Updated: April 5, 2023
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Can over a Third of the Internet Be Wrong?
The original post in November 2017 read 27.5% of the Internet. Now those numbers are over 40%, proving that WordPress is the most popular CMS on the planet today.
Ask any web designer about WordPress and you are likely to get a host of different answers. Some will say that their are security issues. Some will say that the theme structure is rigid and hard to customize for your business. Some developers will say that Mean Stack, Angular.js and Node.js (most of you have never heard of) are the ways to go. Others will say that drop-and-drag solutions like Squarespace and Wix are also great ways to build your next website. I started using WordPress for my sites six years ago after I coded my first site in HTML and CSS. And I’m not the only one.
If you’ve never heard of WordPress before, WordPress is a free, open-source content management system based on PHP and MySQL. It was first released in May 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. I’m not sure if they meant to revolutionize the internet, but they did. Here are just a few reasons why WordPress is the right choice for your small business website.
1. WordPress is a Mature Platform
If you do a lot of business on your website, would you trust it to a new platform that hasn’t had the bugs worked out yet? I wouldn’t. WordPress is a platform that has its bugs worked out. There is very little trial and error left in WordPress development. As a WordPress theme developer, there are thousands of tried-and-true ways to build a great website using WordPress.
2. WordPress is Easy to Install and Update
You’ve bought your domain and hosting plan. Now, what’s next to get your website up and running? If you’re not using WordPress, the next thing to do is open a text editor and start coding. Either that or buy a template and install your index.html file in your in your public_ftp file in your file manager. The novice or first-time website owner probably doesn’t have any idea what I’m talking about.
Or you could click on the Applications link for your host and find WordPress, install it and in five minutes you can be customizing your new site. It’s even easier if you chose a WordPress managed hosting plan. WordPress allows you to build a great website without having to touch a bit of code. However, for a fully customized theme I recommend taking the time to get proficient in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP, or hire me to handle that for you.
3. WordPress is Free
You would think I would list this feature first, but I didn’t. It’s one of those little things I take for granted about the most versatile CMS available today. After building several WordPress sites of my own and more for clients, I completely forget that the download and installation of WordPress is totally free. The themes, customization, hosting, SSL certificates, and maintenance are not free, but the actual platform is free with most hosting companies.
4. The WordPress Dashboard is Very User Friendly
The first time I installed WordPress on one of my sites, I was a little nervous about how to start setting up my site. It didn’t take me long. Within a few minutes I was building my site out and having fun doing it. It may take a little bit of time to see how everything is laid out, but after you get the hang of it, it will become your best friend.
5. Thousands of Themes to Choose From
There are literally thousands of themes to choose from…thousands! This means that you have a lot of options about how your site looks and functions “out of the box.” Change a little CSS, and that multiplies your options to infinity…and beyond! A few years ago, StudioPress was my first theme choice for my sites. If you insisted, I could code a theme specifically for your company. Then WPEngine aqcuired StudioPress and everything got better. Now, this site is hosted on WPEngine and Genesis Pro is the way to go with the Genesis framework. Ten StudioPress themes are still available but exclusively with WPEngine hosting packages. I host this site on WPEngine and I think you should too.
6. Add Functionality with Plugins
Need a special function for your website? Here’s another side-benefit of WordPress being a mature platform. Someone has probably already thought of it and solved your problem for you by means of creating a plugin. A plugin is a bit of code that someone wrote to add a particular function to their website and added it as a premium or free plugin. Plugins are also easily installed and add almost any function you can think of to your new site.
7. Search Engines Love WordPress Sites
Search engine optimization is crucial to your online marketing efforts. Without SEO, you need stout marketing activities to get traffic to your site. The WordPress structure is automatically recognized by search engines and helps your site get found faster. There are also a few great plugins that can help you tailor pages and posts for maximum SEO capability.
8. WordPress Has a Great Community
Over the past 20 years of WordPress’s existence, WordPress.org has become a great resource for experts and novices alike. Post your question and get it answered by a whole host of WordPress enthusiasts and professionals.
9. Highly Mobile Responsive Designs
No site could be complete today without being mobile responsive. If you site looks bad on a cell phone, this can also affect it’s search engine ranking (SER). WordPress sites are automatically highly mobile responsive. If your WordPress site isn’t responsive, there is probably a plugin for that too.
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