There are a lot of ways to build websites, and everyone you ask will have their favorite. If there’s one thing we digital nerds are good at, it’s having really strong opinions about programs and website platforms.
We know the title of this blog alone gave any website designer an instant reaction. Wherever that falls on your emotional spectrum, don’t worry. We don’t just say we love WordPress and leave it at that. We’re spelling out some of our favorite features that make WordPress our go-to platform.
WordPress for…eCommerce?
Yes, you read that right. When someone comes to us in need of a site to sell their products, we don’t hop over to Shopify or BigCommerce. No, we turn to WordPress.
WooCommerce and WordPress are an incredibly strong team, but a lot of people overlook them. Why? Because WooCommerce doesn’t have exciting podcast ads about how great it is for your e-commerce needs. It’s not built for the inexperienced site builder, which is why they don’t market themselves to the small business owner. Setting up WooCommerce can be a headache, but once it’s configured, it gives users a lot of control over their catalog, presentation, and more. Pair that with our favorite drag-and-drop editor, Elementor, and you’re set up for a highly customizable and incredibly easy-to-use e-commerce experience.
Why not just go to Shopify or Wix or Squarespace or one of those other builders? We’re glad you asked. While those sites are amazing for one-man small business teams, what they gain in usability, they lack in customization and performance. These sites drag down the speed of an e-commerce site since they have to load the builders through Wix or whatever platform they’re built on. Plus, any developer can tell you a horror story or two about their experience with one of these platforms. When you know the possibilities of what could be with a site, it gets incredibly frustrating to operate within templates, blocks, and prefabs…and that brings us to our next point.
Endless Customization
A.k.a. The world is your oyster (what does that even mean, anyway?)
As of 2024, 43% of the 810 million websites in the world were built using WordPress. That’s almost 350 million websites! Why? Because WordPress is a free, open-source, highly customizable CMS (Content Management System). That means anybody anywhere can build a plugin for WordPress that can do legitimately anything they want it to. The possibilities are, quite literally, endless.
That means no more “my Eventbrite doesn’t sync with my website” issues. If there’s a plugin, there’s a way. Integrations are infinite. Plugins press the limits of possibilities. And when you’re building a custom website for a small business, being able to truly shape it to fit their needs just makes sense.
One significant advantage lies in the simplicity of creating various types of posts. Whether you’re drafting a fresh blog post, curating a carousel of images, or adding new items to your online store, WordPress streamlines the process down to just a few clicks. This user-friendly approach not only simplifies sharing content but also enhances the overall branding experience for your audience.
So if you’re a seasoned Web Designer or new to the digital world, WordPress takes the difficult part out of building a website. And with the number of resources out there for WordPress like official forums, Reddit, online courses, events, webinars, and books there are endless ways to troubleshoot issues. Making it extremely accessible for anyone to create a website and begin their online journey.
