WordPress is a content management system that was released in 2003, and it has since become a global phenomenon as the most popular CMS on the internet. In fact, more than 75 million websites use WordPress today. It has quickly become the first choice for entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes from all over the world to build their websites and share their content.
If you are just starting out in your journey or thinking about launching your own website, you should consider using WordPress.
However, if you are not sure why you should use it, continue reading our article — we’ll help you make your decision.
It is not easy to imagine the effect WordPress has had on the internet so far and why it’s better than any other alternative. In this article, we’re going to break down for you the main reasons for why you should go with WordPress and what makes it the first choice for anyone who wants to build a website.
Use WordPress because it’s free to use and always will be:
Setting up a website back in the 1990s and early 2000s was a nightmare for most business owners. Not only did you have to spend months looking for a good web developer to work with, but you’d also have to pay him thousands of dollars for some simple coding and web design.
Thanks to WordPress, you don’t have to deal with that anymore.
It is a totally free CMS that you can download, install on your server, and modify to fit your needs — and all of that for 0$.
Hint: All you have to do is go to https://wordpress.org/download/ and download the latest version.
WordPress is Easy to Use
WordPress has changed a lot throughout the years, and it’s only getting better.
The CMS adapted to the needs of its customers and kept developing necessary features until it became the easiest platform to use.
Here are the things I find fascinating about using WordPress:
Quick Installation
You can set up a WordPress website in less than 10 minutes — even if you have no prior knowledge of the tool. Most hosting services offer a quick WordPress install that you can use to get your website running.
Right after installation, you will have full access to the free plugins and themes in the theme directory. You can start optimizing your website and sharing content.
Update Notifications
There are many reasons why you should keep your WordPress version updated. And considering its importance, the developers behind WordPress have made it as easy as possible for users to stay up to date.
If you use WordPress, you’ll get automated notifications in the admin panel or even delivered to your email whenever an update is available to install. This will ensure that your website will have the speed, safety, and compatibility with the latest plugins and themes.
Automated Features and Actions
This is yet another great advantage you’ll get by choosing to use WordPress.
With the help of some plugins and built-in tools, you will have access to amazing features like Stop Spam, Backup, Compress Images, Schedule Posts, Social Media Auto-Publish, and more.
They are all automated and will save you countless hours of manual work if used effectively.
Low-cost Maintenance:
In case your website is down, the cost for repairing it is rather low compared to other CMS services. It is much easier for you to find pricing on WordPress maintenance plans and hire a team to fix up your bugs and errors because of how large the WordPress community is.
Hint: You can find answers to all your questions in the support forums that contain thousands of solutions to troubleshoot your problems.
WordPress is Open Source
What an open source product basically means is that it is available for everyone to make changes on it. WordPress is not owned by any company, and it encourages developers to customize and edit the original source codes so that the whole system gets better features.
There is a large number of developers around the world working on making WordPress better. They fix bugs, create plugins, themes, and third-party tools that anyone can use (usually for free) to make their websites better optimized.
WordPress plugin library contains 55k verified plugins.
The theme directory has more than 5000 free themes that you can install with one click, and also fully customizable premium themes if you want to take your business to the next level.
Hint: You can add third-party plugins that work well with WordPress like website analytics, advertising networks, security tools, A/B testing tools, and more.
Create Any Website Using WordPress
There is a reason why 33% of all websites on the web use WordPress — and it is that you can create any website you want with a wide variety of plugins and themes you have at your disposal.
The advanced publishing system WordPress allows you to share blog articles, videos, photo galleries and portfolios, and even audio files for your podcast; and with that, you can create a website for any kind of project you have in mind.
Here are some examples of what you can do using WordPress:
- Start a blog.
- Launch an e-commerce website.
- Make a business website.
- Build a knowledge base.
- Sell a membership program.
- Host a video website like Youtube.
Hint: You can either upload your own content from images, videos, and audio — or embed all kinds of media types like Youtube videos and tweets to your editor.
High-Security Standards
Just like anything in this world, WordPress security is not totally perfect. In fact, there are possible situations where your website can be hacked into, and that will damage your business.
However, if you take security measures seriously, your chances of being hacked are much lower with WordPress in comparison to using another CMS.
The WordPress security team is continuously working on making it safer while keeping all the features. The safety comes in the form of regular updates that limit the dangers of hackers and malware — and that keeps your data safe.
By updating your version regularly, having strong passwords for all your accounts, and using a secure hosting service, your website will remain hack-free for years to come. It is also worth learning more about network security so you know how to identify and tackle possible threats to your website
Hint: Be careful when installing themes and plugins from an unknown source. That could threaten your security and give hackers an easy way in. So, you should not install anything until you make sure it got the approval of the community (ask in the forums or look at the reviews).
WordPress is SEO-Friendly
A business with a website that has no visitors will eventually cease to exist. If you don’t want that to be your end, you need organic traffic — it is the number one source of traffic for most businesses.
Search engines like Google and Bing love WordPress websites and rank them higher than others for one single reason: WordPress has excellent SEO capabilites.
By using WordPress, you will get free additional points in your search engine optimization game that you would have missed on had you used another CMS. WordPress has exceptional on-page SEO, fast loading speed, great user-experience, excellent image optimization, and easier crawling and indexing for Google spiders.
On top of that, all the themes you download and utilize are SEO-Friendly. And since mobile devices are taking over desktop computers, those themes are responsive to mobile devices and offer a lovely user experience — which increases the time a user spends on your website and eventually improves your rankings.
Hint: Using Yoast SEO when writing content and All-in-One SEO on your website will help you get better results on your rankings.
The Most Popular CMS For a Reason
As we mentioned earlier, WordPress has the largest CMS community on the internet. That means that whenever you have an issue with your website, you could search for a solution online; most of the time you’ll find guides and tutorials to answer your questions.
Even if you don’t find the solution you’re looking for, there are online forums you can go to to ask your questions and get them answered 100% of the time.
While we already mentioned that 33% of websites are online, it isn’t only small businesses that included within that portion. Big brands, as well, put their trust in WordPress and use it to run their business.
Some popular celebrities using WordPress on their websites are Leonardo DiCaprio, Ariana Grande, and Mike Rowe.
And even big brand names like TechCrunch, Mercedes-Benz International, and Bloomberg Professional.
Wrapping It Up
It seems that, with all the advantages you get by using WordPress, the real question should be — why use another content management system?
No matter how many arguments we can give, unless you try WordPress, you’ll never know how good it is. If you are a business owner looking to build a website that is flexible, affordable, easy to customize, and has better chances at attracting customers, then WordPress has got your back. Learn more about our WordPress website design services or affordable SEO services and let us know if you want to try it out!
Still not convinced? Let us know why in the comments below.
About the Author: Bill Dolan
