Editor’s Note, February 2021: WordPress is only getting better, and the information in this blog is still very much relevent. All edits are bolded.

It’s a new day on the internet. Back in May, it was announced that over 1/3 of the top 10 million websites were run on the WordPress platform. This is no small feat: It’s estimated that there are around 75 million WordPress sites across the internet. It’s not by luck that this happened. It is one of the (if not the) most flexible, sustainable content management solution (CMS) options out there. When you’re looking at installing a CMS to manage your site, a good question you should ask yourself would certainly be why WordPress?

Don’t know the code?

Unlike some of the other CMS options out there (Drupal, Joomla, Typo3), you do not need to be a HTML or PHP wiz to get things done. Most hosts offer “1 Click” installs of WordPress while setting up your web hosting environment. It’s likely you’ll never have to touch your file manager or fire up your FTP application to get things going. Once it’s installed, WordPress is personalized by Themes and Plugins created by the community at large. The options are quite extensive. Whatever you’re looking to do with your website, chances are there will be a plugin to offer help.

It Takes a Village

My personal favorite part about the WordPress CMS is the amount of resources and support offered by the developer community. WordPress is entirely open-source, which means developers are constantly editing and talking about how to make things better. It’s completely legal to use this code to craft your own creation or use another person’s work to improve your site. There’s the ever-timely WordPress Blog and many communities on places like Discord and Reddit. Chances are if you’re having an issue, it’s being talked about on a message board somewhere.

Be your Best Blog

If blogging is the focus of your site, there’s no better alternative than WordPress. The “Post” feature is quite dynamic, allowing you to categorize your thoughts either by tags or by location on your site. The text editor is very comfortable should you use applications like Gmail or Microsoft Word. The only thing keeping you from writing a blog is the content creation itself.

No Strain to Maintain

WordPress makes it easy to run updates to improve installed plugins, themes, and the WP Core Files without developer support. Just a few clicks and you’re up-to-date. This makes it easier to get away without having a web admin, although if you’re running a business you should still probably retain one.

At What Cost?

The best part? WordPress is entirely free! All you need to worry about is paying for your web and domain hosting and you’re set to start your webventure.

Why WordPress?

Let’s be honest: If WordPress is good enough for Beyoncé, it’s good enough for you too. You heard that right, Queen Bey uses the CMS, as do many other less important people, companies, and nations: like Disney, Sweden, Star Wars, the BBC, and the New Yorker (to name only a few).

So what’s stopping you from utilizing the internet’s best CMS? You know that eCommerce solution you’ve been wanting for that specialty line of meme-inspired graphic t-shirts? WordPress can help. Those landing pages for your upcoming dance performance at the local community center? WordPress can help. Need help getting information out about your new Dog Bakery tent at the farmers market? You get the idea – WordPress does it all.

Blog edited by Simon Efroymson, February 17, 2021