What is WordPress? And Why Should You Use It?

WordPress is an open source content management system (CMS) which launched in 2003. It’s since become one of the most popular and widely used web publishing platforms, powering more than 35% of all websites in the world!

But what does this mean?

Open source means that it’s free, and aside from the obvious cost benefit of this it also means that it’s widely used, supported and updated.

A content management system (CMS) is simply the backend of your website, which yourself or your website designer (or both) use to create, maintain and update your website.

What are the benefits of WordPress?

As mentioned, WordPress is great as it’s free and there’s also lots of support and resources available online.

Aside from that, there are also two huge benefits to WordPress which is why it’s our preferred CMS at Kitsune Creative Co for most businesses:

1. It offers the most flexibility: While WP might be slightly more complex, it also offers the most in terms of website flexibility and functionality.
2. You fully own the site and you can choose the host: With some website builders, like Wix and Shopify, you’re locked into having your site with them. This means you’re fully locked in to their terms, their service and payment options. If it comes time to leave the platform with them you’ll need to create a new site from scratch. With WordPress you’re fully in control of your own content, website and all of the integration options you want to use.

What are some of the downsides of WordPress?

As it does offer more in terms of customisation and flexibility it can be slightly more difficult to learn, than other website builders for example. With this said, it still isn’t too hard to use and update once you know how.

What about WordPress.org vs WordPress.com?

WordPress.org is the version I’ve talked about here and the one most widely used. WordPress.com is their free hosted service, with some payment options, however it’s a lot more basic than the functionality of WordPress.org. Wherever you see WordPress mentioned in reference to websites it will nearly always be referring to the .org version.

How does WordPress work?

As mentioned above, you need to find your own host for WordPress…but this is a good thing. Once you’ve chosen your domain name it’s been assigned to your host then WordPress.org is simply loaded onto the host for free.

Then your dream site can be created!

 

How can we help?

At Kitsune Creative Co we’ve had over 10 years of experience of WordPress, so it’s safe to say we know it pretty well. If you’re looking to have your own website created or if you even just need some help updating and managing it, reach out to us today at [email protected] or via our contact page, and let’s chat about how we can help and the best course of action we recommend for you.