WordPress is the world’s most popular “content management system (CMS).” That’s a fancy way of saying that a lot of people build their websites on WordPress.
While it has its detractors, WordPress is the base of 34% of all websites on the internet. That number includes websites that have no outside CMS or have a custom-coded CMS. (W3Techs)
With one-third of all websites running on this one content management system, it’s no wonder that it has a lot of assets to recommend it as your CMS.
1 – It’s open-source.
You don’t have to pay anyone to use WordPress as your CMS. You can download an installation file for it and then upload it to your host. In fact, most hosts make it even easier: all you have to do is push a button to install the WordPress CMS on your site.
There is a paid version of WordPress that includes hosting, etc., but you don’t have to pay to use WordPress on your website.
2 – Lots of plugins/extensions
Because WordPress is open-source, there are thousands of plugins that you can add to your site to make it better. They range from anti-spam plugins to design tools that help you build a website.
Essentially, these are pieces of code or functionalities that someone wrote that make your site work better for you. Most of them are free, although some have a small fee to get all the bells and whistles. In essence, these will save a developer time having to reinvent the wheel; someone else has already done it and they make it available to everyone.
3 – It’s not new.
WP has been around for about a decade now. That means that the kinks are worked out and there’s a large, professional organization there making sure that everything works well.
When a new CMS is issued, it will often have lots of glitches and problems. They will cause your site to crash and create a lot of headaches. Those problems are in the past for WP, so you can expect smooth running (most of the time – everything has its issues).
4 – Many, many big companies use WordPress.
The list of companies that use WP as their CMS is like a who’s who of the world’s largest, most notable companies and even government agencies:
- BBC America
- The New Yorker
- Variety
- Sony Music
- MTV News
- Mercedes-Benz
- Katy Perry
- The New York Times
- The Village Voice
- New York Post
- The White House
- The Obama Foundation
- …and many more!
There are tens of thousands of major brands that use WordPress to build their websites. That means that you can count on it being around for a long time and to be constantly improving.
5 – Lots and lots of themes
A WordPress theme is a template that you build your WP website from. There are thousands of them to be had. Every day, someone issues a new theme.
WP started as a blogging platform. It has expanded into a complete content management system. In order to get a website to look the way you want, you need to add certain elements. A theme is a pre-designed template that you can use as a starting point. From there, you can add more elements to the site to meet your needs.
6 – WP makes SEO easy
Search engine optimization (SEO) is at the heart of success on the internet. WordPress and the developers who’ve contributed to it over the years know this and have designed it to be SEO-friendly right out of the gate. In fact, because so many important websites and so much of the internet runs on WordPress, it’s only logical that Google and other search engines look to WP to know what to add to their algorithm.
SEO is simply a part of the WP core, making it a powerful platform for getting your message out to search engines and the world.
7 – Developers and designers are everywhere.
Because WP is so popular, there are literally millions of designers and developers. You can find them on every continent and working in every language. There are very few web design and development companies that don’t offer WordPress. In fact, WP is the core of many desengers worlds, without them ever learning any other system.
8 – WP grows with you.
Because the platform is so flexible, it grows with your needs. One page or one thousand, a blog or an ecommerce site, multiple themes across multiple pages, all of it can be done in WP. Because the platform is 100% scalable, it will grow as your needs grow.
Often, you can transfer from one theme to another with ease. The content will stay in place and simply move around in the themes. That makes growing and changing your site easy.
9 – It’s multilingual.
Because WP is so popular, it’s everywhere. Baked right into the system is the ability to be multilingual. You can easily duplicate a website and change the language. This allows you to localize your websites to your audience if you have customers or staff in multiple countries.
10 – It’s really easy to use.
Most of the time, you don’t need to know any coding at all. You don’t have to understand HTML or CSS to build a website. There are programs that allow you to drag and drop elements, change parts of the site, and make it what you want. The themes are very often nearly complete in and of themselves. For example, a lawyer theme only needs you to change the words to match your law firm to make it yours. Changing out photos, adding signup forms and more is all very simple.
11 – It’s compatible with everything.
Not matter what CRM or email program you’re using, it will work with WP. The reason is simple: it’s the most popular so everyone makes their systems work with WP.
One example is your email service provider, like MailChimp or Mailerlite. All you have to do is look for the WordPress tutorials and they show you exactly how to add their system to your website.
12 – Mobile is built-in.
Being “mobile-friendly” was a catchphrase a couple of years ago as everyone tried to adapt their websites to all the mobile devices in the world. WP has mobile readiness built in. While almost everyone else has gotten there, there are still some platforms that you have intentionally convert your site to mobile ready. WordPress does it automatically.
Get Started With WordPress!
There are even more reasons to use WordPress as your CMS, but these are the ones that matter most. Use WordPress for your website and it will make your life easier. Need a custom WordPress website designer? At LaunchNeo we offer an all-in-one solution that includes web design, hosting, domain, SEO, and more – all for one monthly price.