Why WordPress is one of the most used CMS in the industry

At Strathcom, we often talk about our  custom-built WordPress platform. But what exactly is WordPress and why does using it matter?

Storytime

First, let’s answer the question: “What is WordPress?” WordPress is a content management system built on PHP and MySQL. It originally started out as a blogging software to replace a discontinued platform. It was built by two developers: Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. In 2003, they launched the new WordPress platform that included a new templates and admin interface.

Because WordPress started out as a replacement for a blogging platform, it was also used heavily as a blogging system. As time went on, more features were introduced to WordPress such as: plugins, an improved admin user interface and theme systems. Slowly, WordPress started transforming from a blogging software into an open source, customizable content management system.

Benefits, benefits, benefits

On June 17, 2010 WordPress 3.0 was released which evolved the platform into a powerful open source CMS with:

• Custom post types
• Custom taxonomies
• Custom backgrounds
• Custom headers
• Theme managers
• API integrations
• Multi-site networks

These are few of the great benefits of using WordPress today! Because WordPress is a free open source CMS, it has created a large community of developers who voluntarily contribute to the growth of the platform. This includes bug fixes, plugins, theme building, API integrations, and more. The great thing about this is ANYONE can contribute (not just developers), by answering support questions or creating documentation.

Ease of use

WordPress is also very easy to use! There are lots of websites that offer pre-made WordPress sites with themes that have easy-to-use page builders. All you need to do is purchase a domain and you can have a site set up really fast! Most people who use WordPress are building sites without any knowledge of programming or designing websites. Furthermore, due to its super flexible nature, WordPress can be built into any type of site: blog, portfolio, Ecommerce….

A WordPress site can evolve quickly with the correct theme and right plugins. Plugins and themes (free or premium) help produce semantic markup which is very attractive to search engines. WordPress out of the box is very SEO friendly, and with the benefits of 1000s of free plugins at your disposal, you can increase SEO performance with a free or premium set plugin.

WordPress was created with lots of security so it is considered safe to run a site on the platform. But sometimes you want to take extra security measures.There are many of security plugins you can download to increase security.

WordPress is continuously evolving and will continue to do so. It is one of the most used platforms in the industry for the main reasons stated above. The more users WordPress has, the more of an impact it will create in the industry as one of the strongest CMS platforms. So, it is safe to assume that it will continue to be one of the most popular CMS platforms and will also continue to engage users to create great websites!