The Power of WordPress

WordPress has been the talk of the town for some time now and it’s easy to see why. At its core, WordPress is the most seamless and prominent way to set up your own blog and website. On top of that, over 40% of the web is powered by WordPress.

You don’t have to be tech-savvy to build your website using WordPress but you can always reach out to Stack Mode Marketing Group for assistance with web design and web development services. Stack Mode Marketing Group boasts its five-star reputation that keeps clients coming back for more!

What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source Content Management System (CMS) authorized by GPLv2. Ideally, WordPress is as free as the air you breathe! This means you have the freedom to download, install, utilize and modify it. In the end, WordPress makes website development accessible even to the most old-school non-technical person on the planet.

Who Invented WordPress?

The origin of WordPress is extensive… WordPress was created in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little as an independent project branching from the previous b2/cafelog venture.

WordPress has greatly evolved since 2003 and largely due to the huge community of contributors; it has become the most sought after solution for website development.

What Kind of Websites Does WordPress Power?

Though for a long time WordPress was only used to create blogs, in this day and age, thanks to improvements to the primary code and WordPress’ huge ecosystem and themes, WordPress empowers you to develop any type of website your heart desires.

Not only is WordPress a powerhouse for a massive number of blogs and business sites, but it’s also the go-to tool for setting up eCommerce stores as well. The following are just a few examples of what you can create with WordPress:

• Blogs
• Business websites
• eCommerce stores
• Forums
• Membership sites
• Portfolios
• Resumes
• Social networks
• Anything else you can think of…

Many of our clients often ask “Why do I need WordPress when my old website works pretty much the same?” “Do I need to change to WordPress from my business’ current platform?” Let’s dive into those questions and see if it’s the right fit for you next website.

Why WordPress Is The Best Platform For Your Business?

Because of its powerful qualities, WordPress is used by world-class brands and businesses such as Sony, The New York Times, Disney, Time Magazine, The Rolling Stones, Facebook, The New Yorker, Microsoft and even The White House just to name a few.

Why should you follow suit?

1. WordPress Is Open Source

This is the biggest factor that makes WordPress so cutting edge. It is completely free! But while you’ll need to incur a few pennies for hosting, WordPress will never charge you to use it unlike its alternatives such as Squarespace and WIX.

2. WordPress Is Straightforward to Design with Plugins and Themes

Interestingly, many WordPress users have no prior knowledge of web designing or programming. If you and IT are like water and oil, the best solution is to use WordPress. It offers thousands of free website themes to choose from that suit any kind of website.

The best part is these templates are painless to customize as they have an options panel enabling you to create alluring sliders, switch colors, change the background, upload logos and personalize the website to your preferences without writing a single line of code.

Plugins allow you to include custom functionality in your site. Similar to themes, WordPress avails thousands of free and premium plugins.

3. WordPress Is Completely Secure

WordPress offers an entirely safe platform to run your website. Furthermore, you can find quick assistance if you ever have any concerns. There are loads of blogs, forums, Facebook groups, tutorials and developers you can turn to for free and paid aid if need be.

Unfortunately, in the real world, the internet can be unpredictable as hackers are always on the hunt for sites they can sink their preying hands into. We recommend Wordfence to protect your WordPress account against internet threats such as malware and brute free attacks.

4. WordPress Is Easy to Manage

WordPress has an built-in update management system that enables you to upgrade your themes and plugins from your WordPress admin control board.

WordPress also includes a WordPress backup login to protect your information from hacking or accidental loss. The backup login allows you to set up backups simultaneously and securely store them in an isolated spot.

Furthermore, you can monitor your WordPress site from any location using WordPress mobile apps. This gives you more flexibility.

5. WordPress Can Handle Numerous Types of Media

Good news- WordPress doesn’t limit you to text writing. It comes with an integrated media uploader to import images, audio and video files.

To top it off, WordPress underpins oEmbed activated websites that allow you to embed Instagram pictures, YouTube videos, SoundCloud audio and Tweets by simply pasting the URL in the WordPress post editor.

6. WordPress is SEO Friendly

WordPress is constructed using standard conformity top-of-the-line code and creates semantic markup. In layman’s terms, this feature makes WordPress lovable by Google and other search engines. This explains why WordPress powered sites often rank higher than other sites in search engines.

By configuration, WordPress is extremely SEO friendly. You can also apply additional WordPress SEO plugins to integrate your website even further.

Before you get super riled up to create your WordPress site, you need to be aware that there is a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

Let's take a look at the difference....

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

The difference between the two stems from the party that hosts the website.

With WordPress.org, you host your own blog or website via a third-party hosting source. This is a hands-on experience where you get to download your WordPress software, purchase a domain name on a third-party site and manage your server.

If this sounds tiresome to you, WordPress.com offers to host your website for you. With this option, you don’t need to download any software or regulate a server. If you select the WordPress.com option, your website’s URL will be www.xxxxxxx.wordpress.com. If you decide to upgrade your WordPress.com account and purchase a custom domain from a third-party source, your URL will be www.xxxxxxxx.com.

How To Decide Between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

To decide which one of the two is a better fit for your business, let’s explore a few of the pros and cons of both options so you can make an accurate decision.

Both platforms are exemplary- it all depends on your needs. Therefore the perks and drawbacks are subject to your specific goals.

WordPress.org

Pros	Cons
Ideal if you want full control over customizing and managing your website.	There is a lot of work involved in managing a WordPress.org website such as buying and creating your own domain name, editing your website’s code, installing and uploading plugins and themes and monitoring your site’s security.
It is free to utilize.	You have to incur the costs of everything needed to run a website.

WordPress.com

Pros	Cons
An all-in-one choice that does most of the hard labor for you such as managing your server, buying a domain or paying for your hosting.	The free version restricts you to a subdomain and you can’t upload custom plugins or themes.
Avails several customization options that help to build out your website in your own preferred design.
Has both a free and paid version where the premium upgrades offer more control and features in addition to the option of purchasing a custom domain via a third-party site.

To harness the full power that WordPress has to offer, we’ve compiled a few tips and tricks to help you create a website that is purposeful and user-friendly.

WordPress Handy Tips

1. Don’t stray from the basics if you want to get a kick out of your WordPress theme and create the best user impact that makes your business and website content stand out.
2. Avoid underscores when naming your WordPress files. Use dashes instead. This is because Google considers underscores as joiners, making your file seem like one huge Word blob. That can affect your SEO. Dashes indicate that your SEO content is separate words. Therefore, use www.xxxxxx.com/I-am-SEO rather than www.xxxxxx.com/I_am_SEO.
3. WordPress’ online support is always available to address all your questions and concerns while you are creating your website. Just reach out to the WordPress experts using many forums and contact information they have provided on their website.
4. Remember to back up your site frequently. That way if you ever experience technical difficulties, you’ll have everything you need to recover your content. The Snapshot Pro plugin is made especially for backing up WordPress content.
5. Always keep tabs on your website’s performance to know what appeals and doesn’t appeal to your visitors. WordPress offers several plugins for this task and you can also use Google Analytics which is just as effective.
6. Set up custom permalinks. Permalinks are indefinite URLs that are kept static for the conceivable future. They come in handy to improve user experience and enhance your WordPress site SEO.
7. Ensure your WordPress site is mobile friendly. These days people are looking up online businesses while on their mobile devices. A plugin will help you attain an accessible mobile WordPress configuration.
8. Streamline your WordPress site and plugins frequently. WordPress will inform you when updates are ready. This will ensure your website looks crisp and runs effectively.
9. Select a CRM that synchronizes with your WordPress site. A CRM can mitigate the way users interact with your website and business. Some of the best CRMs to use with WordPress include Zoho CRM, Capsule CRM, Agile CRM, Insightly and HubSpot.

So what’s So Powerful about WordPress? It’s The World’s Most Popular Platform for Building a Website!

WordPress isn’t incredibly popular for no reason. If you want to create any type of website from a blog to an online store, WordPress is a great option that should be a part of your research into what platform you will use to develop your site.

Remember that WordPress.com and WordPress.org are not the same things. In many cases, WordPress.org is what you want to fashion your website as it gives you more control and ownership as well as opens access to all the perks of the WordPress group.

You can always call on us for unique and effective website development services. Our creative team of web developers, SEO professionals, and digital marketing experts strive to deliver our clients the highest-quality work on every project.