As a content management system (CMS), WordPress rose to prominence not only because it is free and open-source but also because it is user-friendly and can be utilized to build websites without requiring specialized skills or knowledge. Still, if you’re thinking that it is a CMS that’s used by novices alone, you’d be mistaken. Programmers actively create plugins and themes that allow users to create fully-customized websites making it a popular CMS for small businesses and major corporations alike. In fact, more than 40% of websites are built using WordPress. So then, what is WordPress?
WordPress in a Nutshell
Creating a website can be overwhelming especially for those of us with little or no experience in the matter. On the other hand, having a functional, attractive, and easy-to-navigate website is fundamental to your business success. Let’s take a small step back and talk a bit about “content management systems” so we can better understand WordPress. A CMS is a type of software that allows you to develop, revise, organize, and publish online content. As mentioned, WordPress is a free and open-source CMS that is frequently used by individuals, bloggers, artists, and companies to manage their online content.
Perhaps the “free” and “open-source” nature of WordPress is what drives its popularity, but what does this mean? Free is self-explanatory – you don’t have to pay anything to use the WordPress software (although you do require a domain name, online storage, FTP access and other requirements that are associated with cost). Open-source programs are those that are made publicly available so that they can be easily adapted and modified by developers. This means that anybody can collaborate on and implement themes and plugins.
In the early days of WordPress, it was primarily used by bloggers. Many of the key features of WordPress reflect this history. For example, text, articles, and blogs can be published online in an instant with options for visitors to the site to comment and for those comments to be moderated. Posts and pages are easily differentiated, and WordPress includes posts, tags, and categories that allow for complex levels of organization of your site. Plus, WordPress includes a straightforward editor that allows you to easily and quickly create posts for publication.
Today, WordPress has grown to allow for the creation of any type of website from blogging sites to professional portfolios, e-commerce sites, mobile-friendly sites, and corporate websites. Indeed, if you want to create any type of website, you’re sure to find the functionality you need with WordPress no matter your scope or budget through the many themes and plugins that have been developed for this excellent CMS.
Some of the benefits of using WordPress should already be clear. For example, as an open-source CMS, the source code for WordPress is easily modified which means that there is a community of users that contribute ideas and improvements for the platform. There are myriad other benefits of using WordPress.
- User-friendly – you don’t need advanced computer programming skills to use WordPress and build a website. In fact, it was designed to be accessible to anybody, anywhere.
Search engine optimization (SEO) ready – WordPress SEO plugins help to improve your search engine ranking b providing internal linking strategies, meta description suggestions, and other SEO improvements.
- Media-friendly – no matter the type of media you want to use on your website, WordPress will be compatible. Text, images, and videos can all be added to your site using WordPress as your CMS.
- Security – finally, data breaches are no joke so many businesses want to use a CMS that includes up-to-date security features. WordPress offers excellent security with features such as two-factor authentication.
Today, WordPress represents one of the (if not the) most trusted CMS platforms for creating, editing, organizing, and publishing websites. It continues to grow in popularity as is evident from the large community of developers, bloggers, and website designers who trust WordPress for their CMS needs.