What is WordPress?
Whether or not you’ve heard of WordPress, you’ve definitely seen it. WordPress is the largest content management system (CMS) available for the Web today. WordPress drives an estimated 28% of all websites and as of 2021, has a nearly 64.8% of the market share for content management systems.
Released in 2003 by Automattic, WordPress was originally designed as blogging software. Since its debut, however, it’s undergone some radical development that has turned it into the preferred platform for web publishing. It certainly does more than blogging these days. Its growth is one reason you should consider converting to a WordPress website if you haven’t already done so.
5 Reasons To Consider A WordPress Website
- It’s free. Free?! WordPress is an open-source content management system, which gives it a few advantages. Downloading and installing it costs absolutely nothing. Nada. You can install WordPress and have it running in just a few minutes. It also means that you don’t have to pay ongoing licensing costs to run your website. “Free” also means that users are free to modify the source code to meet their specific needs.
- It’s actively developed. The term “open-source” conjures up visions of volunteer developers working on advancements and fixes in their spare time. Not true. Automattic employs full-time developers who work with hundreds of other open-source developers around the world. Automattic organizes and strictly controls the WordPress development process. Each enhancement is planned, reviewed, and tested by the WordPress development community before it’s released.
- It’s more secure. Automattic, which develops WordPress, employs more than two dozen full-time software security experts whose sole focus is eliminating vulnerabilities from the WordPress product. In addition, the “open” part of open-source means that anyone can look at the code that underlies a WordPress website. Far from being dangerous, open-source code puts hackers at a disadvantage because everyone – including honest and engaged developers – can spot and fix flaws quickly. Further, the document security flaws well and broadcast their discovery to the user community.
- It’s scalable for sites of any size. If you’re worried about scalability, you should know that CNN and the New York Times use WordPress on their public-facing websites.
- WordPress is portable. Many website designers use (and prefer) WordPress over any other website platform. The basic WordPress installation gives a designer a mechanically sound place to start. Most designers who specialize in WordPress installations create or modify WordPress templates to give a website its unique look and feel. In addition, they customize the function of a WordPress installation to meet the precise needs of the site operator and site visitors. The good part about WordPress is that you can move an installation easily from host to host. Because the product is well understood, you can also find experienced WordPress developers and designers quickly.
If you’d like more information about WordPress websites, or how you can migrate your website to the WordPress platform, please contact us at (509) 792-3283 or fill out a contact request form. We’ll be happy to show you how you can put WordPress to work for your business.