As WordPress celebrates its 20th birthday we wanted to show what makes the platform so popular and why it powers over 43% of the top websites in the world.
Why is WordPress so popular?
When you think of software on your computer, you generally think of paying a single or monthly fee to gain access to all the features and benefits of that software. WordPress is different because it is ‘open-source’ software, meaning that you do not have to pay to use it. As well as this benefit, WordPress also offers access to a huge online community of users and developers. With developers all over the world, WordPress is constantly being improved and updated to add new features and fix potential security issues.
In addition to this, WordPress has become a standard with website developers and website hosts as there is no cost to use the platform for commercial purposes. In the last few years hosting companies have even started to offer optimised WordPress hosting to make the creation of a new website even easier.
Not all website platforms are built the same – WordPress is built by website designers
One of the major selling points of WordPress is the ability to create unique designs and functionality while still using the standard WordPress platform. This allows website designers to create websites with stunning designs and features but still have the same admin interface for their customers to use.
WordPress uses ‘themes’ to separate design from content. With a well-designed theme, your website can change its appearance with ease. Compared to the old methods of creating websites where every design choice had to be ‘coded’ into each website page, the theme system is a massive step forward.
Plugins have also been a game changer for WordPress. In essence, each plugin gives you a different function. If a theme is the design of a website, then the plugins are the features available to your website visitors.
Plugins range from simple features such as social media icons to complex features such as online stores or private membership areas.
Simple plugins can be free but professional plugins require support and regular updates, so their creators charge annual fees to use them. In the old days, we used to make bespoke websites coded to perform a particular task. The plugin is a much better solution. It means you get an instant result (no waiting weeks for the coding to be done) and you know it will work because it has been proven and tested by hundreds of users.
Want a retail website? WordPress has you covered
WordPress has many options for selling items using plugins, but the most popular plugin for this is Woocommerce.
This plugin has become so popular that the creators of WordPress purchased it in 2015. Since then the plugin has become the industry standard for selling products and services representing 28% of all online stores in 2022.
Woocommerce is updated every three months, adding new features and patching any major security vulnerabilities. As well as this the development team publishes security patches in between these updates to ensure maximum security.
With the popularity and ease of use of Woocommerce, WordPress has become one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in the world.
WordPress – Flexibility and Usability
With the huge developer community creating themes and plugins the WordPress platform offers incredible flexibility. From blogs for influencers to fully operational e-commerce super stores, there really is no limit to what WordPress is capable of!
When a website is finished the website owner can manage the content themselves.
With a simple admin interface, a site owner can upload photos, text and create new pages with minimal technical skill. In an effort to improve the editing experience for users, WordPress is currently working through a number of ‘phases’ to implement its new editor called Gutenberg.
This new editor allows sites owners to create even more engaging content, without the need to learn web design or worry about optimising content for faster loading speeds.
With WordPress’s legendary flexibility and its current focus on improving usability, we can see why it is the most popular CMS (content management system) available on the market in 2023.
With an ever-growing list of new websites being built with WordPress, the potential is limitless.
Using WordPress for your website – How can we help?
As website designers based in Exeter, we specialise in developing websites using the WordPress platform.
Our experienced development team would love to discuss building you a new business website, with all of the benefits discussed in this article.
If you already have a WordPress website and need training we would be delighted to help.
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