What is WordPress? What are the pros and cons of WordPress? Is it just an affordable and simple website-building platform, as many people still mistakenly believe? Let's delve into WordPress in more detail, its pros and cons, and the benefits this website software brings to users.
What is WordPress?
What is a WordPress website? WordPress is one of the most familiar website software today. It is originally an Open Source Software, also known as open-source software, introduced in 2003. The two authors, Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg, are the ones who created WordPress. Currently, the company that owns and develops WordPress is Automattic. WordPress uses the MySQL database management system and is programmed using the PHP programming language. At present, PHP is the most commonly used programming language for websites.
With its user-friendly interface, numerous useful features, and ease of use, WordPress has gained the favour of many users worldwide. People use WordPress to create personal blogs, build websites for business purposes, and promote services. Being open-source software developed in PHP, WordPress can be easily expanded with many useful features. As more people use it, WordPress continues to evolve and improve beyond its initial stages.
As of the present moment, even though there have been many new content management systems emerging, WordPress is still the top choice of the majority of users. With this platform, you can easily build various types of websites to serve personal goals. For example, creating news websites, ecommerce sites, blogs, and more.
Even when it comes to creating highly complex websites for business purposes, people still use WordPress. Many real estate websites, hotel booking platforms, tour agencies, car rental services, and others have been developed using WordPress. In summary, websites of various sizes, both small and medium, can be easily implemented on the WordPress platform.
Pros and Cons of WordPress
Let's go over the advantages and disadvantages to get a better understanding of this web platform.
Advantages:
- User-Friendly: You don't need extensive programming knowledge to use WordPress because it's easy to understand, simple, and easy to operate.
- Easy to Manage: WordPress has a relatively easy-to-use management system. Important sections like settings, posts, and themes are logical and organized for users.
- SEO Optimization: This platform helps with faster and easier SEO ranking and integration into default search engines.
- Support for 52 languages: This platform offers support for languages - prioritize security and customer information protection: WordPress has a vast array of themes and numerous pre-designed layouts that allow users to create various types of websites.
- Cost Savings: Users can design their websites without spending money thanks to the availability of free themes.
- Large User Community: If you encounter any difficulties during use, you can find solutions in the various WordPress user communities on the Internet.
Disadvantages:
- Difficult plugin and template installation: This process can be relatively complex and may lead to conflicts if not installed correctly.
- Suitable for small and medium-sized businesses: When used to handle large database sizes, WordPress can result in low performance. Therefore, WordPress is only suitable for small and medium-sized businesses and is not suitable for businesses with large server capacities.
Why is WordPress Popular?
One of the Major CMS Platforms Today
Once you understand what WordPress is, you'll realize that it's one of the major content management system (CMS) platforms today. Among the top three website-building platforms in the world, WordPress holds the first place due to its widespread usage. It is followed by Joomla and Drupal.
Around 27-29% of designed websites globally use WordPress, and this number continues to grow every day. It's not just a blogging platform; it's an effective content management system.
WordPress boasts a long history
When it first appeared in 2003, WordPress was primarily used by bloggers to write their blogs. After 18 years of existence, the WordPress platform has seen substantial development. Both inexperienced programmers and businesses have shown interest in WordPress. Despite the emergence and competition from various new CMS systems, WordPress's position has remained stable. According to statistics, approximately 500 new websites are created using WordPress every day.
Open-source CMS
WordPress is an open-source content management system, that allows users to self-manage, change themes, and customize as per their needs. With WordPress, you don't need to rely on any external services or entities; you can easily tailor it to your requirements. To run a smooth website, all you need to do is register a domain and hosting.
Search Engine Friendly, Good for SEO
One of the significant advantages of WordPress is its development for SEO. This platform offers numerous plugins and tools to optimize content for search engines.
Moreover, it's easy to create an attractive website that's search engine-friendly when using WordPress. After completing the website, you can proceed with marketing to improve your SEO rankings. If you need to create a CMS from scratch, it's more time-efficient to design a website and perform SEO using WordPress.
Variety of Themes and Plugins
Despite the emergence of various advanced platforms, WordPress maintains its strong position due to its diverse collection of plugins and themes. To add necessary features to a website, users can install multiple plugins.
Nowadays, the plugin library is growing due to the increasing number of WordPress users. In this library, you can easily find plugins that suit your purposes, and most of them are free, helping you save costs.
Large and Supportive Community
When using other website platforms, you may have to contact the provider for assistance when facing issues. However, with WordPress being widely popular globally, users can receive support from the user community at any time. Just a quick Google search can provide you with answers and solutions.
You don't need to know what WordPress programming is to use it, thanks to the guidance and shared experiences within the community.
Good Security
You can use WordPress with peace of mind because it is the largest platform in the world. Therefore, protecting your content from spam attacks is always a developer's goal.
Easy Editing and Customization
You don't need to be a web or programming expert to easily customize and make your interface beautiful, appealing, and eye-catching. With a well-designed theme and some basic techniques, you can easily make modifications. When you find it too challenging, you can seek answers on the internet. WordPress powers about 60% of the entire web and can be easily set up with any hosting.
Supports Multiple Languages
As of the current moment, WordPress has been translated into many languages and supports multiple languages for users worldwide. With each plugin or theme, users can easily switch to a suitable language for easy use.
Differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
WordPress.org
- Users need to purchase hosting, which costs around $3.49 per month, and a domain for $10 per year.
- It allows easy uploading of free, premium, and custom themes. Users can customize website themes as desired.
- Users are responsible for backing up, updating, spam prevention, and optimizing their websites. If you lack experience, you can hire professionals to handle this.
WordPress.com
- WordPress.com is free but comes with limitations, including 3GB storage and a subdomain of .wordpress.com.
- It does not allow users to upload or use custom themes. Code customization requires a $30 per year plan.
- WordPress.com takes care of backups, updates, website optimization, and more. Users can focus on using the platform without worrying about maintenance.
- Plugin usage is not allowed on WordPress.com, and certain features are restricted.
- You can place affiliate links, advertising banners, etc., to earn money from your website. However, when your site reaches 25,000 views per month, you need to apply for permission to place banners.
Common Misconceptions about WordPress
WordPress is only for basic websites
One of the most common misconceptions about WordPress is that it's only for "cheap" websites. This belief often stems from the fact that many people build websites using WordPress with low costs.
However, it's important to understand that WordPress is not the product of a small group of people. It has been developed and grown by a large global community. Businesses of all sizes, from small to large, use WordPress.
Even companies like MTV News and TechCrunch choose WordPress because it offers a powerful open-source back-end, flexible front-end design, and lower costs.
WordPress is Slow
All websites can experience slowness, not just WordPress. Why does this happen? Weak internet connections, slow hosting, and websites not being optimized for themes and plugins properly can contribute to slow website performance.
WordPress is Only for Non-Programmers
There's a common misconception that WordPress is only for inexperienced individuals or beginners in web usage. However, in reality, even programmers, large businesses, or corporations use WordPress. Therefore, if you don't know what web design in WordPress is, you can still confidently use it.
If you're just starting to use the web, you won't need to invest time and effort in learning web design or programming skills. And if you're a large business or a professional developer, WordPress offers you additional features to build an excellent website.
Nowadays, WordPress has steadily established its importance in the market among many other website-building platforms. If you're looking for a user-friendly, easy-to-use, and easy-to-develop-and-upgrade website platform, then WordPress is a highly recommended choice to consider.
