WordPress is an excellent CMS for most types of businesses.
There are many options for building a website and content management systems (CMS) you can use. It can be confusing because there are so many options, such as Joomla, Drupal, Webflow, and sites like Squarespace. Each of these tools is designed to make building a website easier and more accessible, but you need to choose one that suits your needs.
First of all, you should know that WordPress was developed in 2003 and has more than 30% websites worldwideHere are some notable companies using WordPress: Sony Music, Time Magazine, Wired Magazine, Disney, and the list goes on.
WordPress statistics for 2021 are impressive:
- 62% of the top 100 fastest-growing companies in America (Inc. 5000) use WordPress.
- More than 500 new websites are created every day using the free version of WordPress.org.
- Seventy million new blogs appear every month.
- There are currently over 455 million websites using WordPress!
Fact or fiction?
On the topic of which CMS you should use, there are many competing articles and some information that bends the truth a bit, depending on the author. Each author dictates the CMS they use, as I do here—spoof alert, we're WordPress fans. It's always a good idea to check the source to make an informed decision when choosing the right CMS. Some authors will tell you that the CMS they use is the "end all, be all" because they want you to use their CMS, or that they're writing content for a company that wants you to use their CMS product.
You might read that PHP, which WordPress uses, is dying. It isn't dying, nor will it be dying anytime soon. You might also read that coders love a particular CMS because they're better for SEO or because they load faster. This topic can be somewhat subjective. Let's dive into why.
How it is built matters
The way a site is built will determine these factors regardless of the content management system you use. Your most significant limitation isn't knowing what you're doing to mitigate any issues that could make a site slower or have inadequate searchability. That's why it's essential to contact a web design agency or have an experienced in-house resource. One who can optimize a site to load quickly and ensure it's searchable based on the product or service you provide.
Design is king
Our creative agency uses WordPress because it allows us to do what we do best—design. Our builder of choice is Divi by Elegant Themes. Think of a builder as a steering wheel and WordPress as a car's engine. But don't confuse builders with templates. They're two approaches to achieving the same result: building a website.
We use what's called a visual builder so we can design websites from scratch. The visual builder is a sophisticated design tool that allows us to create uniquely branded websites.
If you're just starting out, you can use a template to build your site. A template is more plug-and-play, but it does require some basic WordPress knowledge. Frankly, if you're using a WordPress template, there's no reason to have a Squarespace or Wix site. There's a learning curve for both, but WordPress will give you more options, especially if you want to make your website more sophisticated in the future.
Each CMS I've listed will get the job done and is built on stable platforms. However, we believe WordPress gives us the most flexibility. The visual builder gives our senior designers everything we need to create a nuanced website that's 100% unique to our client's brand. WordPress also offers scalability with all the available extensions without having to write custom code. Imagination is the only road to blogging, so the sky's the limit when using WordPress.
Widgets are great for scalability
Plugins (or widgets) should be used wisely. It's true that too many extensions can slow down a website. However, plugins can also open up a world of possibilities. They can accomplish what would take a coder hundreds of hours to complete with just a click of a button.
Let's say you started a business a year ago and built a basic WordPress website. Your business has grown, and now you need to scale it to provide membership subscriptions, membership management, registration/login, and more.
Well, there is a professionally programmed connector that does this.
Of course, there's a learning curve to setting up any connector because everyone has different needs, but you won't have to pay a coder hundreds of hours to build something from scratch. Any website functionality you can think of has probably already been done. We've used extensions to power e-commerce, sophisticated planners, membership subscriptions, and more.
Only regularly vetted and updated connectors are used. Some connectors are free, but we find that the best connectors are usually paid for.
Responsive on all devices
Most content management systems are cross-platform capable due to the responsive architecture they're built with—it's almost a given these days. Designing for each device is much easier now because many of the themes WordPress supports do a lot of the heavy lifting while you're developing. The platform scales elements to each screen size while you're creating. However, you'll need to modify the design for each device because the landscape is different between desktops and phones. While they won't always be exactly the same, you'll be able to create the same branded experience for each device. Consistency is key!
Server and optimization
Hosting can be one of the biggest issues when it comes to performance. The two biggest options are shared hosting and cloud hosting. There are many attractive offers for shared hosting plans that may sound too good to be true, and they probably are. Don't sacrifice performance for price. Poor hosting can be a major contributor to poor performance. With shared hosting, you'll be taking up a portion of a server populated with many other websites, thus sharing that server's resources.
Cloud hosting is a network of connected virtual and physical cloud servers. The cloud guarantees greater flexibility and scalability for your website. It also means your website won't be bottlenecked as it might be with a cheap shared hosting plan. Cloud hosting will offer better performance, making your site load faster. We use SiteGround's Google Cloud hosting service with built-in caching capabilities. Optimizing your website's speed is crucial for good UX and conversion. Seconds matter, so a slow website will be less likely to convert.
Updates
You'll need to update WordPress regularly to keep everything running smoothly. Many web hosting companies now offer the ability to perform automatic updates as they become available through your C-Panel. Or you can choose to work with a WordPress developer who will manage all your hosting and maintenance needs. Professional agencies ensure everything is optimized and that parameters are continually tweaked to improve your website's performance and health. Maintaining a WordPress website is easy if you just set a time to do it.
Keep it safe
First, I'd start by choosing a reputable hosting company that offers some form of two-factor authentication. We host several sites for our clients and have never been hacked. For the most part, WordPress is secure on its own.
Plugins can create vulnerabilities if they're poorly coded or not updated regularly. As mentioned above, this is why we generally only use payment gateways from well-known and trusted organizations. There are several security solutions for WordPress. One commonly used is WordFence. They've been in the industry for a long time and have a proven track record. The other option is a CDN-based security tool like Securi. Not only do you get security, but you'll also get a speed boost because it runs on a CDN network.
Search engine optimization
Implementing basic SEO on a new WordPress website couldn't be easier with the right extension. You'll need to learn some basics, such as navigating the WordPress dashboard, but from there, most extensions will walk you through the process. We used Rank Math because it offers everything we need for basic SEO implementation and how you want your website to appear in search with structured data, including tools like title, description, keyword placement, tagging, metadata, and more.
Good SEO plugins come with internal link suggestions, which helps Google contextualize what you do. SEO plugins will set the foundation for you, but there's another level that can be done by a specialized Search Engine Optimization agency. SEO is a long game unless you use paid advertising to get to the top of the organic search page.
Conclusion
WordPress is an excellent CMS for building your website. It allows for a level of creativity limited only by your own imagination. You can scale your website as your business grows. You'll never have any trouble finding someone to help you with WordPress because it powers over 30% of the world's websites. There's no shortage of third-party developers creating new technologies specifically for WordPress—it has its own ecosystem. We've been using WordPress along with Divi Visual Builder for the past six years. We're impressed each year by the improvements that allow us to create more sophisticated designs with an ever-expanding list of capabilities.
If you need a professional web design agency to help you get started with your new website, don't hesitate to contact us.
