If you’ve ever commissioned a website for your business, it’s highly likely that you’ve come across WordPress. And with estimates of one third of websites being built using the platform, it’s a popular choice. But is it the best option for your business?
WordPress has seen significant changes since its launch as a blogging platform in 2003. It’s now matured into a fully-fledged content management system for websites, with a whole world of themes and plugins to choose from, all adding different looks and features to your website to improve functionality.
Whether your website knowledge is limited or extensive, WordPress allows for a range of user types and options. From the DIY-er taking the self-build option, to complex sites for large organisations.
Is WordPress right for your website?
The first big plus is that it’s free, and this includes many of the plugins. (Plugins are additional software that add extra features and functionality to a website). Although, you’ll have to pay for some plugins, which are needed to make the website administration function effectively.
WordPress has an extensive range of themes and plugins to choose from. Some themes not only change the look of your site but can act as a DIY website builder. For first-time website builders, the range of choice, not even mentioning the handful of must-have add-ons, can be overwhelming.
Our advice is to do your research to ensure a plugin has been robustly built and maintained before installing.
Find out how we use WordPress as a Content Management System without using off-the-shelf themes and a plethora of plug-ins
A WordPress installation is easy to keep updated, which is essential to keep the system secure. As the system is open source – a type of software freely available to everyone – and widely used, it can be vulnerable to malicious activity from hackers and malware if not kept up to date. It’s also important to ensure that plugins come from reliable developers. Using web hosting that provides a good level of security can also protect a WordPress installation, so once again it’s important to research what a host has to offer.
Future proof your site
One of the most important considerations for choosing any software system is future support. As WordPress is so widely used, you can be confident the system will continue to be developed and updated. You can also be assured that a wide community of designers and developers will also be available for help and support.
In brief
WordPress is a great choice for a CMS if steps are taken to ensure the website installation is fully secure, plugins have been thoroughly researched and tested, the choice of theme has not been overused (if an off-the-shelf theme has been installed), and it is regularly updated.