Because WordPress started as a blogging platform, many people still think of it that way. The WordPress platform though is no fringe solution. In fact, it has become the most popular CMS in existence, powering 30% of the entire Internet. Users include Mashable, Time Magazine, Coca-Cola, the Washington Post, and other well-known brands and popular websites. WordPress is also responsible for powering over 30% of the top 1,000 websites in the world. WordPress’s e-commerce plugin, WooCommerce, is currently powering 30% of all online stores as well. Simply put – it’s a beast.
Here is a great article on many of today’s largest brands that use WordPress, and why they use it.
A CMS (Content Management System) is what allows website owners to edit and update their own sites. WordPress dominates the CMS market, with ~60% market share. That means not only is WordPress popular for all websites, it’s especially popular for websites with a pre-built content management system. The next closest competitor – Joomla, with only 6.8% market share – doesn’t even come close to matching WordPress.
What makes WordPress especially attractive is its price tag (or lack thereof). As an open-source project, anyone is free to download, use, and modify WordPress for any purpose. This is great because you don’t pay extra for the platform on top of your design fee and any extras you might want.
With more than 10 years out in the field, WordPress has weathered many onslaughts and come out the other side stronger. WordPress security protocols are tough and only getting more robust. Virtually all safety issues in recent years have been caused by old versions of plugins that should have been updated. Most hacked websites can be traced back to weak passwords, out-of-date WordPress versions, and other problems on the user side. In other words, the most insecure element of WordPress is simply user error and not keeping it up to date. If you adapt simple security processes, have good web hosting, maintain the platform regularly, and keep your plugins and themes up to date, you’ll be golden.
Being visible in Google is often one of the main concerns for clients. Thus, they will be happy to know that WordPress is extremely search engine friendly out of the box. In fact, Matt Cutts, head of the webspam team at Google, said WordPress takes care of 80 percent to 90 percent of search engine optimization and he even uses the platform himself. Google has also stated that it is now lowering a site’s page rank and SEO efforts if a site is not mobile friendly, which WordPress very much is. Thank you WordPress! And that leads us to our next point….
In many countries, including the United States, mobile online traffic has surpassed that of desktop computers. Thankfully, with thousands of responsive themes available in the WordPress directory, the CMS is perfectly equipped for this changing environment.
Here is a great article on mobile marketing and the value of having a great mobile friendly website.
WordPress is constantly being developed, with issues addressed quickly and new features added regularly. Last year alone had three major updates and eight maintenance releases. That’s almost one new release per month! Besides that, the WordPress community is full of volunteers who are happy to lend a hand with problems.
More and more people choose WordPress for its ease of use. The user interface is extremely beginner-friendly and content creation as easy as using a text editor. New page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder make content creation a breeze via drag and drop, and other helpful features and tools enable users to create and maintain websites without any coding knowledge.
At the time of writing, the WordPress directory contains more than 54,000 plugins and thousands of themes — all free of charge to download and use. Then there are the high-quality commercial products such as Restrict Content Pro, Yoast SEO, Gravity Forms, BackupBuddy, and thousands of others that add great functionality and customization to your website. Furthermore, WordPress works extremely well with popular web services like PayPal, Stripe, and others.
Images, videos, audio and other multimedia are cornerstones of great web content. For that reason, WordPress has built-in media file management and auto-embed functionality for dozens of providers to make using third-party content super easy.
No matter what kind of website the you want, practically anything is possible. Business websites, portfolios, online shops, membership sites, and much more. Even mobile apps can be created using WordPress. If you can think it, it can be done with WordPress! WordPress also offers user roles with clearly defined capabilities enabling users to build a solid editorial team. If it’s enough for The New York Times blog network, it should be enough for you and your team.
Although WordPress is already quite impressive, we are likely just at the beginning of its journey. WordPress developer Matt Mullenweg has explicitly stated the goal to bring WordPress to 50-percent market share. Recent developments like the WP REST API and the shift towards JavaScript are just the latest steps in that direction. Therefore, clients opting for WordPress can rest assured that they invest in future-proof technology.