What is WordPress?
WordPress is a free and open-source content management system that allows you to build your own website. It is the simplest and most popular way to create your own website or blog. It powers over 43.3% of all the websites on the internet and is the most commonly used CMS in the world, taking up over 76.4% of the CMS market share.
WordPress was started in 2003 and after almost 2 decades in operation, it has the go-to CMS on the web. Since CMS has been present in the market for so long, they know what its customers and users need and want. WordPress is so great in that its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages. Although there are many competitors, none of them come even close to the market penetration that WordPress has.
In this article, we will discuss some of the many advantages of using WordPress for website creation
1). More Ownership of Your Website and Easy to Manage ( user-friendly)
Most websites are difficult to manage or make changes to. This makes it hard for the website owner to make changes or even post any updates without the help of a website developer. Which can be very frustrating.
Managing your website should not require a lot of skills from you. WordPress has a user-friendly, easy-to-use administration portal that provides you with a website you can manage by yourself.
Using WordPress for website creation allows you to set up multiple users, customize access levels and capabilities, easily manage users, etc. Since access is browser-based, you can log in and manage your website from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. By using WordPress for website creation you will be able to maintain more ownership over your website and make many changes to the content on your own.
2). Cost-effective
WordPress is free to download and has lower setup and maintenance costs associated with it. This does not mean all WordPress websites are cheap, especially business websites. There are no initial or ongoing licensing fees for WordPress but you can also opt for a paid version or use hosting or plugins which are also very affordable. The total all-in cost of using the WordPress platform for website creation will most likely cost you less than $100.
When you compare this cost with that of other platforms, you will realize that using WordPress for website creation costs less. However, you have to understand that certain factors will affect the cost of a website such as the level of customization needed and the functions that will need to be built into the site, etc.
To get started for free, all you have to do is get on their website, download the installers, and you will be good to go. The only thing required is some time to choose the best web design templates you will be using for your website.
A website built on WordPress costs less initially and also provides more savings over time in easier maintenance and management compared to what the same website would cost if it were built on a different platform.
Related: Top 10 Reasons To Use WordPress For Your Next Website
3). Flexibility
WordPress comes with apps and themes, making it flexible and great for businesses and those who are more advanced and want to build their website the way they like. Building a website on the WordPress engine will give you a distinct advantage since plugins and features are ready for you to use.
WordPress saves you a lot of time and other resources since you can manage your website practically from any desktop and maintain your focus on your business. The flexibility enables the creation of a seamless UI and UX website. It is also a perfect fit if you are looking for a unique, highly-customizable website for your brand and target audience.
4). Safety and Security
Safety and security are very important when using the internet. With internet safety and security, you have to constantly monitor and review your security measures since hackers are always changing their methods.
Thankfully, WordPress has security plugins that allow you to enhance the security of your website from hacks, vulnerabilities, etc. WordPress is built with user roles, password verifications, and various other features. It also comes with security measures such as “https://” built-in if you would prefer that instead of plugins.
5). SEO Friendly
You don’t need to worry about your website visibility since search engines love WordPress. WordPress is built and structured with search engines and SEO in mind. The content on WordPress websites is easy to index, they are easy to read for crawler programs and they are also easy to manage.
You can also use SEO plugins like Yoast if you want your website to rank higher and make content organization a breeze for you. Most people who create websites what to share their content with the world and this calls for an SEO-friendly website.
Your website has to be easy for search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing to crawl through and parse your data. Building your site on WordPress enables you to get lots of search engine traffic to your site over the long run.
6). Easy to Use
WordPress comes with intuitive design, directions, and tutorials to get you started and keep you going. With WordPress, you won’t need an HTML, CSS, or PHP expert to help you in creating your website. WordPress technology has eliminated website coding making it easy for anyone to create a website.
However, things can still get challenging when you want to create a unique website design and choose the right features that would benefit your business. This might require you to get a professional web designer.
7). Scalable
WordPress can scale your business as it grows. It means that your old WordPress design can still be useful and would never be outdated. Therefore you can perform some updates, add some innovative features, and enjoy watching your website expand without compromising anything.
Now more than ever the demand for the modern website to be mobile-friendly is now absolute. Therefore, adjustments have to be made to have a fully functional and responsive website on any device your audience might choose to use.
Thankfully, there are a lot of new programs created for WordPress that you can utilize to keep your website fully updated with the latest web design and features.
8). Responsive Website Design
In the current world, you will need a website that is responsive to a large variety of different devices. Imagine having a website where the words get cut off on an iPhone, or a poor-looking design on a tablet but only looks great on a desktop.
With WordPress, your entire website will look great on any device. You also get access to responsive website designs and themes which are built into the platform for you to choose from.
9). Regular Automatic Updates
Since the internet is ever-changing and evolving, website CMSs have to keep up with the changing environment and update their platforms accordingly.
WordPress always ensures its platform is updated for it to stay in line with technological advances and best practices. The best part is that the updates are automatic, quick, and only require one click.
10). Mobile Friendly
In the current world, more than 50% of the world’s internet traffic comes from mobile devices and so it is very important that your website is mobile-friendly, legible, and easily usable for mobile users.
Due to this fact, search engines use mobile-first rendering, which means, its mobile version by search engines first judge your website. So if your mobile usability is poor, then your rankings will be poor.
Therefore, the front-end user experience and back-end technical components of a website are both taken into consideration when it comes to mobile-friendliness. In consideration of this, WordPress has given you mobile-friendly themes for you to choose from
Related: 15+ Tips for Increasing your Website Traffic
11). Most Plugins and Apps
Plugins are applications that help you customize and run WordPress the way you want. WordPress has over 54,000+ plugins which include email marketing plugins, design plugins, speed plugins, etc. WordPress has the most available and customizable plugins by far.
12). Lots of Design Options
WordPress has many different website themes which allow different functionalities for your website and different looks and feels based on the theme you decide to use. This allows you to choose a theme that perfectly matches your niche and what you will be using your website for.
13). Built-in Blog
Blogging is an important part of SEO and a great addition to most websites.
WordPress was originally a blogging platform, so all WordPress websites have a blog section available for you to use if you need it.
Blogging is an essential part of a solid SEO strategy, since it helps drive traffic to your website, helps you build authority in your industry, and also helps you reach more potential customers.
14). Awesome Community, Open Source, and Quick Sharing
The developers within WordPress are not totally responsible for the platform’s success but its community which is composed of website owners, designers, and developers is the true pillars. The community is so reliable in that if you encounter problems while using WordPress, all you have to do is ask on any of the forums and you will get the solutions you are looking for in no time.
WordPress has in-house developers who have allowed the WordPress software to be “Open Source” meaning it can be studied, used, and shared by everyone. It’s just like sharing your favorite pasta recipe with the rest of the world. This has enabled faster evolution, the introduction of new features, and quick troubleshooting of problems.
15). Ready for Social Media Integration
We live in a world where social media can never be ignored. Anyone who wants to reach more people through the internet has at some point used social media to reach more people. Therefore for your website to grow you need to have it connected to social media platforms.
The WordPress engine was among the first platforms to practice the exchange of information with other platforms which is now widely practiced through the use of Application Programming Interface (API). API simply refers to the interaction of multiple programs with each other.
The major social media networks and other third-party platforms that are commonly used today have APIs. This means that content from your website can be smoothly shared on social media for the world to see with just a few clicks.
Conclusion
There are many advantages and benefits to using WordPress for website creation. From more Ownership of Your Website and Easy to Manage to Ready for Social Media Integration, WordPress is the perfect all-in-one platform for any website creation.
If you want to create a WordPress website, you should consider a hosting provider that offers WordPress hosting like truehost. This will help you save time and also allow you to access your WordPress dashboard through your account.