Why WordPress?

Did you know that many of the websites you visit every day are built on WordPress? The platform is now so widespread that experts estimate about 38% of all websites are using this web publishing software. From giant corporations like Sony, the New York Times, and Disney to smaller e-commerce businesses and individuals, WordPress powers them all – and for good reason. 

If you’ve been wondering why there’s so much buzz surrounding this popular platform, we’re here to break it down.

What is WordPress? 

WordPress is a powerful and versatile content management system (CMS) designed to make it easy for anyone to launch and maintain a website. WordPress powers both the backend (where site managers make updates) and the frontend (which viewers see). 

WordPress, developed in 2003, is an open-source system licensed under GPLv2, making the software available to anyone for free. This is an important feature of WordPress because it means anyone can use or modify it – resulting in incredible accessibility for those who aren’t web developers. 

What are some of the main benefits of WordPress? 

The list of advantages in using WordPress is endless, but we’re going to mention some of the main reasons:

• WordPress is free and incredibly easy to use. With WordPress, you don’t need to be a computer programmer with vast HTML coding knowledge to keep your content updated.

• Because this open-source software is so widespread, users continuously make improvements, keeping security tight and making a wide variety of useful updates readily available. Reliability is also a must, and WordPress delivers. 

• WordPress is scalable – meaning it’s easy to create a site that works for you. Although it’s free, you’re not locked into one common theme. With so many themes and features plus thousands of high-quality plug-ins, it’s incredibly easy to build and customize a site that works best for you. 

• WordPress is super SEO-friendly, offering many helpful ways to monitor how well your content is ranking by utilizing plug-ins like Yoast SEO. 

• WordPress offers speedy loading times and reduced bounce rates to keep viewers where you want them: on your site. 

• WordPress is fully responsive right out of the gate, making your site easy to view and navigate on mobile. 

How does WordPress stack up to the competition?

There are indeed other website-building options to choose from, but WordPress stands apart. Here are some comparisons.

WordPress vs. Squarespace + Wix 

Squarespace and Wix are two other popular platforms that offer easy-to-build, attractive websites. WordPress’s main difference between these two is a significant technical detail: WordPress is an open-source platform while Squarespace and Wix are closed. 

Squarespace and Wix provide the content management system, but you need to host through them as well. This makes them closed spaces and gives their developers control over resources and content. WordPress gives the user complete control over their site, including where you can host it.

Another important factor is search engine optimization (SEO). While it’s true that Squarespace and Wix won’t leave you high and dry in this area, the incredible design of WordPress’ Yoast SEO plug-in can help you optimize your website. This is not available with Squarespace and Wix since they are closed spaces. 

Ultimately, WordPress offers the freedom, flexibility, security, and service that other platforms do not. However, there is definitely a learning curve to using this website builder so plan on investing some time before diving in. 

AT J2 Technology Solutions, we’re experts in WordPress. So if you’d rather save the time and outsource your website development, we can build a professional, top-performing site – and, we can host it as well. 

To learn more about all the ways we can make your WordPress website a winner, give us a call today.  We’d love to help set you and your business up for success.