Creating expert-class WordPress sites is what we do. But why oh why do we choose WordPress over just about anything else when building client websites?

It’s actually pretty simple. WordPress is a killer piece of software, and the Internet seems to agree.

WordPress in Brief

WordPress is an open source Content Management System, or “CMS.” Created in 2003 specifically as blogging software, it gained traction over the next decade and saw its userbase grow at a breakneck pace.

As a content management system, WordPress’ core purpose is to organize your website’s content, storing the sentences and pages that populate your site. That’s an important role, as content is the meat and potatoes for anyone pointing their browser to your domain.

But WordPress does more than hold content. You can apply themes to re-skin the website; install plugins to add entirely new functionality; manage users so that a team of individuals at a company can contribute separately to the same website; and so much more. WordPress doesn’t just store paragraphs of text, it is a full-fledged website management system, packing decent speed, security, strong extensibility, and top-notch search engine optimization features.

How does it do all of this? Without getting too technical, WordPress is software installed on your web host’s server (and installed quickly, to boot). Your content is stored in a database also held by the web host. You log into a back-end administrative area protected by a username and password to make your edits. It all just works.

Now let’s dig into the nitty-gritty. Why is WordPress great? Four reasons:

1. Popularity and Community
2. Excellent Ease of Use
3. Plugins For Endless Possibilities
4. Free and Open Nature

Popularity and Community

WordPress is super, ultra popular. Like, “it powers a quarter of the whole frickin’ Internet” popular. So popular that it’s almost not-cool-to-use-it-popular.

Estimates now show 25-30% of all websites on the Internet are powered by WordPress.

Consider that again. One-fourth. Of every website online. (Or more.)

W3Techs surveys publish the highest estimate at 31% of all websites running on WordPress. The next closest CMS competitors, Joomla and Drupal, combine for about 5%. That is dominance.

Even more modest estimates on BuiltWith.com show WordPress with 53% of overall CMS market share.

WordPress’ popularity brings with it beneficial network effects.

For example, say you encounter an issue with your WordPress blog. Technical question or not, you can pop a quick Google search to see if anyone’s encountered that same problem. Someone almost assuredly has – and you can bet this makes troubleshooting remarkably easier.

As another example, perhaps you want to save design costs and select a pre-designed theme for your next site. Well, there are options as theme marketplaces go, like ThemeForest or TemplateMonster. There wouldn’t be such competitive choices if WordPress weren’t so widely used. Resources abound in WordPress land!

WordCamps and Meetups

WordPress’ huge popularity brings with it an amazing community. Every month, in locations all around the globe, there are WordCamps, or large, organized meetups where WordPress website owners, developers, designers and marketers congregate to network and learn. There are also smaller WordPress meetups in nearly any large city that happen even more frequently.

The point is this: Having a WordPress website makes you part of a large community that, in turn, makes your website, and your ability to control it, more effective.

Excellent Ease of Use

Have you ever used word processing software like Microsoft Word or Google Docs? If so, you are well on track to using the WordPress content editor.

Indeed, WordPress is essentially a collection of “Posts” (think blog entries) and “Pages” (think general, important subpages like “About Us” or “Contact”), both made up of content typed into a simple word processing fields.

You type your stuff into the big white block, press “Publish,” and then your content is listed somewhere on your site.

Typing up your content should be familiar because it’s basically identical to any word processor you’ve already used. Backspace takes letters away; Enter starts new lines; Ctrl + B and Ctrl + I will bold or italicize what text you have highlighted, and so on. No surprises.

Once you come to grips with the basics of the interface, adding content in WordPress is a breeze.

If you need help getting started once your website is in your hands, we provide thorough training sessions.

Plugins For Endless Possibilities

Once you have gained confidence in the basic organization of the WordPress admin area, you will find a world of possibilities opens up with plugins.

Plugins are packaged extensions on the WordPress software that add to what it can do. They can modify WordPress’ normal capabilities or add entirely new features. Sometimes these features are truly powerful.

Some examples:

• Need Google Maps integration? Here’s WP Google Maps.
• Want a calendar? Try The Events Calendar.
• Need a frickin’ e-commerce store? OK – WooCommerce.
• Everybody needs a contact form, right? Install Contact Form 7.
• Want your site to list your latest tweets? Feed Them Social.

With a lively, passionate community come a ton of developers pouring their work into the ecosystem. If you have a problem, there is likely a plugin to help solve it.

Sometimes custom development is needed, but oftentimes, with a little plugin research time, installation, and tweaking, you can save tremendous time (and cash) by limiting custom code.

Free and Open Nature

“All these advantages,” you think. “Surely there’s a catch!”

Well, friends, here we must reveal the truth.

Just kidding: WordPress is free to download and use.

Every update to the WordPress software, major and minor, is completely free. The vast majority of plugins are free, too, although there is a healthy paid plugin market, offering things like extensions to mega-plugins like WooCommerce.

When you use the Windows operating system, you can’t go digging under the hood for a peek at Microsoft’s code. You just can’t. Rather, it’s like the Coca-Cola secret recipe: Behind the scenes, shrouded in mystery.

WordPress, on the other hand, isn’t a magic trick. It’s ready to bare all. Software Gone Wild.

As open source software, WordPress isn’t just “free” in terms of price; the very code that powers it is free for anyone to view. If you happen to be a programmer with ideas to improve WordPress, you can even join and contribute to teams that develop the project.

Let Us Build Your WordPress Site

WordPress possesses a spirit of easy access, transparency, and community effort around a project so many people use personally and professionally. It empowers website owners whether they are tech savvy or not.

Let us empower you with a new WordPress site. Get in touch.