Ok, so I’m building a website….why should I use WordPress?
WordPress is the leading Content Management System (CMS) in use today. What’s a CMS you ask? Simply put, it is just a way to organise your information.
About 10 years ago, the increasing complexity of programming languages like PHP, Java, Flash and others made it increasingly difficult for the average netizen to produce and manage his or her own website. Enter the Content Management System. Without delving into the technical aspects of how it all works, CMS’s like Wordpress provide an easy way for people with little to no web building experience to create first rate websites. CMS’s are open-source, web based software (in other words you don’t have to pay for them and they are installed on web servers as opposed to your own computer).
Initially created as a blogging platform, WordPress has far outgrown its origins and is now the predominant CMS available today. There are other CMS’s out there, such as Drupal and Joomla, and other WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) contenders such as WIX, but none even come close to WordPress in terms of popularity, ease-of-use and market share.
Google Trends measures interest in various search phrases and a recent check revealed the following comparison:
Ok, so it’s popular, but is it right for me?
Although WordPress isn’t right for everyone, I find it to be the best solution for almost all of my clients. It blends ease of use with a plentiful supply of powerful capabilities. WordPress is well equipped to handle anything from a small personal website to a full featured website for small to medium sized businesses. Best of all, even if the thought of developing a website is too daunting for you, once the site has been created, adding, updating and editing content is easily achievable for anybody with basic computing skills (e.g. word processing, copying & pasting, etc).
While I would never encourage you to blindly follow the masses, there is a good reason why 100’s of millions of websites are built on WordPress, and you can feel confident that you will be in good company.
