Why use WordPress? Isn’t my website good enough? Why would I need to switch from another platform to WordPress?
In this article, we’ll share the most important reasons why you should use WordPress. We’ll also cover all the different types of websites you can build with WordPress and showcase popular sites that use WordPress.
One of the most common misconceptions about WordPress is that it’s just a blogging platform.
But WordPress is so much more than that.
While WordPress started out as a blogging tool, it has evolved into a powerful website builder and content management system (CMS).
The best thing about WordPress is that it’s easy to use yet flexible enough to build all kinds of websites. That’s the main reason why WordPress is so popular.
In fact, according to recent research, WordPress powers 43% of all websites on the internet.
Because of its powerful capabilities, many top brands use WordPress to power their websites including Time Magazine, Facebook, The New Yorker, Sony, Disney, Target, The New York Times, and many more.
Let’s look at why you should use WordPress to build your website.
1. WordPress is Free as in Freedom
WordPress is free software. This means you can freely download, install, use, and modify it to suit your needs. You can use it to build any type of website. Learn more about why WordPress is free in our article.
While the WordPress software itself is free, you do need a domain name and web hosting in order to install it.
2. WordPress is Easy to Use
Even though WordPress is the most flexible and powerful platform, it’s still very easy to use for beginners.
It comes with a simple dashboard, with different menu options listed in the sidebar. You can easily create posts and pages, customize your website design, add navigation menus, and more.
WordPress allows total beginners to easily maintain their own website without running into any technical difficulties.
WordPress releases core WordPress updates regularly, which you can install with the click of a button. Installing your own WordPress plugin and theme updates is the same.
For backups, there are great WordPress backup plugins (many of which are free). They allow you to set up automated backups and store them in remote locations like Google Drive or Dropbox.
Lastly, there’s security. With some basic WordPress security best practices, you can make your site more secure.
As a beginner, you might feel a bit overwhelmed at first. But as a beginner-focused WordPress resource site, we can assure you with confidence that you’ll quickly find your way around.
We’ve seen thousands of novice users rapidly upgrade to intermediate and advanced users. In fact, many of them now make WordPress sites for others as a living.
3. WordPress is Fully Customizable
Most people using WordPress are neither web designers nor programmers. In fact, most start using WordPress without any website design knowledge.
For non-technical folks, WordPress is the perfect solution because there are thousands of free website templates (themes) to choose from. There are perfect WordPress themes for almost any type of site, whether it’s a blog, business site, or online store.
WordPress themes are easy to customize since many come with their own options panels that let you change colors, upload logos, change backgrounds, create nice sliders, and truly customize it to your needs without writing any code.
For example, Astra is a theme we often recommend because even beginners can easily create sites with a professional look. It comes with 90+ ready-made templates that can be customized easily for any type of site.
For more recommended themes, you can check out our WordPress Best Multi-Purpose Themes Expert Picks.
To further customize your design, you can use drag and drop builders like SeedProd to create beautiful landing pages, sales pages, product launch pages, and more.
You can also add custom functionality to your WordPress site using plugins. WordPress plugins are like the apps for your site that you can use to add advanced features like analytics, contact forms, membership areas, and more.
Just like themes, there are thousands of free and premium plugins available for you to use. Learn more in our post on What are WordPress Plugins and How They Work.
In addition to adding extra functionality, some WordPress plugins can also transform your site into an entirely new platform.
Here are some basic WordPress plugins we recommend for every site:
- A contact form plugin so your visitors can get in touch with you
- An analytics plugin so you can see how much traffic you have
- A search engine optimization plugin so you can get more traffic from Google
Then you’ll want to choose more plugins based on the type of site you want to build.
You can search at any time to find plugins best suited for your needs.
4. WordPress is SEO Friendly
If there’s no traffic or visitors, even the best website in the world won’t succeed.
Luckily, WordPress is built with search engine traffic in mind.
WordPress is written in clean, high-quality code with semantic markup. In non-geek speak, this means Google and other search engines like WordPress.
That’s why WordPress sites tend to rank higher in search engines compared to other sites.
To optimize your site for more traffic, we recommend using a WordPress SEO plugin. Our top recommended SEO plugins are Rank Math, Yoast SEO, and All in One SEO (AIOSEO). They are easy to use yet very powerful.
5. WordPress is Secure and Reliable
WordPress is developed with security in mind and it’s a very secure, reliable platform to run your site on.
However, there are still many things you can do to make your site even more secure from hackers, malware, and other threats. See our Beginner’s Step-by-Step WordPress Security Guide for details.
At WPBeginner, we use Wordfence to guard against common threats like brute force attacks and malware. You can install their WordPress security plugin Wordfence Scanner to make sure your site is protected.
6. WordPress Will Be Around for a Long Time
Website builders come and go in a hurry. Even the biggest cities can disappear (remember GeoCities?).
On the other hand, open source software is much more likely to stick around for a long time.
This is because as open source software, it’s not maintained by one person or company. Even if WordPress disappeared, anyone could simply fork its code and launch it under a different name in minutes.
One little known fact about WordPress is that it doesn’t have a CEO. The WordPress name is protected by the WordPress Foundation which is a non-profit organization that ensures the ongoing development of WordPress.
Behind WordPress is a powerful community made up of hundreds of thousands of users, developers, and small businesses. As a community, they all ensure that WordPress will be around for a long time.
WordPress benefits millions of users globally. It’s available in over 53 languages and supports thousands of multilingual sites. As a WordPress beginner, you’ll join this global community of users where you’ll find the WordPress community to be welcoming and helpful.
What Types of Websites Can You Build With WordPress?
WordPress can be used in many different ways from simple sites to eCommerce marketplaces and anything in between.
Here are just a few examples of the different types of sites you can build using WordPress.
- Start a blog
- Build a business website
- Open an online store
- Create a membership site
- Sell online courses
- Sell digital downloads
See our full list of different types of sites we can build with WordPress.
We hope this article answered your questions about why you should use WordPress. The best way to really experience the power of WordPress is to use it.