If you're wondering, "Why use WordPress?", then you are reading the right article.
Therefore, I'd be happy to break down the benefits for you, so you can see why it's the most widely used CMS and website building software in existence. WordPress can do almost everything.
WordPress has been around since 2003, and today it powers over 40% of the world's websites. In recent years, WordPress has also begun to eat away at some of the larger CMS platforms' market share.
For example, according to StatCounter, WordPress now accounts for about 18.2% of the total web traffic. This makes WordPress one of the most popular content management systems out there—and one that's easy to use.
If you're looking for a simple way to build a website without having to learn how to code, WordPress is probably the best option.
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What is WordPress?
WordPress is an open-source platform for ding your blog or website. The content marketing system (CMS) was originally designed as a blogging tool, but it can be used for just about any purpose imaginable.
You don't need coding skills to create a basic site with WordPress; all you have to do is install the software on your computer and then add pages, posts, images, videos, etc. to your site.
Why Is WordPress So Popular?
1. WordPress is Free as in Freedom
WordPress is open-source software. You're free to download, install and use it for your purposes. You can use it to create any kind of website. To learn more, see our 'What is WordPress' article.
You don't need to pay for WordPress itself, but you do need to purchase a domain name and web host to install it.
A domain name is an online address for your website. This is what your visitors type into their browsers' address bars when they visit your website (for example, www.yoursite.com).
A web host is like your website's home where all your website files live.
We recommend Bluehost for both hosting and your domain names. They are one of the largest web hosts in the world and an official recommendation for WordPress hosting providers.
They are also offering Global Tech Stack users a discount on web hosting and a free domain in the first year. Basically, you can get started for $2.95 per month.
Do you need more hosting recommendations? Check out our list of the best WordPress hosting services.
Premium WP Hosting
Kinsta
Kinsta focuses on premium Managed WordPress hosting powered by google cloud platform.
2. WordPress Is Easy to Use
Despite being the most flexible and powerful platform, WordPress is quite easy to use for beginners.
It comes with a simple dashboard with different menu options listed in the sidebar. You can easily create posts and pages, customize your website design, add navigation menus, and more.
WordPress makes it easy to create a website from scratch without any technical difficulties.
If you would like to keep your website updated, you have nothing to worry about.
It's easy to update your WordPress site with just a few clicks. The same thing goes for WordPress plugins and the themes they're built into.
There are excellent WordPress backup plugins available for free. They allow you to schedule automatic backups and store them remotely, like on Google Drive or Dropbox.
3. WordPress Is Completely Customizable
Unlike Wix and SquareSpace, WordPress gives you complete control over your site and site files, allowing you to customize everything from theme selection to page layout.
Most people who use WordPress are neither professional web designers nor programmers. Most people who use WordPress don’t know anything about web design.
If you're not tech savvy, WordPress is the perfect tool for you because there are thousands of themes available for free. There is a perfect theme for almost any kind of website, whether it's a personal blog, a business site, or an e-commerce site.
WordPress themes are easy to customize because they usually include an options panel which allows you to make changes to the color scheme, add your logo, change the background, create beautiful sliders, and customize it to your specific needs.
For a smooth and effective website building process, we recommend Kinsta WP hosting.
You can also add extra features to your WordPress site by installing plugins. Plugins are like applications that you can use to enhance your website by adding advanced features like analytics, contacts forms, membership areas, etc.
There are thousands of free and paid plugins available for you to choose from. To learn more, check out our article on what are WordPress plugins and how they work.
Some WordPress plugins can add extra functionality, but they can also let you transform your website to become something else entirely.
Choosing between thousands of WordPress plugins can be overwhelming, however, there are some essential WordPress plugins that we recommend for every site:
- A contact form plugin for your website so that your visitors can easily contact you
- Analytics plugin so you know how many people are visiting your site.
- An SEO plugin so you can get better search engine results from Google.
After choosing which plugins you want to use, you'll then need to decide which ones you want to use for each type of website.
4. WordPress Is SEO Friendly
The best website will not be successful if it does not receive any traffic or visitors.
Fortunately, WordPress was designed with search engine traffic in mind.
WordPress is written using clean, well-written code with semantic markup. This means that Google and others like it like WordPress.
This is why WordPress websites tend to rank better than others in search engines.
To improve your website's search engine ranking, we recommend using a WordPress Search Engine Optimization plugin.
Our top recommended SEO plugin is AIOSEO (All in One SEO), which is trusted by over 3 million websites. It's easy to learn, but also extremely powerful.
You can check out our guide on how to set AIOSEO up properly on your WordPress site.
5. WordPress Is Safe and Secure
Another reason why WordPress is such a great platform for web developers is its security.
WordPress has been around for years now and has proven itself as one of the most secure platforms for creating websites.
It's built with security in mind, meaning that hackers have less access to your data.
You can always do regular security updates on your plugins to keep them fresh and to date. However, you can always do a lot to make sure that your website is even more secure from hackers and malware.
We recommend Sucuri to protect our site from common threats like brute force attacks and malware, among others. You can install their security plugin, SucuriScanner, to ensure your site is secure.
6. WordPress Is Here to Stay
There are many different website builders, they come can go. Even the largest websites can disappear. On the other hand, open-source software is much more likely to last for a very long time than closed-source software.
That's because as an open source project, it's not maintained solely by one person or company. Even if WordPress disappears (or gets shut down), anyone can simply whip up its source code and launch it under a new name within a few minutes..
One of the lesser-known facts about WordPress is that there isn't a CEO. The name WordPress is owned by the WordPress Foundation, an independent non-profit organization that ensures that WordPress continues to grow and develop.
There is a strong and vibrant online community of thousands of users and developers behind WordPress. All of them ensure that WordPress remains here to stay for the foreseeable future.
WordPress benefits millions of people around the world. It is available in over 50 languages and powers thousands of multilingual websites.
As a WordPress beginner who wants to learn from others, you'll be welcomed into the WordPress community and you'll find the community to be welcoming and eager to help you.
Unbeatable WordPress Hosting
DreamHost
Build your site confidently with design tools that simplify WordPress.
7. Your Content Is Mobile-Ready
You've probably heard many times that your website needs to be mobile-friendly, and I'm going to repeat it here because it's so true. Mobile devices account for more than half of all web browsing worldwide and almost 40% of US-based web browsing.
All types of content (images, videos, text) on your website need to be fast loading and display well on mobile phones. WordPress helps you build a responsive website so that you can deliver a great user experience to your visitors.
Mobile-optimized WordPress themes ensure that your content looks right on smartphones and tablets, and managed WordPress hosts deliver the fast load times that users (and Google) demand. Together, these WordPress plugins and tools use your content to create a better mobile experience for your smartphone-using site visitors.
Our Hosting Top WordPress picks
Premium WP Hosting
Kinsta
Kinsta focuses on premium Managed WordPress hosting powered by google cloud platform.
Managed Cloud Hosting
Cloudways
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform partnering with GCP, AWS, Vultur, Linode & DO.
Cheapest Hosting
Hostinger
Hostinger offers one of the most affordable hosting starting at $1.99/month
Business and Ecommerce
WP Engine
WP Engine offers great WordPress hosting optimized for Business and Ecommerce.
Find what you need to grow better