As a WordPress only web development team, we’ve always been asked, “Why WordPress?”, or
“What makes WordPress so special?”.
We get razzed by the old coding dogs all of the time on how “that WordPress is just a cheap, non-stable CMS.”
The answer is simple. Because it allows people without a lot of experience to create and fully manage their website.
The “blog” has been around for a long time now. It’s used more as a platform for delivering all kinds of content, rather than a platform for being social with subscribers like it used to.
Yet, there are a lot of people still new to the basic idea of blogging. Starting your first blog is an exciting idea. You’re going to make your presence known to the world, and you’ll have an avenue for expressing your thoughts and your opinions.
There are plenty of platforms for you to build your blog on, however, in this article, you’re going to quickly find out why you should consider a self-hosted WordPress blog.
Before we begin, however, let me just clarify that WordPress.org and WordPress.com are not the same.
WordPress.com is a blog hosting service that gives you very limited options in customization but allows a complete solution for a startup blog.
WordPress.org, on the other hand, is where you can download the WordPress software which you then need to install on your site, hosted on a third-party WordPress hosting platform.
While this may sound intimidating, it’s not. Many commercial web hosts offer 1-click install for WordPress which means you can get your blog up in just a few minutes!
Running your blog on the self-hosted version of WordPress means you have full control over your website. You own it, you can design it any way you want, you can publish any kind of content you want, and so much more.
The core WordPress blog software is already powerful on its own, and it even comes pre-installed with a few themes and plugins. With themes direct from the WordPress blog theme archive, you have thousands of free and premium themes to choose from, and you can make your site look as unique as you want. And when you add plugins, you can change your website’s functionality!
Even if you just want to blog for now as a side gig, if you ever decide you want to add an online store to your blog later, you can do that with WordPress.
You can create landing pages on WordPress, you can add a forum to your site, you can even sell memberships or courses on it! In short, WordPress plugins are awesome and can scale your website to any level.
Other platforms do not come near offering the number of themes and plugins available on WordPress which is why it’s such a popular choice for bloggers and website owners alike.
As with most platforms, however, WordPress does come with a bit of a learning curve. However, once you understand the basics, then it will be easy for you to build different kinds of sites.
WordPress has an active global community behind it, so you’ll never run out of tips and ideas to customize your website.
