Why use WordPress to build a website

You heard me and other people talk about WordPress, the CMS (content management system) that powers a lot of blogs and small websites these days. It’s free, it’s powerful and it’s easy to use but what are the deeper reasons people use it? I’ll try and explore this topic for you but I warn you, this post is mainly for people just starting their business online.

What is a CMS?

That’s a legitimate question for beginners so let’s see it from a webmaster point of view. A CMS is a software platform (piece of software) that once installed on a website allows you to manage content on that site: publish content, edit it, delete it, move it. A more complex CMS allows for customization of the way content is presented to the user and add functions like comments, social media sharing, user accounts, forum etc. Other functionality can be added via plugins.

What makes wordpress suitable for your website?

Let’s see now the reasons wordpress is the best choice now for building a blog or a content site.

• It’s in constant development and evolves with any new version adding more functionality (see here how wordpress evolved). Also bugs are quickly solved by a dedicated development team
• Everyone uses WordPress so you get support easy because there are a lot of experts in WordPress. A lot of plugins are available to extend its functionality
• Easy to manage content because of the refined interface which allows for mass moderation of comments, bulk edit and such
• Customizable templates which are easy to modify if you know HTML and PHP. Also wordpress core files are left unmodified so upgrades are always easy, especially since automatic update was introduced. Also by using advanced wordpress functions you can make your site look like a magazine with ease.
• A lot of plugins to make your website a shopping site, download center or online publication. Your imagination is the limit here.
• Advanced post editing allows for text formatting and media inserts (pictures, movies, slideshows etc). Most of the media can be edited (basic actions) from the wordpress admin

These I believe are the most important motives to use wordpress or switch to it if you want to build your business online for cheap. If you think I’ve missed something let me know.

WordPress can be downloaded for FREE here