WordPress is a popular and powerful content management system (CMS). It powers more than 25% of the world’s websites and is constantly being improved upon. So why should you choose it over other CMS platforms such as Drupal or Joomla, or DIY services such as Wix or Weebly? Here are the top 15 reasons to choose WordPress for your website.
- Free. WordPress is free! Even a ton of plugins (add-ons that extend its functionality) are free.
- Easy to use. Without any technical knowledge, you can add or edit your content (even from your phone). So you will save money by not having to pay a developer to make edits to your site. If you’ve ever used Microsoft Word, you will find the formatting toolbar to be familiar.
- Ownership. You own your site, so you can move it to another host if you please. It’s not held hostage.
- Flexibility. Due to its use of themes, you can change the look of your site by changing themes, leaving your content intact. Only the cosmetics change. However, some themes are better quality than others in terms of code and ease of use. So choose a theme based on the reviews, number of downloads, compatibility with your version of WordPress and how it will suit your needs.
- Familiarity. Because WordPress consultants are already familiar with the WordPress core structure, when you need a new or custom design or more functionality, they will know how and where to look under the hood to assess the current site as well as how and where to make design or functionality changes.
- Blog ready. WordPress has the ability to add a blog. A blog is a great way to easily generate new content to engage and interact with your readers. It’s also a good way to attract search engines, which means you can reach new people in your audience.
- Scheduling. You can schedule your content to be published on any date and time you specify. So write it whenever you like and schedule it to be published later.
- Search engine friendly. The structure of WordPress makes it SEO friendlier than most of its competitors. Even Matt Cutts from Google says this. This means your site pages have much better chances of ranking well in search results. With the addition of an SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO, you can do even more to achieve this.
- Mobile friendly. Choosing a responsive theme means it is mobile friendly. When a site is mobile friendly, it looks good on desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Because so many website visitors are using mobile devices, if your site doesn’t work well on their device, they will leave your site—or stay and be frustrated, being forced to pinch and pan to get around.
- Functionality. It grows with your needs. Developers of free and paid plugins are constantly creating new functionality—e-commerce, online payments, live chat, membership service, etc.—that can be added to your site at any time.
- Integration. WordPress integrates with many platforms. If you need to accept online payments or add a MailChimp signup, for example, it can be done.
- Accessible by multiple users. You can add users, who then log in with their own account. You can give users different capabilities, limiting access if needed:
- Super Admin can access the site network administration features and all other features.
- Administrator can access all the administration features within a single site.
- Editor can publish and manage posts, including those of other users.
- Author can publish and manage their own posts.
- Contributor can write and manage their own posts but cannot publish them.
- Subscriber can only manage their profile.
- Constantly improving. WordPress is constantly being updated in terms of development and security, so it’s always being improved upon.
- Support. There is an abundance of support available online if you choose the DIY route.
- Multilingual. WordPress has support for multiple languages.
