What Is WordPress? And What are the Benefits?

What are the benefits of WordPress - What is WordPress - The CAG

What is WordPress? And What
Are the Benefits?

What are the benefits of WordPress - What is WordPress - The CAG

What is WordPress? And What
Are the Benefits?

What is WordPress? And What Are the Benefits?

Planning to start a new website or migrating one? Chances are your web developer has already suggested WordPress. It is no wonder considering the popularity of the platform. So what are the benefits of WordPress that make it stand out from other platforms? Our web development professionals from Perth list them out for you.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a free, open-source CMS web development platform used by many websites on the internet. It is one of the most popular CMS platforms used by diverse businesses around the world. Here are some statistic values that will speak up for its popularity.

Based on 2021 statistics, WordPress is used by 39.6% of the internet, which is a huge hike compared to last year’s 35 %. If you exclusively take into accountCMS-built sites, 64.1% of them are WordPress. Also, 28% of all e-commerce are powered by WordPress. Here are some more interesting statistics about superstar WordPress

  • Out of the 10,000 most popular websites in the world, 34% of them use WordPress.
  • Blogs in WordPress are written in more than 120 languages.
  • The number of people who visit WordPress sites each month is over 400 million.
  • On average, around 281 new WooCommerce and about 661 WordPress sites emerge each day.

What are the types of websites you can create with WordPress?

WordPress began as a tool to create a blog. However, as we can see now, it has evolved to become an excellent platform for creating a variety of websites. With numerous plugins and themes available in WordPress, now you can design almost any kind of website, including:

  • Personal or Blog Websites
  • Business Websites
  • Job Boards
  • Restaurant Websites
  • Social Media Websites
  • Charity Websites
  • Portfolio Websites
  • Podcasting Websites
  • Government Websites
  • E-Commerce Websites
  • News Websites
  • Questions and Answers Websites
  • Knowledgebase / Wiki Websites

Difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com

WordPress.org is the WordPress self-hosted version. It is free, open-source WordPress software that allows you to create customisable websites. WordPress.com is the paid version of WordPress that is powered by the WordPress.org software. It is simple but has lesser flexibility when compared to the former one.

So which should you choose for building your website?

If you are seeking a platform that gives you complete control over customising, then go for WordPress.org. This also means you will need to purchase and set up your domain, edit codes, install plugins and theme, buy SSL certificates and manage website security.

If you are looking for a simple, comprehensive platform that will do most of the work for you, then WordPress.com is excellent for you. It will manage your server, and you don’t need to pay for hosting and domain. But if you want to customise your website, then you will need to get an expensive plan.

What are the benefits of WordPress?

Flexibility

Flexibility is one of the best benefits of WordPress. The platform is highly flexible, and it can be perfect for a full-service eCommerce site or a portfolio showcase or blogging, and more. In addition, the platform allows developers to mould a website according to changing trends and user needs.

Plugins and themes

WordPress consists of around 58,000+ plugins and 8,000+ themes to choose from and create the perfect website for a business of any size. This library of plugins can be easily installed and provides your website with additional functionality according to your requirement.

E.g., for SEO optimisation, you can install the Yoast SEO plugin, and for sharing something on social media, you can install Social Snap.

Minimal coding

As WordPress is a CMS platform, it is incorporated with many user-friendly tools that allow you to use a minimal amount of coding. Content management, inserting media and many other functions can be efficiently executed with some knowledge of web development.

Mobile responsive

Mobile responsive - The CAG

Easy to use

Users only need a domain name and a hosting account for installing and running WordPress. WordPress has an intuitive interface making it user friendly. It consists of an inbuilt dashboard where you can add content or make edits to pages and much more. 

SEO

Structure 

The structure of WordPress inherently supports SEO. It loads faster and allows XML sitemap creations that will inform search engines of the structure of your web pages and how they need to be crawled. This helps in improving organic traffic considerably.

Built-in blog

We already mentioned above that WordPress is a CMS software; it has a specialised feature to make content management more effortless. One of the best features is the built-in blog which allows users to add blogs to their website easily. This feature makes it easier to add blogs for even websites unrelated to blogging.

Community support

Since WordPress is free and open-source, there is a lot of support from communities. They ensure the platform is safe, secure and functioning. They help you clear your queries and help with solutions if you get into any troubles. This extensive community support local WordPress user groups to function properly and grow.

Cost-effective

Another one of the benefits of WordPress includes its cost-effectiveness. The overall expense for design, development etc., is less expensive than other platforms. It’s easy to understand, manage and update your website with minimum knowledge in coding. However, we recommend using professional web development services if you need a complex site, custom elements, secured and SEO optimised site.

Jargon Buster

E-commerce – Electronic commerce – Online Buying or selling of products and the transactions involved in executing these processes.
CMSContent Management System – Software designed to manage the creation and modification of digital content. E.g. WordPress, Drupal etc.
Sitemap – An XML file that displays URLs’ list that you want to be indexed by search engines.
Plugin – a software add-on installed to a host program to add additional functions while not altering the host program itself.
SEO Search Engine Optimisation – a set of tactics to boost your website traffic quality and quantity via organic search results.
SSL CertificateSecure Socket Layer Certificate is a data file that allows encrypted communication between a web browser and a web server.

David Brown | Blog author | Computing Australia

David Brown

David is the Development Services Manager for The Computing Australia Group and he manages all programming projects. DB is a keen Ruby on Rails developer who is a triple threat – he can code, listen to heavy metal and consume enormous volumes of caffeine simultaneously! Hit David up if you want to discuss your next app concept or to take a deep dive in The Computing Australia Group coding approach.

David Brown | Blog author | Computing Australia

David Brown

David is the Development Services Manager for The Computing Australia Group and he manages all programming projects. DB is a keen Ruby on Rails developer who is a triple threat – he can code, listen to heavy metal and consume enormous volumes of caffeine simultaneously! Hit David up if you want to discuss your next app concept or to take a deep dive in The Computing Australia Group coding approach.