Blog Menu

I write and curate content for Bluehost. I hope this blog post is helpful.
Are you looking at creating a blog, website or an online store? Bluehost has something for everyone. Get started today.

With a projected growth of 23% for 2021, low or no-coding website builders are increasingly popular, especially for e-commerce stores and personal websites. 

If you are new to web design or simply looking for a way to save time and frustration, no-coding website builders are the answer for you. After all, you can easily build and maintain your own website with no-code website builders like WordPress.

But why use WordPress in particular? This low-code content management system (CMS) has been around since 2003, and it remains one of the most famous drag and drop website platforms to this day. 

To learn more about no-code website builders, their advantages, and why you should use WordPress, keep reading. 

Here’s what we’ll cover: 

What a No-Coding Website Builder Is

WordPress vs. Coding

Why Using WordPress and Plugins Is So Popular

WordPress and SEO — a Perfect Match

Final Thoughts: Why Use WordPress — How To Use a No-Coding Website Builder

What a No-Coding Website Builder Is

Why use WordPress Gutenberg blocks are WordPress’ easy no-code tool to build a website with functionality in minutes
Source: screenshot from WordPress 

A no-code website builder is a software program that interprets code visually using different templates. Usually, these take the form of drag and drop blocks that you can place wherever you choose to change a website’s look or functionality without needing HTML. 

Instead of having different pages of code to look at, you edit each page visually and change your entire website’s general appearance without code. 

Many no-coding website-building tools are available. These are content management systems that can offer custom domains, add-ons and help with website design. The oldest and most widely used is WordPress, often considered the best website builder online.

WordPress was once associated with blogging, but it is a popular design tool with many small business and e-commerce websites. 

You can get started with WordPress’ no-code website builder as soon as you choose a domain name. The website builder offers themes, block builders, and plugins, reducing hassle and increasing ease of use.

Here are more details about these WordPress features:

Themes

To make a new website using WordPress’ website builder, you usually start by selecting a WordPress theme. There are hundreds of free themes to select from, many with pre-built pages, social media integration, and tutorials. 

You can customize the look of your website, add additional pages as needed, and start creating the structure of your website. While themes play a role in the look of your website, you can customize them further by changing colors, fonts, and layouts in your page builder.

Block Editor

Most of the work done in designing a custom WordPress website comes from the Block Editor. From the images and videos to the text and contact forms, each part of your website is inserted and adjusted as a block. 

Ease of use means you can arrange blocks in hundreds of ways and add new blocks all the time, without coding skills. The default editor in WordPress is the Gutenberg Block Editor, but there are plugins to give you even more options. 

Plugins

Plugins are essential to enable specific website functions. Whether you want e-commerce features or marketing tools, or to track your website’s performance, create image galleries, or anything else you can imagine, there’s often a WordPress plugin for it. 

Some plugins are for your entire website, while others (usually referred to as widgets) are pasted onto a page using the Block Editor. 

Out of the thousands of available WordPress plugins, many of the best plugins are free or offer free plans.

WordPress vs. Coding

WordPress takes code and makes it visual. Here’s the same image, one through the Block Editor and one through HTML and CSS
Source: screenshots pasted into Canva. 

Compared to coding, WordPress is easier to interpret and visualize without being a professional web designer. While coding your website from scratch does allow for the most flexibility, there are many benefits to using a no-coding website builder like the WordPress CMS:

  • WordPress can accomplish many different tasks that often require multiple coding languages like HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript.  
  • You can share access to your WordPress website to let multiple people make changes. While you can do this with code, more people can understand and edit a codeless WordPress website.
  • WordPress websites are much cheaper to make than a fully custom website. Even if you hire help to create a WordPress website, the pricing will be a fraction of what designers tend to charge. The WordPress software itself is completely free.
  • Creating websites with no-code editors is faster than coding a website from scratch. If, for example, you want to add an image, you select the image block in WordPress and upload the picture from your computer.

    To accomplish the same task in HTML and CSS, you would need to enter a few lines of code to ensure you have the right image, that it is responsive, and that it includes ALT text to help with search engine optimization (SEO) rankings. 
Why use WordPress It powers more than 42% of websites in 2021. No other CMS comes close to its features and customization

When we talk about WordPress, we mean WordPress.org, the open-source CMS, not WordPress.com, a separate, for-profit company. 

While it’s easy to get the two confused at times, it’s WordPress.org that empowers you to self-host, add on plugins, and customize your website as much as you’d like. 

WordPress.com’s free and paid plans don’t offer access to the plugins and themes available on WordPress.org.

As of 2021, roughly 42% of websites are powered by WordPress. Some of the most famous users include CNN, NBC, Sony, and Time Magazine. 

There are millions of smaller web developers who use WordPress, and they stay for the fantastic benefits the content management system offers.

WordPress is popular because it’s free. No getting around that one. It’s also open-source, so anyone can continue to edit the code, meaning thousands of developers have made changes to its core code over the years. 

Plugin pricing varies, with some costing nothing, while others offer paid plans or premium plans, so your maintenance costs can be variable.

The open-source system has led to the creation of thousands of plugins, many achieving what once took days of code to create. 

You can open an online store with WooCommerce, track visitors with Jetpack, and optimize your website for SEO with Yoast, just to name a few.

WordPress and SEO — A Perfect Match

Person holding a checklist of completed WordPress tasks done in a no-coding website builder

SEO and WordPress fit together seamlessly. You can select a fast-loading theme that loads quickly and dynamically, allowing for a great user experience regardless of what device your visitors use. 

Since Google implemented mobile-first indexing in 2019, designing a landing page optimized for mobile devices is vital. Coding for this takes more time and effort than a no-code platform that presents blocks optimized for mobile from the get-go.

Working together with the Block Editor, you can add WordPress code plugins that optimize your web pages. SEO tools like Yoast, Monster Insights, and Jetpack are some of the most popular plugins that help you optimize on-page and off. 

Plugins for speed also help with loading time and boosting your website ranking on search engines. 

These plugins pair excellently with high-quality web hosting. After all, the WordPress CMS is self-hosted, meaning you get to pay for and choose your preferred hosting provider. 

There’s a plan for every budget, whether you want shared hosting or a dedicated server. Many of those plans offer free SSL certificates, domains/subdomains, trusted uptime, and customer support. 

No matter which hosting provider you choose, make sure it’s reliable. WordPress offers a myriad of user-friendly features appealing to both business owners and customers, so you ought to do everything you can to ensure prospects and customers alike get to enjoy them. 

Final Thoughts: Why Use WordPress — How To Use a No-Coding Website Builder

WordPress and other no-code website builder platforms make creating a custom website easy and accessible. You get to finish tasks quicker, use plugins that replace hours of coding, and access dynamic web design that makes ranking in SERPs more attainable than ever. 

No-code website builders are paving a future where website development is increasingly convenient. 

Why use WordPress? It’s the most popular free website builder with thousands of customizable themes that empower you to create the landing page of your dreams, whether you need an e-commerce website or a personal blogging page. 

The only thing you need to get started with a no-coding website builder like your self-hosted WordPress website is hosting. 
So, what are you waiting for? Get started with Bluehost’s WordPress hosting plans today.

  • Machielle is a content enthusiast who has a passion for bridging the gap between audiences and brands through impactful storytelling. Machielle has also spoken at dozens of WordCamps throughout the years.

Learn more about Bluehost Editorial Guidelines

Write A Comment