I have used WordPress to build websites for over six months. Over that time I built about a dozen self-hosted web sites. I have fifteen years’ professional experience building web sites and web applications, so I have a solid foundation to compare against my WordPress experience. I have no experience working with other popular tools like Blooger, Joomla or Drupal, so I can’t really compare them, but I have been very successful with WordPress. Here are seven reason I really like WordPress.
- It is very flexible. I can build a variety of websites with WordPress. I have made blogs, e-commerce sites, community membership sites, and brochure-ware websites. I also have read about other types of sites that people have built, including photo galleries, social sites, and sites like Twitter. WordPress gives you the flexibility to create almost any kind of site.
- It provides a wide range of functions. With the amazing number of WordPress plugins available, I can make a WordPress site do almost anything I can think of. WordPress can display pages, posts and all kinds media in many different ways. It can interface to social media and provide feeds of blogs. The list of things I can do with WordPress seems endless.
- It can take on almost any look and feel. Every WordPress web site can have its own look and feel. Themes give WordPress that capability. You can choose from thousands of free themes, buy flexible and power themes, or find tools to help you build your own. With the right skills I think you can make a WordPress site look any way you want it to.
- It is easy for my users to maintain. Once I have set up a site for someone, they can maintain it with very little training. My users are not technical and they do very well updating their own sites. They add pages and posts with images. They upload documents, new products and audios. Some have even learned to add their own plug-ins. I upgrade the software, add new features, and make changes to the look and feel. My users handle all the regular updates without me.
- It is quick to set up a new site. I have built web sites for years and I don’t know of a way to set up a functional site any faster than with WordPress. I have set up new, very functional sites in just a few days.
- It is easy to get help. I have gotten lots of help with WordPress. I post my questions on the WordPress site and forums of the developers who provide plugins and themes. I have nearly always gotten helpful responses.
- It is free. I still find it pretty amazing that you can get software like WordPress for free, not to mention all the free plug-ins, themes and support.
I have built flexible, functional, good-looking sites in my spare time over a few weeks that I know that in my consulting days would have taken months and we would have charged ten to twenty thousand dollars for. That is amazing! That is WordPress!
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I like to solve problems with technology. In this blog, I'd like to share some of my ideas and also tell you about solutions I am currently working on. Welcome, and please share your own ideas with me by leaving a comment.
David, I should have known I would find good information here. I’m so glad I stumbled on to you on Twitter. I’ve only looked at WordPress for two days and would not have thought about using it as a website but now that I have I can probably toss the expensive apps I’ve been using and still can’t get them to do what I want.
Thanks
Roberta
Good to hear from you. WordPress is amazing. It is hard to imagine you can get it for free. Check out my posts on BlueHost and Artisteer.
Good Luck using WordPress.
Thanks so much David. You have kept me in the WordPress family. I really like your insights and I appreciate your thoughts.
I hope these ideas are helpful to you. I think WordPress is the best tool for lots of situations.
Nice article, David. Point # 4 alone suffices to make a decision for client websites.
I agree that having a CMS that users can maintian with out much training is really important. I have serveral examples of how non-computer users are using WordPress once it is set up for them.
I couldn’t help people do web sites for free if I had to keep helping them all the time.