Recently I was working on the response to a website development request for proposals, when I came across a familiar note in the document: Preferred platform should not be WordPress.
WordPress has been around since 2003, when it debuted as a blog publishing platform. Since then it has grown to be one of the most common CMS (Content Management Systems) tools on the market today. WordPress is used by more than 60 million websites, including 33.6% of the top 10 million websites as of April 2019. (Usage Statistics and Market Share of Content Management Systems for Websites.)
With so many companies relying on this platform, why are people still complaining about it as if it’s the new kid on the block? I think it comes down to cost. People associate expensive tools with high quality, and free or low cost tools as being ineffective. This is absolutely not true.
This is not to say that the more expensive tools, like Sitecore, are not great CMS options. They are. Where WordPress excels is in two areas: Ease of use and expandable functionality.
When we launch a new website for a client, we then schedule an hour to sit down and train them on the back-end. We cover how to edit the page content, upload and manage imagery, user management, addition of plugins, etc. We cover all the basics that will allow our customers to manage their website’s content. Because the back-end of WordPress is built with the user in mind, it’s not geared towards developers. This makes it ideal for small organizations who are unable to employ a full-time web developer.
Of course, you can always access the base code of the website if there is a need, but this is generally reserved for specific customizations to the template’s look and feel. Competitors to WordPress are often built with the developer in mind, and operate under the assumption whomever is in the back-end of the site working knows HTML, CSS and perhaps even JavaScript.
Then you have the expandable functionality of WordPress. Meaning; Plugins! Plugins are your best friend when it comes to creating a site that is engaging and interactive. Need specific social sharing tools? Add a plugin. Want a more visually appealing home page slider? Add a plugin. Looking for a mobile friendly form to grow your mailing list? I think you know where I’m going by now.
WordPress is offering all of these things up and it does it at what you could consider a wholesale cost. You’re mainly paying for any template you want to implement, your domain and hosting. You’d be paying for the domain and hosting no matter where you build your website. So, if the biggest cost is the template, and there are thousands upon thousands to select from, why isn’t this a platform worth considering? It’s time to stop shitting on WordPress and start showing it some love.
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