3 Reasons Why You Should Use…

WordPress Edition

The question of, “Why WordPress?” is asked by tons of new and old developers of all different skill levels and experience. Chances are you have done some research about WordPress or even heard about it from a coworker or friend.

So what is WordPress?

WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP[4] and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database.

The best analogy to better explain this is “WordPress is a factory that makes webpages”

I am going to share with you some of the benefits of using WordPress! Hopefully, this will give you a clearer understanding as to why it is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world! WordPress is literally Kong!

What kinds of sites can you make?

Because WordPress powers both the frontend and backend of the website, you can use the CMS to limitlessly generate websites of all kinds.

Here are a few examples:

• E-commerce website — An e-commerce website allows you to sell goods or services online and collect payment via an online payment system. You can download and install a WordPress e-commerce plugin to extend the default functionality of WordPress so you can have an online store on your website.
• Blog — A blog is a special type of website devoted to sharing thoughts, photos, reviews, tutorials, recipes and so much more. Blogs usually display the most recently published content first.
• Forum website — A forum website can be a helpful place for users to ask questions or share advice. Believe it or not, many forum websites run on WordPress.
• Business website — Many businesses will benefit from having an online presence in the form of their own website. If your business needs a website for customers to learn about your company and what you have to offer, WordPress is an excellent option. Customers can contact you, ask for a quote, schedule an appointment, and much more.
• Membership website — A membership website allows you to put content behind a paywall or an account login. To access pages or posts, users must login or pay for the content. WordPress can also handle membership websites with additional plugins.
• Portfolio website — Show off your artwork, design skills, and more with a portfolio website built on WordPress.
• Event website — Hosting an event? WordPress makes it easy for you to share your event details and sell tickets.
• E-learning website — Students can take online courses, track their progress, download resources, and much more from an e-learning website. With a special kind of plugin called a WordPress LMS plugin, you can offer online courses from a WordPress website.

Open Source & Free

WordPress is 100% free! You can use both Wordpress.org or Wordpress.com. Essentially Wordpress.org is great for developers who want to host the website themselves and have options for more advanced plugins and options. Wordpress.com will hold your hand through the development & setup processes a bit more. But overall WordPress is free for everyone!

WordPress uses a theme to control the actual design of the website. A WordPress theme is a tool to change the layout and design of your website. Themes customize the appearance of your site, including the layout, typography, color, and other design elements.

These can be paid but you can find tons of them for free.

Large Community

Because WordPress is such a successful open-source software the userbase isn’t limited by pricing, premium customer support, or even skill level! This is why the community is so large, and why you can find tons of support online.

With the price of entry to gaining access to WordPress being nonexistent, users have made tons of blogs, forums, online courses, seminars, webinars, and books, all outlining different aspects of the WordPress CMS. And at the end of the day, you can still pay extra money for dedicated support or work through the WordPress forums.

There is a remarkable number of resources for learning about WordPress or having quick development questions answered. Just for these 3 reasons alone, WordPress is Kong.

But believe me, there is so much more!