. Therefore, we’ll usually wait a few days or weeks. However, this feature is handy for folks who don’t regularly log into their sites. Keeping website software up to date is becoming more important than ever. Vulnerabilities often exploit older code, which can also negatively affect your SEO.
The ability to scale your website as your business, or organization, grows is a huge benefit, and there is no cost in doing so. Some of the free site builder platforms charge fees when your site expands beyond a certain number of pages. They will offer a base set of pages for free.
Technology
Flavors of WordPress
There are two types of WordPress. One is the server software that anyone can download and use. It will require a hosting service for installation. This is available at WordPress.org. The other WordPress.com is a free website and blogging portal. This also uses the WordPress software, but its hosted by them. The version of WordPress found here is limited in functionality.
Plugins
The major benefit of using WordPress is the ability to add technology plugins that provide a wide range of solutions. Simply search for the solution that you need and browse the results. When you find one, simply download it and it will become a part of your website. If you don’t like it, you can disable it and remove it.
There are roughly sixty thousand plugins available that offer solutions such as online forms, slide shows, SEO, polls, social media connections, and more. You can review these here: Https://WordPress.org/plugins. Nearly all of them are free to use, but are often feature limited. More functionality can be found in the paid versions. The premium versions of plugins are usually cost effective.
Responsive
Out of the box, WordPress is mobile ready, or responsive as we say in the industry. This means that your website will adjust its sizing regardless of the device being used. The content automatically narrows to accommodate a smaller device.
This is critical because nearly 65% of all website traffic here in Loudoun County, and Northern Virginia, stems from a mobile device. You don’t want your web visitors having to zoom-in on a webpage to view it. When your website is responsive, it accounts for devise sizes of nearly any kind.
Hosting
Another difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is that the latter will require that you obtain your own website hosting account. The .com flavor of WordPress offers hosting, but in a limited fashion. The .org style is software that you download and install on your own server.
Value oriented Shared Hosting can be purchased for about $120 per year. You will be responsible for managing this host, which not only serves your website to the internet at large, but also affords email accounts and lots of other technical goodies.
Needless to say, Wicked Design also offers website hosting. We handle of your web hosting needs throughout the year without charging hourly fees. We also use a fast VPS server for the best performance possible.
Themes
Another benefit to using WordPress is the number of themes available. Themes lay on top of WordPress and offer a feature rich set of editing tools and functionality. Many WordPress themes are free to use, other charge a fee. Known as premium themes, these usually offer a drop and drag interface, fancy content features, and support.
WordPress.org currently offers more than thirteen thousand themes, and they can be viewed here: https://wordpress.org/themes. However, many more themes are available outside of WordPress, but they can be used like any other.
You simply download a theme, install it, and then activate it. Once it is activated, you can then begin changing out the text and photos for your own. It will retain is look and feel, but will then feature your own content.
SEO
Search engine optimization is inherent with WordPress. If you follow the basic guidelines of HTML, you will be ranked by the search engines in search results. This means that your website will appear in search results, depending on your search term and the competition for particular phrases.
Ranking higher than competition can be challenging, however. If you sell widgets, you may have 20 competitors in your area also selling widgets. It may be hard to rank higher in search results if others have big marketing budgets to used to increase their SEO. But through research, you can learn how to begin rising for those results. It often takes patience to do so, but its worth it in the end.
Competition
There are a handful well-known of WordPress competitors out these, and many are free to begin using. They offer themes and features within their own proprietary platform. They also offer some plugins but they are limited to their platform, and often a premium feature to use.
Platforms such as Wix, Squarespace and Weebly all offer free access. However, they often charge your for add-ons, extra pages, commerce, SSL certificates, adding third party code, etc. Some of these won’t allow you to export your website once it’s built. These website platforms are fine for simple sites with a few pages. But the costs can rise quickly as you make the site larger or add additional functionality.
Closing
No matter the type of WordPress than you choose, you can be assured that you made the right content management choice. Due to its flexibility, pricing, support, technology and leadership in the space, it is simply the best choice. The platform will serve you well now, and into the future as you grow. We have personally used WordPress since 2010, and have used it ever since. We have designed and developed more than 800 website using WordPress, and can solidly recommend it to anyone wanting to start building and maintaining a website.
