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Why is WordPress considered one of the top CMS’s?
I use WordPress everyday in my job, here's why I believe it is considered one of the top CMS's on the market!
The first thing to say is yes, it is free! The core WordPress system (which is downloadable via .org version of the site). Making WordPress free, is one of the main reasons why it’s so popular; it helped lowered the barrier to making high-quality professional sites.
It is important to note that only the core WordPress software is free and any plugins and themes that you want, may come with a separate fee.
There are loads of talented developers/ companies out that create plugins to extend the core system. They can range from e-Commerce stores to forms and SEO, that can meet your needs.
Plugins can be free or paid, some offer both, which can be very beneficial when evaluating your options. But normally a free version of the plugin will normally get the job done for you.
Don’t know where to start? The best place to look first is the WordPress Plugin Repository. There are thousands to choose from free or paid. Have a read of which Plugins I use on a day-to-day basis and why I use them.
WordPress started in 2003 as a blogging platform and 18 years on and it’s still going strong. It has also seen it’s fair share of competition in forms of Tumblr, Medium and Blogger. But they were not match for WordPress.
With its simplicity, it’s easy to manage posts, scheduling of posts, having multiple authors or editors. You can easily create an online publishing platform or magazine, without even knowing a single line of code. You can even preview how it would look before you release it to the world.
You don’t just use WordPress to create a blog you can create some of the following with WordPress;
e-Learning Portal: Looking for somewhere to host a portal dedicated to learning online? Whether it’s to host online tutorials or somewhere pupils can share their work. You can build it with WordPress.
Invoicing Manager: Running a small business? You can integrate payment systems, using gateways like; stripe or PayPal and allow your clients to see and pay their invoices.
Job Portals: Running a recruitment agency? You can create a portal to upload jobs and allow prospective candidates apply for roles. You can easily categorise and managing listings in your agency making life easier.
Appointment Scheduling: Run a business where you need to allow clients to book appointments? You can build this in WordPress too. You can easily integrate it with Google, Apple or Outlook calendars. Allowing for a seamless User Experience for your clients that they’ll love.
Whether you are just starting out or you already have a presence online you’ll be able to expand your WordPress website, I’ve worked on many different sized WordPress sites from 1 pagers to complex multi-paged sites that has over (150 pages).
I would always recommend having a digital brand and web agency to do the hard work for you. We can create designs that will work for you and your business. We can help develop pages, content, designs and flexibility into your website. We let you focus on your business and allow you to grow. You can go it alone, using page builders/ themes however you will spend more time working on your website, rather than looking after your clients.
Yes, it is easy. Where I work, we build websites and pages that allows you to add, change or remove content easily without breaking anything. It gives non-developers the freedom to allow what goes on to their site and what doesn’t. We create extensive page builders, options and templates that make it easy for client to choose what they want on their site.
A quick tap into Google can show you all the different types of media formats you can use in WordPress here are the primary types that you can use:
- Images (.jpeg, .png)
- Documents (.pdf, .doc, .pptx)
- Audio and video (.mp3, .mp4, .m4a, .mov, .wmv, and .avi)
You can programme WordPress to accept other formats like .svg or .webp.
WordPress grants you full control of everything relating to your website. Move site files with ease; build and expand your online store; do just about anything you need with WordPress. The majority of WordPress competitors out there aren’t open-source. And although they’ll do an adequate job of hosting your site, there’s a limit to their flexibility.
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