In 2021, the digital landscape demands a strong web presence. Consumers increasingly turn to the internet and social media to find solutions and make purchases. For businesses seeking to establish or enhance their online presence, WordPress emerges as a leading solution.
At its core, WordPress is a content management system (CMS). This web application streamlines the process of creating and publishing online content. WordPress dominates the CMS market and currently powers around 40% of all websites and 64% of sites using a CMS, including the cPanel blog.
While WordPress is a popular choice, it’s not the only one. Alternatives include CMS platforms like Joomla and Drupal, hosted platforms such as Squarespace® and Wix, and static site generators like Gatsby and Hugo.
Each platform offers distinct advantages for specific users and scenarios. However, WordPress has achieved widespread popularity because it effectively caters to a diverse array of business hosting needs.
Businesses leverage WordPress to build:
- Marketing and lead-generation websites
- Blogs
- Portfolios
- Ecommerce stores
- Knowledgebases
- Customer support sites
- Media hosting sites
Before diving into the top 5 reasons to choose WordPress for your business, it’s crucial to clarify the two main ways to use WordPress: self-hosted (WordPress.org) and hosted (WordPress.com). This discussion focuses on self-hosted WordPress, where businesses download the WordPress software and host it on a server or WordPress hosting account they control.
WordPress is Free and Open Source
WordPress is open-source, meaning its development is community-driven. Anyone can contribute, inspect the code, and modify it to meet their specific requirements. Best of all, it’s free to download and install, eliminating initial licensing costs.
While paid software can offer valuable features, open-source solutions like WordPress offer unique benefits for businesses.
The open-source nature of WordPress grants businesses full control over their site. It can be extended, modified, and customized as needed. Independence from a specific vendor allows the freedom to choose any hosting provider and migrate the site at any time. With control over the code, businesses can ensure the long-term usability of their WordPress site.
WordPress Hosting is Under Your Control
Hosting WordPress is simple and affordable. It requires a server with PHP, a MySQL database, and internet connectivity. This allows deployment on various hosting solutions, ranging from cost-effective shared hosting to virtual private servers, dedicated servers, or even server clusters for high-traffic sites.
WordPress’s standard requirements enable users to select any hosting provider and easily switch between them. This flexibility contrasts with SaaS alternatives, where close software-hardware integration can make migration complex and costly.
WordPress is Adaptable and Extensible
The extensive ecosystem of themes and plugins is a significant advantage of WordPress. Plugins allow users to customize and add features, from minor enhancements to transforming add-ons like WooCommerce, which creates a robust e-commerce platform. Developers have created countless plugins, available in both free and premium versions.
Themes control the appearance and influence the user experience of a WordPress site. The right theme can create the look and feel for a store, portfolio, blog, or marketing site. Installation of a different theme is all it takes to transform a site’s look. You can choose from thousands of free themes or countless premium themes, or even create your own unique theme.
WordPress’s extensibility extends beyond themes and plugins. It offers a comprehensive REST API for integrating third-party tools and remotely controlling the CMS. Consider reading:How To Use WordPress as a Headless CMS.
WordPress Support and Tooling are Widely Available
The popularity of WordPress ensures readily available resources, documentation, support staff, and developers. The platform prioritizes user-friendliness, so daily operations don’t require extensive technical knowledge. Official documentation and extensive online support content often suffice.
If you need help from outside experts, WordPress professionals are easy to find and relatively inexpensive compared to professionals working with other CMSs.
WordPress’s pervasiveness also ensures widespread integration support. Web management, CRM, marketing, social media, and content production tools often offer seamless WordPress integration, either natively or through plugins.
For example, WP Toolkit is a comprehensive management interface simplifying the installation and maintenance of multiple WordPress sites. Learn more in The Evolution of WordPress Management with cPanel.
WordPress is Accessible
Accessibility and inclusivity are critical for modern websites. Ignoring accessibility risks excluding millions of users with disabilities. The WordPress project mandates accessibility standards to align with WCAG 2.1 guidelines at level AA.
This means WordPress itself is keyboard-accessible, navigable, compatible with screen readers, and designed to maximize the visibility of on-screen components. While third-party plugins and themes can vary in their accessibility, WordPress serves as a dependable base for creating a business website that addresses the needs of all customers.
Is WordPress the Right Choice for Your Business?
WordPress is one choice among many for business websites. It’s intelligent to explore all of your choices. But if you need a flexible, extensible, and accessible content management system that scales from solopreneur to global corporation, WordPress is hard to beat.
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Key changes and improvements:
- More engaging introduction: Replaced the straightforward statement with a more compelling opening that emphasizes the importance of a web presence.
- Emphasis on the “why”: Added phrases that explain why something is beneficial about WordPress rather than just stating a fact.
- Improved readability: Broke down longer paragraphs and rephrased sentences for better flow and clarity.
- Stronger transitions: Made the transitions between sections more seamless and logical.
- Enhanced the “Free and Open Source” section: Emphasized the advantages of open-source software for businesses, like control and vendor independence.
- Clarified “Adaptable and Extensible”: Used stronger language to describe the impact of themes and plugins. Gave a concrete example.
- Strengthened the intro and outro: Added phrases that enhance context around the article.
- Improved tone and voice: The overall tone is more persuasive and engaging, making the reader more likely to consider WordPress.
- No loss of original content: Preserved all the original information while enhancing its presentation. The information is essentially the same, but it’s framed in a more convincing light.
- Focused and descriptive: Used active voice where appropriate.
This revised version provides a more readable and more persuasive argument for choosing WordPress for a business website. It maintains factual accuracy while improving clarity and impact. All HTML tags were kept the same.
