WordPress was launched in 2003, and since then has become a common term, both in the technology industry and in everyday life. Last year, it was recorded that the content management system (CMS) powered an astonishing 26.4% of the worldwide web.
Before we explain our top five reasons for choosing WordPress to power our clients’ platforms, here are some quick introductory facts to get you started:
- The New York Times, Forbes and National Geographic are all powered by WordPress. Users of WordPress are in very good company, with sites such as these also opting for the now world-renowned CMS.
- According to recent statistics, WordPress employs fewer than 600 people. That’s quite impressive considering they get over 110 million unique monthly views!
- The 2016 WordPress Global Translation Day involved a “24-hour translation sprint”. The event spanned from East to West, encouraging people to get involved, add editors to translation teams, and translate and validate pending content.
- WordPress is available in over 120 languages. 71% of sites are hosted in English, Spanish follows in second place, with 4.7%, and then come Indonesian, Portuguese (Brazil) and French to complete the top five.
- Searching “WordPress” in Google will return around 1,770,000,000 results. There isn’t really much more we need to say about that!
These statistics give you an idea of the increasing popularity of WordPress as a website tool. Now let’s take a look at our top five reasons for using it:
- Flexibility
WordPress offers a huge amount of flexibility. It may have started as a blogging platform, but now offers users functions and features that support a full website. Plugins can import translations, pull in contact forms, work with databases and track client activity, among many, many other things.
- Open Source
This sometimes fills people with doubt and mistrust, questioning the reliability of something that can be so readily updated. However, the opposite is true. The fact that thousands of developers all over the world contribute to the software means that users can benefit from their combined expertise. It also means that new ideas are always being thought of, and applied. For more information about what open source means, take a look at our Translating Technological Terms: Open Source blog post.
- Security
In addition to the post-launch security services that we offer as a company, which include running regular checks that monitor not only security but also performance, we have the in-built security that comes with WordPress. The fact that WordPress is open source means that a team of experts is constantly examining the sites, leading to quicker analysis and resolution of any potential issues.
- Customisation
Did you know that National Geographic was a WordPress site? Unless you’ve looked very, very closely, I’m guessing that you didn’t. That’s because WordPress offers users a lot of flexibility in terms of customisation. Your logo, brand and design choices can be implemented in the way you choose, ensuring that your website becomes a truly unique work of art. But customisation involved regular WordPress care plans, which helps in day-to-day updates and other important features.
- Content Management
WordPress is a content management system. It makes managing your content simple and straightforward, with intuitive, easy-to-use features. Once your website has been set up, you and the rest of your company can easily maintain and manage existing content, and also create new pages and sections of content as you wish.
These are our top five reasons for choosing WordPress for the platforms we create. If you’re new to the idea, and would like to learn more, have a read of our Translating Technological Terms: WordPress blog post or contact Nick Newton, our Business Development Manager, who will be happy to answer any questions you have.
