Why Use WordPress for Websites

WordPress is a fantastic content management system and is used on a massive xx% of sites listed in Google. Its popularity is down to the flexibility and the great search engine optimisation capabilities. You can design pretty much anything on WordPress from simple sites to ecommerce shops, training hubs, and membership portals.

Should I Use WordPress For My Website

So the question many people ask when they haven’t experienced a site built on WordPress is often why not use Joomla, or Drupal, or even Wixx. Perhaps you’re even comparing WordPress to standard html or php hand coded sites. Below we compare all the options and explain why we believe WordPress is the right path for so many businesses big and small, and for individual bloggers too.

WordPress History

We’ve been developing sites since the internet began so we’ve seen it all from the early basic html hand coded sites, to using the first offline content development system known as Dreamweaver, to flash sites and finally the blogging platforms which gave birth to content management systems available today.

Joomla and Drupal v WordPress

By 2006 we had ditched html hand coding and switched to build most of our sites with Joomla. Joomla and Drupal are content management systems with very similar features and capabilities. At this point in time WordPress didn’t have the same ability an was considered by site developers as just a simple blogging platform.

Some internal rights arguments in the Joomla/Drupal communities hampered the development of these systems for a while and WordPress blossomed into a real contender for content management. Though for some time many still saw it as a blogging platform, php developers turned their attention to producing plugins for the WordPress Platform and this dramatically transformed what could be achieved on this fledgling blogging new comer. Today, WordPress is respected and deployed by some of the major brands and is probably responsible for more small business sites than any other platform.

According to statistics published by whoishostingthis there are around 75 million sites that rely on the WordPress platform. Thats about 32% of the entire internet built on WordPress. And according to W3techs, WordPress has 58.55% of the Content Management System (CMS) marketshare. That’s more than all other CMS including the likes of Drupal and Joomla combined.

Why Is WordPress So Far Ahead

If we consider what is required to succeed online today and put it all into a shopping list, WordPress would have it all.

WordPress (the core system) is free.
Flexibility and Customisation
Plugins
Search Engine Friendly
Security
Management System
Multiple Media Types

Okay let’s deal with that “free” word. So yes the core files of a WordPress site are free to use but that doesn’t mean a WordPress site doesn’t cost anything to build. It’s a bit like saying when I add a little water to some vegetables to make soup the water was free, but the soup isn’t.

Like most content management sites, WordPress is comprised of three main components. The building blocks of every WordPress site are the core files (the WordPress platform), themes which control the look and feel of the site, and plugins which add specific functions to the basic platform.

It’s All Free isn’t It?

It’s true you can download some great themes and plugins for free but the issue of support and ongoing development are a critical factor when deciding to rely on a free addon for your site. Free stuff is developed mainly by people who want to either try their hand at coding or by professional developers who use the free version to showcase what a paid version of their product can do. What you get with a premium product versus the free version is support and ongoing development. let’s face it, for a company to continue to exist and develop its existing product range as well and come up with new stuff, it needs cashflow. So hopefully I’ve dealt with free and we can move on to the important issues like effective and results orientated development.

Themes are usually the first cost in a wordpress development. Though again you can download free themes from the wordpress directory, if you are going to use WordPress for a business site, you really want a custom theme that has ongoing support.

Once you’ve decided on the theme then next thing to be added are the plugins. These will vary from site to site but there will also be some in common which every site will want. Plugins to deal with site security, site speed (now a Google ranking factor), lead capture, social media syndication, site backups, video players, you name it there’s a plugin for it.

Google, Bing and The Err Other Ones

For many Google are the only game in town. But whether you are aiming to climb to the first page on Google, Bing or Yahoo a good SEO strategy is essential. Again WordPress, with some assistance (preferably but not essential) from some key plugins will deliver perfectly structured url’s that the search engines love.

Why Use WordPress over Wix?

If you’ve seen the ads for Wix or Godaddy or some other well known site builder software, a word of caution. The TV and online ads show great looking sites and push the ease of use. However, the whole point of a website (unless its for personal use like a hobby) is to attract visitors and turn them into customers. This is where most if not all of these free platforms fail. They simply don’t have the flexibility of WordPress when it comes to ranking in google, deploying advanced traffic funnels, up selling, down selling, cross selling, split testing ad copy and so much more.

So go for a free builder platform like Godaddy or Wix if you like but you have been warned.

Any questions please get in touch with us directly through the contact page.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article, hope it was of some help.