Setting up a new website can be a very daunting process. A common mistake made is trying to do too much, which leaves you overwhelmed and paralysed. At Cognite, we really believe in the simplicity, power and utility of WordPress as the platform to build your website on and manage your content. We’ve put together a comprehensive of the main benefits in using WordPress to reduce your stress and get you started on building your brand-new website.
1. Simple & Easy to Use
It is no surprise that WordPress is the largest content management platform in the world because it’s simple and easy to use. WordPress is the most user-friendly CMS and requires no skill in programming or coding to maintain. You can set up and install your WordPress in no time at all.
Once installed, there are built in function for blog publishing, user management, comments, RSS feeds, revisions and much more. This CMS lets you log in and publish, manage, edit and delete content in a simple and straightforward way – it’s almost intuitive.
When it comes to updating your software, WordPress makes even this simple, by notifying you when there are new updates and all you have to do is click.
WordPress has even put together a helpful guide to getting started, you can check it out here.
2. Customisable
When setting up a website, you want to be able to show your particular brand’s look and feel. WordPress gives you this capability through themes. There are thousands of free WordPress themes that you can choose from giving you the choice to customise colours, design and even features. You can do all of this, without knowing a single line of coding which is great if you’re just starting out.
3. Open Source
WordPress is Open Source system. This means that the software that drives the platform is created and maintained by a global community of developers. So your new website will gain powerful technologies that are collaboratively created by talented people from all over the world because the Open Source code is extending, modified and updated by experts within the tech community.
Open Source systems gain strength from their dynamism and agility as they are frequently updated, cost-effective, easy to customise and easy to integrate.
4. Support Community
As WordPress is the most used CMS in the world there is a massive number of active users and developers within this community. If you are ever having a problem with your site it will be easy to find help and support from one of these community members in the dedicated support forums.
The official forum is a place you can query and find valid answers. There are also other non-official support forums for WordPress that you can find help, as well as a plethora of video tutorials to address any issues that may arise.
5. SEO Benefits
WordPress is an SEO-friendly platform that solves a ton of SEO issues for you automatically. It allows search engines to easily crawl and index your website and with the Yoast SEO plugin your SEO strategy is further optimised by giving you the ability to edit your titles, meta descriptions, slugs and even include important keywords.
Google tends to rank WordPress sites well because they are automatically responsive, easy to navigate and mobile friendly – all things that Google considers when ranking a site. Your site will also be compatible with all browsers.
Another SEO benefit inherent to WordPress is the optimisation of images. You can add title and alt tags to your images with relative ease. With the nifty WP Smushit plugin your images will be optimised to increase the page loading speed and accessibility.
6. Secure
Digital hacking or hijacking of websites is on the rise and WordPress tries to prevent this from happening to you with a high-level of security. Regular updates are provided to you to keep you protected from hacks.
They have a dedicated security team that is constantly updating and improving the software for its users. There are a variety of security plugins that you can install via WordPress to scan for malware, block spam and any other potential cybercrimes.
7. Plugins
WordPress provides pre-written programs called plugins that assist you in doing a multitude of tasks. There is a plugin for everything you could possibly need, from security to SEO to linking up to third-party website services. You can access the plugins at a free level or you can upgrade to a premium account to get some additional plugins
However, you don’t want to overdo it with the plugins because they are there to improve functionality, not overwhelm your site visitors. Here is a list of plugins you can consider trying out.
8. It’s Free
This is the cost-effective solution for building your website. Due to the Open Source coding the software is completely free and comes with unlimited validity. So there are no running costs besides the unavoidable cost of hosting. You can also move your WordPress website from any hosting company to another, depending on your needs.
9. Multi-User Capability
WordPress understands that creating, maintain and running a website can require a lot of man power and so they allow multiple users to access the same site. WordPress comes with six default user roles – Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber. So you can decide and grant permissions to certain users for certain things.
10. Fluid & Flexible
With WordPress you can build virtually anything! From a simple blog, to an event management site, to a full eCommerce website. As your business grows and evolves, so too can your website. You get a fully functioning site that can be changed and adjusted to your specific needs. If you go through a branding change, you can easy change the site to fit your new look and feel. If you want multiple design themes for your different offerings, you can do that too in a fully optimised and integrated way. Whatever your design needs, WordPress grants you fluidity and the ability to be flexible.
Find out how Cognite can help you build and grow your new website through WorPress today!
