There are a lot of tools you can use to create to a website. Whether you’re looking to start up a website for a blog or your company needs a new website, there are a lot of options. Some of the most popular tools are Wix, Squarespace, Weebly and WordPress. It’s good to do some research on these platforms before deciding which to use for your website. WordPress has been greatly improving over the years and I will explain why choosing them can make your website successful.

First launching in 2003, WordPress has become one of the most popular Content Management Systems (CMS) in the world. WordPress has over 74 million sites now and is continuing to gain interest. Businesses are starting to use WordPress because of its CMS capabilities and ability to integrate eCommerce with ease. WordPress is a very powerful tool and here are 13 reasons why.

1. Free to use

This powerful of a tool is 100 percent free to use. From a self-starting blogger to a big corporation WordPress can suite your needs. With no hidden fees it allows your site to grow as big as your imagination.

2. Open source

This means that you can improve and alter the source code to create a site to fit your exact needs.  There are hundreds of people all over the world working on WordPress (more than most commercial platforms) making it an open source. Everything was created by and for the people.

3. Easy to use

It is very easy to use to does not require you know have a depth of coding knowledge that websites have required in the past. WordPress provides instruction when you first start up and install a theme. Another benefit is there is no waiting time to get started. As soon and you install the theme and the domain you are ready to get working.

4. Versatile

This is a great feature in that it is extremely flexible, meaning you can use it for a personal blog to a business using it for eCommerce. It has a lot of features and plugins that allow you to do so many different things with WordPress. This is why WordPress is one of the most popular tools for content management systems.

5. Multi-user capabilities

It allows you to have multiple users that can work on the website. They allow you to create new users and have different roles with different capabilities. This is a great feature especially if you have staff writers and editors that have different roles in a company. Here are some of the different roles WordPress has from WordPress Codex:

  • Super Admin – somebody with access to the site network administration features and all other features.
  • Administrator – somebody who has access to all the administration features within a single site.
  • Editor – somebody who can publish and manage posts including the posts of other users.
  • Author – somebody who can publish and manage their own posts.
  • Contributor – somebody who can write and manage their own posts but cannot publish them.
  • Subscriber – somebody who can manage their own profile.

6. Themes

There are hundreds of themes to choose from to get your website looking the way you imagined. All themes are customizable and come up with instructions on how to get it set up. If you’re a blogger, artist, eCommerce business, news source WordPress has a theme to suit your needs. Check out some free themes here.

7. Plugins

If the theme you have chosen does not have a feature you need, don’t worry there’s a plugin for it. Plugins adds additional functionality to your pre-existing WordPress site. With so many plugins available you should be able to find one that adapts into your website and suites your needs. Check out all the different plugins available here.

8. Security

Like all websites, WordPress sites have to worry about hackers. Luckily WordPress takes security very serious. There are some basic features built in to help prevent any issues. They also update their software regularly and will notify you to update or allow you to set it to automatically update to help prevent attacks.

9. Support

WordPress offers great free support. The WordPress community is huge and there are forums where you can look up a problem you have or ask a problem and someone will answer you with a solution. Check out the WordPress Forums.

10. Mobile Friendly

Having a mobile friendly website in huge in today’s society now with the use of mobile phones and tablets at an all time high. All WordPress sites are already integrated for mobile phones and tablets. This is a fantastic feature and makes your life easier not having to develop a mobile version yourself.

11. Search engines love WordPress

The biggest search engines including Google love WordPress. During WorldCamp San Francisco in 2009 Google’s Matt Cutts endorses WordPress saying “WordPress is very crawlable. By using WordPress you have already taken the first step because WordPress is a fantastic piece of software.” This is great for businesses that are looking to increase profits and traffic to their website.

12. Media

These sites are great with handling and dealing with media. Its great with photos and videos can be embedded right into the site. It also allows you to edit photos right on the site. You can also embed Tweets and Instagram posts as well. It is very easy to link all of your social media accounts right to the website with the little icons. You can do all of this right in a post or go to the media library to upload everything.

13. Scheduling a post

It takes a lot to run a business and you can be very busy. WordPress realizes this and allows you to schedule out posts. If you realize when your busiest times are throughout the day and might not have time to post something to your website, then you can schedule it to post during that time.

In the end WordPress has grown into a very powerful tool since it first started up. More businesses are realizing how powerful WordPress really is and are starting to use it to their advantage.

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