The best part about WordPress is that it is easy to use and flexible enough to create different types of websites. That's the main reason why WordPress has grown so much in popularity. In fact, according to a recent survey, WordPress powers 43% of all websites on the Internet. If you're wondering why you should use WordPress, you've come to the right place. Reflecting on this question means that you have at least done a little research on WordPress or heard about it from a friend or colleague.
But that doesn't mean you've fully weighed the pros and cons or that you've thoroughly checked the features. For average business owners, names like WordPress, Joomla, Shopify, Magento, Wix, and Weebly might sound like alien names. The process of creating a website brings these names into your life, since they are all platforms used to create websites. Each has its own benefits, while many are more often used for specialized websites for specific purposes. For example, Shopify only makes sense if you have an online store.
It's not a platform with which you would start a blog and then become an ecommerce store (check out Shopify's alternatives to compare solutions). Magento is in the same boat. Other website and platform builders have more flexibility, and these are usually the most popular. You can usually find free themes and plugins, but the premium (paid) ones usually offer better features and quality support. Finally, many WordPress users end up paying for additional services, whether they are freelancers or agencies.
For example, you can pay a freelancer to design a logo for you or to adjust part of your site's CSS code. Other WordPress users are interested in keeping graphic designers or maintenance experts available. It all depends on your experience and the scale of your website. But overall, you can keep your WordPress costs to a minimum. Many webmasters end up paying only for hosting. This takes you to a free download page, which is updated frequently based on the latest version (currently WordPress 5.2+).
This provides an instant idea of how the WordPress software is presented to users. You're not bombarded with ads or asked to complete a survey before you download the free software. You will see a basic page with some descriptions, beta versions, requirements, source code, files, and a download counter. It offers multiple download options (such as .zip and .tar.gz) along with the appropriate instructions to install the WordPress software on your own. This way, there is no need to manage the files and upload them via FTP. Managed WordPress hosting companies go one step further by managing all installation, maintenance, security and backups in the future.
As for updates, you don't have to return to the download page every time a new version of WordPress is released. Instead, WordPress informs you about the update in the control panel, where you can usually complete the process in less than a minute. One of the most common misconceptions about WordPress is that it's mainly for creating blogs. At one point, that was indeed the case. WordPress was developed as a blogging platform but that has changed dramatically with the different new versions over the years.
In fact, WordPress has an advantage due to its blogging roots. It's by far one of the cleanest and fastest ways to write and publish blog posts, and it's all included right from the start. Some website creation tools think first of design and applications; then the blogging interface appears as an afterthought. That's not the case with WordPress; so you can create a beautiful e-commerce site and know that the blog is an integral part of the development process. Clearly, the list goes on and on. The good news about WordPress is that functionality for things like forums and e-commerce websites is achieved with simple plugins and themes. So for example if I wanted to create an online portfolio for my web design business I could use this theme.
All I would need is a small one-time fee; a load of some demo data; and any changes I would like to make myself. The following screenshot is a fairly popular e-commerce theme that is combined with the WooCommerce plugin. WooCommerce is one of the main ways to turn your regular WordPress website into a working online store; with payment processing; a shopping cart; and product galleries. Check out this detailed tutorial on how to install WooCommerce. The last example below shows a forum. This website was built with a theme; but you can also consider searching the Internet for some forum plugins.
There are several available if you have already chosen an interesting topic; but it doesn't have forum functionality. And this is exactly how to achieve different types of websites with WordPress: write down what function you need; then go to Google; and check if there are any plugins or themes that fit your needs. I bet you'll always find good results. In my own experience; WordPress has never told me that a file is not compatible. You can expect to upload common files such as .jpg; .png; .gif; .pdf; .doc; .pptx; .mp3; .m4a; .mp4; .mov; .wmv; and .avi along with that; you won't have any problems with darker file types like .odt; .key; .ogg; and. And while there are some file formats such as SVG that are not allowed; there are good solutions to avoid it - check out this tutorial on how to safely upload SVG on WordPress. In short: if you want to put a photo; a gif; a video or a document on your website - WordPress is usually fair game! It's even common to host documents and presentations on a website without publishing them on a specific page - yes; WordPress supports practically any type of media. However - you must follow the rules and legally use only media that you own; are open for free downloads or that can be used when granting credit - check out this full list of media types supported by WordPress!.
