As the world’s most popular content management system, WordPress powers millions of websites. Its flexibility and unique features make it the best choice for anyone wanting a high-performing, scalable website.
WordPress has the tools to create content, engage visitors and optimize your site. It’s perfect for beginners and high-traffic sites.
In this guide, we’ll cover 14 benefits of WordPress and why it remains the best choice for building a flexible, professional website.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a versatile and user-friendly content management system (CMS) designed to help you create, manage and customize websites. It supports various website types, from blogs and personal sites to eCommerce stores and enterprise-level websites.
WordPress is open-source. It gives you full control over your site’s design and functions. Its vast library of plugins and themes lets you customize it to your needs. WordPress has the tools to build a unique, functional site. It supports SEO, mobile responsiveness and multimedia integration.
How WordPress started and evolved
WordPress was first released in 2003 by its co-founders, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, as free software primarily designed for blogging. Since then, it has evolved into a complete content management system (CMS). It can run complex websites for businesses, eCommerce, portfolios and media-rich sites.
With WordPress users constantly providing feedback, the platform has consistently improved with user-driven updates, thousands of plugins and custom theme options. WordPress began small.
Today, it’s an ideal platform for hobbyists and budget-conscious website owners to create their own sites. Understanding its roots helps users appreciate the global community-driven effort that has made WordPress what it is today.
The transition from blogging to CMS
Although WordPress was just a blogging platform, its architecture expanded quickly. It now supports full-fledged websites, web apps and eCommerce stores.
This change made WordPress very popular. It now powers over 40% of websites. Businesses, users and developers trust it to create professional-looking websites without extensive coding knowledge.
Types of WordPress Hosting
Shared Hosting vs. Managed WordPress Hosting
Choosing the right web hosting is crucial when setting up a WordPress site.
Shared hosting is often an excellent entry-level, budget-friendly option for website owners with smaller or less traffic-heavy sites.
For demanding websites, managed WordPress hosting is better. It offers enhanced security, faster speeds, automatic updates and WordPress support.
Whether you are a WordPress developer or a site owner looking for a cost-effective solution, understanding the difference is helpful.
Scalability with VPS and cloud hosting
As websites grow, businesses often need to scale up their hosting. Shifting from shared hosting to Virtual Private Server (VPS) or cloud hosting boosts website speed and flexibility. It helps handle more traffic.
These hosting options keep the self-hosted WordPress website running well during traffic spikes. So, they are the top choice for website owners planning to grow.
Why is WordPress so popular?
WordPress is incredibly popular because it is completely open-source and highly adaptable for both beginners and advanced developers.
The WordPress dashboard has a user-friendly interface. It lets users easily create and manage a blog post or a sales page without much technical knowledge.
The platform’s vast library of themes and plugins allows for limitless customization. Its large community provides robust support and continuous updates.
Additionally, WordPress is built for SEO. It helps your websites rank well on search engines. Whether for a small business or a large-scale enterprise, it’s a go-to solution for web development.
WordPress vs. the competition
WordPress is one of the world’s three most often-used site-building packages. Other popular CMS platforms include Wix, Shopify, Joomla, Magento and more.
Drupal and Joomla demand proficient technical skills in PHP, CSS and HTML. Shopify and Magento are usually more expensive. Their monthly fees and required development work are higher.
14 incredible benefits of using the WordPress platform
Here are some of the primary benefits of setting up and maintaining your personal or commercial website with WordPress.
Adaptable and flexible to evolving demands
WordPress was made for blogging and online publishing. But it now powers many other types of sites. WordPress powers complex sites for large corporations, small businesses and personal blogs.
WordPress websites can host eCommerce stores, a portfolio, a social network, a group or a podcast. Whatever a company’s needs, use the core WordPress package. Then, add essential and premium plugins that suit your site.
Its themes and easy access to its source files make WordPress highly adaptable to a company’s changing needs.
User-friendly—even for beginners
Users can establish and operate a WordPress site within a matter of minutes, regardless of their technical proficiency. They require a domain name and a web hosting account to do so. WordPress can be installed at no cost. They can opt to use their WordPress host for installation or upload it directly from WordPress.org.
A WordPress site can be installed and run in minutes without tech skills. All a user needs is a domain name and a web hosting account. You can install WordPress for free via your hosting provider or by uploading it from WordPress.org.
The admin dashboard is user-friendly and offers advanced features. You can customize a site’s heading and layout. Additionally, it allows you to create pages and posts instantly.
The WordPress themes offer multiple options
One of the best benefits of WordPress is its variety of themes. WordPress themes let users customize a blog or new site. Its large, growing directory has many free and premium themes.
Many are instantly available to a new site owner via the WordPress theme directory. Thousands more can be purchased from design marketplaces and third-party designers worldwide.
You can also preview WordPress themes and install it anytime.
WordPress plugins extend functionality
WordPress has all the tools to build an essential website. However, many users need more custom features to meet their unique needs.
The WordPress plugin directory has hundreds of plugins. Plugins are small code pieces that perform specific tasks. They let users add features like shopping carts, galleries and contact forms to any compatible WordPress site. Users can also purchase and install various custom WordPress plugins from third-party developers.
WordPress plugins can be activated, deactivated and uninstalled as a site evolves. With this versatility, you can easily tailor your website to meet your needs precisely.
Related: View some of our recommended WordPress plugins!
WordPress is SEO-friendly
Searchability is essential for ranking on Google and other search engines. Among the many advantages of WordPress, WordPress websites often rank high for their keywords. They are regularly updated. Also, WordPress has many tools and plugins for SEO (search engine optimization).
WordPress is inherently structured to be search engine optimized. It generates clean, readable code. It optimizes page titles, meta descriptions and URLs.
WordPress also supports plugins that improve SEO. This may improve your website’s search engine rankings by making it easier for search engines to crawl and index your content.
WordPress sites are mobile-responsive
Given the increasing number of mobile devices, having a mobile-responsive website is essential. WordPress themes are made with mobile devices in mind, so your website will function and look fantastic on a variety of screens and devices.
Since Google ranks websites according to how mobile-friendly they are, websites need to appear great across all platforms. For WordPress, numerous responsive theme options are available. Users can also employ theme file modifications and plugins to make a static website responsive.
WordPress sites hold a built-in blog
Publishing content is accessible with WordPress since it’s a feature-rich content management system. Among its features is a “built-in” blog feature, which is always available on all platforms.
Thus, if consumers want to add a blog to their website, they don’t have to build one themselves. This lets non-blogging websites use the blog feature for updates.
The WordPress community offers support
As WordPress is free and open source, it’s supported by worldwide WordPress-loving communities. This large community of WordPress lovers is responsible for changing the source files and keeping WordPress updated and secure. The WordPress community reaches out to users. It hosts WordPress camps worldwide and supports local WordPress user groups.
WordPress makes its website creation tools available to all users, not just web developers. Those tools can support both a small personal site and a large corporate portal.
With an array of features, such as themes and plugins designed to extend its functions, WordPress works for all kinds of sites.
Security features to keep your site safe
One of the benefits of WordPress is its strong focus on security. The WordPress software is built with secure code and regularly releases updates to address new vulnerabilities. Plus, you can extend the protection of your site with security plugins like Wordfence or Sucuri. They provide firewall protection and malware scanning.
This will keep your WordPress site safe from attacks. It will reassure both WordPress developers and site owners.
Ownership and control
WordPress offers seamless social media integration, allowing you to enhance your digital presence. Plugins like Jetpack and Smash Balloon can automatically share your blog posts on social media. They can also display your feeds on your WordPress site.
This boosts search engine traffic and engagement. It helps grow your audience. It shows that WordPress themes are both beautiful and functional for modern web development.
Customization without limits
WordPress is well-known for its limitless customization options. You can make your site unique with thousands of WordPress plugins and themes. You can also add custom CSS or modify the source code.
WordPress is flexible. It meets the needs of web designers and online store owners. It is a robust solution for all web development.
Accessibility for all users
In today’s digital landscape, accessibility is crucial and WordPress excels in this area. A major benefit of WordPress is its support for web accessibility standards. This ensures that everyone can use their website.
WordPress has SEO-friendly themes and plugins. They improve accessibility, adding screen reader support and keyboard navigation. This makes creating a site for a broad audience, including mobile users, easier. It enhances both usability and search engine optimization.
eCommerce capabilities
Site speed is one of the key factors in retaining mobile users and enhancing search engine traffic. WordPress has many ways to optimize your site for faster load times. You can use lightweight themes or caching plugins like W3 Total Cache.
Faster sites improve user experience and search engine optimization (SEO). They prove that WordPress is not just a versatile content management system. It’s also a platform for peak performance in the modern web.
Easy content management
One of the standout advantages of WordPress is its content management system (CMS). It allows both beginners and experienced WordPress developers to create, edit and manage the site’s content easily.
The intuitive interface is ideal for scheduling blog posts, organizing pages and updating content on the go. This feature makes WordPress a go-to solution for businesses that require frequent updates to their WordPress website.
The simplicity of managing your site also means you can spend less time on technical details and more on growing your audience and organic traffic.
Bonus advantages of WordPress
- Multilingual capability: WordPress has built-in multilingual support, allowing you to create websites in different languages. This is beneficial for businesses and organizations targeting a global audience or multilingual communities.
- Cost-effective: WordPress is free, SEO-friendly and open-source, which means you don’t have to pay for the software. This is beneficial for a small business. Additionally, with its user-friendly interface, numerous free themes and plugins are available, offering your business a professional-looking website.
- Scalability: WordPress is highly scalable, allowing your website to grow as your needs expand. It can handle high-traffic websites, large content databases, more pages and complex functionalities without compromising performance. Its scalability makes it suitable for both small personal blogs and large enterprise websites.
- Integration options: WordPress integrates seamlessly with various third-party services, more plugins and platforms. It supports integration with popular marketing tools, analytics platforms, email marketing services, social media platforms, payment gateways and more. This helps you extend your website’s functionality and connect it with your preferred tools and services.
Future of WordPress
WordPress and Gutenberg block editor
The Gutenberg block editor introduced a new way to design content within WordPress, giving users more flexibility in layout creation. Its block system is expected to evolve further, making WordPress more user-friendly and customizable for those without extensive coding knowledge.
As Gutenberg continues to develop, it will likely become an even more important feature for WordPress developers and website owners.
WordPress and headless CMS
A growing trend in web development is using headless CMS. In this setup, WordPress is the backend. Frameworks like React or Vue.js are the frontends.
This setup offers faster load times, more flexibility and a customizable user experience. A headless WordPress setup can be ideal for businesses and developers. It gives them more control over their site’s design and performance.
Summing up
WordPress is a versatile, user-friendly platform. It fits any website need, from a personal blog to a complex enterprise site or an eCommerce store.
Using the above WordPress advantages, it becomes the best choice for anyone wanting to create a dynamic, scalable online presence.
Ready to build your new website? Bluehost provides specialized WordPress hosting designed to simplify the process. With a few clicks, you can install it easily. Its drag-and-drop tools make building responsive sites simple.
FAQs
WordPress is free and open-source. You can download it and start building your own websites right away at no charge. However, you will need to pay for web hosting. You must also pay for premium themes or plugins if you want extra features.
Absolutely! WordPress is an incredible choice for creating a new website, whether it’s a small personal blog or a large business site. Its mobile-friendly, flexible design and wide range of built-in features make it easy to engage your target audience. With thousands of themes and responsive sites available, WordPress can meet the needs of any website.
One of the best benefits of using WordPress is that it fully supports eCommerce through plugins like WooCommerce. You can build an online store and add plugins for advanced features. This makes it perfect for selling products or services online while keeping your site up-to-date.
Not at all! With WordPress, you can build completely unique websites using a variety of themes and customization options. The flexibility of the page builder and themes allows you to create a distinct look that reflects your brand. Whether using custom CSS or just plugins, your site will stand out.
No, WordPress is an excellent platform for everyone. Its interface is more accessible for beginners. However, WordPress experts can use its open-source software to create highly customized, professional sites. WordPress lets you add simple features or create complex pages. It is flexible and powerful.
