WordPress powers 27.6% of the World’s websites, making it the most popular CMS by far. Joomla (3.3%) and Drupal 2.2% are way behind.
WordPress is popular because it is open-source software and completely free to use, edit, and redistribute however you like. It is this free availability that has allowed WordPress developers like ourselves to innovate and tinker with the code to ensure clients’ websites look and behave exactly how they need them too. It’s this versatility and freedom to personalise different WordPress themes or to install any one of the countless plugins that have made WordPress so popular.
In this blog post, we’d like to outline some of the amazing kinds of websites the WordPress platform can handle, but this is just the tip of the iceberg, so please get in touch if you have questions about WordPress’s capabilities, our WordPress consultancy service, or indeed our wider web design services.
Unlike other platforms, such as Magento, that are made especially for eCommerce functionality, WordPress is a truly versatile platform. This is because of the wide range of themes and plugins available, as well as the huge range of expert developers (like us!) that have put time into learning and experimenting with the code. With WordPress, we can make a range of types of websites, such as:
Blogs and news sites like Huffington Post or Mashable
The blog format is what WordPress was originally known for, and it is still the most popular format for bloggers. This is because WordPress has a very easy-to-use content management system (CMS), which means that people who perhaps aren’t usually very handy with computers can upload new blog posts and maintain their blogs or news stories with relative ease. It’s also easy to add different editors to the system, meaning you have several different people all adding to your blog or news site. WordPress allows you to focus on your content without having to battle technology every step of the way.
eCommerce websites for all kinds of products or services
You can get different kinds of premade eCommerce WordPress themes that look professional and will instil trust in potential customers. Additionally, any good web developer will also be able to offer a bespoke WordPress eCommerce theme if you’d like your website to look and feel completely unique. A good eCommerce website can make or break an online business, so careful thought and deliberation is very important. However, Magento, in many ways, is a superior eCommerce platform, and it’s worth considering it instead – especially if you have a lot of products or services on offer.
Membership/Subscription and Appointment-booking websites
If you are trying to sell a particular service or subscription, then WordPress is a very useful content platform. Perhaps you generate business not through selling products, but from generating leads through data and contact details. WordPress allows you to make any variety of online forms for potential customers/clients to fill out. The easier to understand and more attractive an online form is, the more likely a visitor is to spend time putting in their details. If they don’t trust your website, they are unlikely to send you their details.
Information websites like Wikipedia
In a similar vein to the blog format, WordPress is great for information-based websites like Wikipedia. If you’d like to write your an online resource – perhaps for educational purposes – then WordPress is the ideal CMS for you. It is easy to use – especially when it comes to interlinking as you often find on an information website.
Video-hosting websites like YouTube and Vimeo
There are various plugins you can download that turn your WordPress website into a video-hosting website. A plugin is a type of software with a specific function that you can install into your WordPress CMS. You can think of them as apps that change the way your website behaves. WordPress is as user-friendly as possible; for example, if you just paste in a YouTube link, WordPress will embed it for you. It really is the most intuitive CSM available.
Photography and/or Art websites
Whether you’re looking to make an online portfolio for your photography or artistic endeavours, or if you’d like to make a website to sell prints, original art, and other kinds of creative products, WordPress is perhaps the easiest content platform to use. It’s easy to add images and other media to any page and to choose between different image banners, sliders, and other cosmetic features that improve the overall presentation of your work.
There are many other kinds of websites that work well with WordPress that we haven’t covered in this blog post, but the list is almost endless, so we decided just to cover the more common types of website. It is WordPress’s impressive versatility that makes the web developers at Peacock Carter so enthusiastic about it and we encourage anyone interested in developing their own bespoke website to get in touch with us either by phone (0191 375 5713) or email (hello@peacockcarter.com).