WordPress was released in 2003 and has since become the content management system (CMS) of choice for many business and website owners. According to a study by Search Engine Journal, WordPress powers 39.5% of all websites today. It also has a 64.1% market share of the CMS market.
The platform offers a number of advantages for business owners who are looking for the best CMS to use for their website. Here are some of them:
1. It’s Free
WordPress is completely free. For business owners, this means that they can promote online through a professional site without breaking the bank. It’s also open-source, so users can utilize the platform for any type of project they’re working on. Users don’t have to worry about ads or limitations in the choice of software or hosting provider.
2. It’s Cost-Effective
The open-source nature of WordPress and the number of free tools for site building means that the only fixed costs for most users are hosting and domain name. In fact, it’s possible for a business owner to build and operate a basic WordPress site for as little as $60 annually.
3. It’s More Than Just a Blog
Some people may consider WordPress as just another blogging platform. However, it can be easily used for all types of projects including the following:
- Building a virtual classroom
- Creating a forum
- Setting up an online store
- Marketing a business
The platform can power pretty much any project business owners have in mind.
4. It Doesn’t Have a Steep Learning Curve
WordPress is pretty easy to learn, even for those who have never used a CMS or built a website before. Once the user is used to the different features and functions of the platform, they can start working on more advanced elements to get full control over their site design.
5. Creating Content Doesn’t Require HTML Knowledge
Users don’t have to know how to code to add cool features and functionalities to their site. The platform’s huge plugin ecosystem means that users can easily extend and customize their sites in no time at all.
6. It’s Easy To Set Up
WordPress is user-friendly, even for beginners. Users can easily check under the hood and change any aspect that they don’t like or doesn’t fit what they’re going for.
7. It’s Easy To Manage
Websites take a lot of maintenance work. With WordPress sites, in particular, users have to keep up with the following:
- Updating the CMS when new versions are released
- Updating plugins and themes when upgrades are released
- Filtering comments
- Optimizing and securing the site
- Regularly backing up the site
With the easy-to-manage platform, users don’t have to spend too much time each week on these tasks.
8. It Has a Universal Dashboard
The WordPress dashboard looks the same on every platform. This greatly reduces confusion and makes it easy for users to update and manage their sites.
9. Most Websites Use It
WordPress is the top choice for most websites and business owners. Since it has a bigger chunk of the market, users are assured that they’re in good hands. After all, if the platform wasn’t reliable, it wouldn’t have so many users across the globe.
10. Most Big Brands Use It
WordPress has 23% of the top traffic sites and big e-Commerce brands all over the world. With its dominant market share, no other CMS comes close.
11. There’s a Thriving WordPress Community
WordPress is a popular choice for many website developers, so there are a lot of forums and sites where users can ask questions and get advice, solutions, and recommendations from other users.
There are also many How-To articles so users are more likely to immediately get answers to commonly asked questions. There are even worldwide events where users can network with other sites and business owners and get to know the experts in the field.
12. It’s Search Engine Friendly
WordPress sites are easy to crawl, so most search engines will prioritize them. WordPress also makes it easier for the users to optimize their sites and ensure that they receive the traffic they deserve. There are a ton of SEO plugins that can help in this aspect.
13. It’s Mobile Friendly
Consumers are increasingly using their mobile phones to search for products and services. The past five years, in fact, have seen a rapid switch from desktop to mobile — which means customers are more likely to see a business website through a phone screen.
This is a good thing for WordPress users, as most of the platform’s themes are designed to be responsive and mobile-friendly. This means that a site will automatically scale to look great on nearly every laptop screen, mobile device, or tablet.
14. It’s Adaptable
Site owners often worry about scaling their websites. After all, it’s not easy to move platforms once they start publishing more content and getting more traffic than their existing CMS handle. This isn’t the case with WordPress as the platform can easily scale with its users’ growing needs.
15. It’s Secure and Safe
WordPress takes user security very seriously. The platform always comes up with new security patches and updates to ensure that users are protected from threats and cybercriminals.
Users also have to be vigilant as new security threats emerge every day. The CMS, including any additional components such as themes or plugins, has to always be up-to-date.
16. It’s Easy to Customize
Any business owner can find the right tools to create a website that best suits their needs and products. The WordPress directory offers more than 60,000 plugins to simplify the process of website development and enhance the site’s functionality. Website design is also easy with the endless sea of free and premium themes available out there.
17. It Offers So Many Free and Premium Themes
As mentioned above, there are thousands of free themes to choose from so users have more control over their site’s design and style. These themes are one-click solutions for users who wish to completely change the look of their site. Premium themes are also available for those who wish to invest in more professional and customizable designs.
18. Posts Can Be Published Immediately
The platform is designed to be as simple and as convenient as possible. If a user needs to publish an instant ad or an unplanned post right away, they can do that with just a few simple steps. With its text editor and page builder, formatting WordPress posts is also a breeze.
19. It Allows Post Scheduling
For users who prefer publishing their posts at a specific time to attract their target audience, WordPress allows post scheduling.
20. Customers Reviews and Testimonials Are Easy To Publish
WordPress offers quite a few plugins that allow customers to send testimonials and reviews about the product they’ve purchased on the site. The site owner can also install widgets that show reviews from social media platforms.
21. It Supports Different Multimedia
WordPress supports different types of multimedia including photos, videos, and audio files. Users can just drag and drop these files into the text editor screen and format how they’ll look when they’re published.
22. It Easily Integrates with Third-Party Platforms
WordPress makes it simple and convenient for its users to hook up to their favorite third-party services and platforms. Some examples are:
- Google Analytics
- Email marketing services
- Payment gateways
- Product and shopping cart apps
Nonetheless, WordPress also makes it possible for users to stay within the ecosystem without resorting to third-party providers. It offers tools and plugins that can provide everything users need without having to leave their WordPress dashboard.
23. It Easily Integrates with Social Media
Users can integrate WordPress with various social media apps to market their website or blog.
24. It Offers a Range of e-Commerce Solutions
WordPress is also a great choice for e-Commerce shop owners. There’s a huge selection of e-Commerce plugins to choose from, which include the following functionalities:
- Managing inventory
- Customer support
- Handling payment and shipping
These features allow customers to have a great user experience while they’re shopping.
25. It Can Be Used to Sell Memberships
For site and business owners that don’t have a tangible product, they can also use WordPress to sell memberships to software, online courses, and other types of content.
26. It Offers Multi-User Capabilities
WordPress allows multiple users to access and manage the site. The site owner can assign different roles to multiple people to ensure that tasks are done quickly and efficiently.
27. It Doesn’t Require a Commitment to One Hosting Provider
The platform is quite flexible. Since WordPress is a self-hosted CMS, if users decide to switch to another hosting provider, they can easily do so. They can set up on any server they want to power their site without losing ownership of their site and its contents.
28. It’s Regularly Updated
Because the platform is the most popular CMS today, developers aren’t going to stop working on it anytime soon. Users will always have access to updates and improvements that make their site feature-rich and more secure.
Wrapping Up
WordPress has a lot going for it. The reasons enumerated above are just some of the many reasons users continue to choose WordPress over its competitors. It’s an incredibly user-friendly platform, and setting up and managing a business website shouldn’t be a problem even for website development novices.