As a business owner, you want to use a trusted, proven system for building a website to promote your business. You know that choosing a tool for building that website is one of the most crucial decisions you will make — after all, your website is how future supporters will connect with you and your brand.
But at the same time, you have a limited budget, limited time, and aren’t sure how to begin building your website. So, how do you choose the right tool?
You may have heard of WordPress. But what is WordPress, and how do you know if it’s the right choice for you?
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an online-based site building software that’s one of the best and most powerful of its kind. It’s a type of software known as a “content management system” (CMS). This means that it helps you manage the content on your site — from static pages, to blog posts, to images, videos, and more.
Web pages are created with coding languages, but most people who need a web page don’t have time to learn these languages. The purpose of a CMS like WordPress is to take away that extra work and make it possible to add content to a site without knowing a lick of code.
Why choose WordPress?
Of course, WordPress isn’t the only CMS of its kind. So, what sets it apart?
Well for one thing, WordPress is free. It’s open source software, meaning that it’s built by volunteer developers instead of by a company.
The platform is also incredibly flexible and accommodates the most diverse range of needs. It may have a reputation for being a blogging platform, but it can do so much more. You can create multi-functional websites, portfolios, business sites, ecommerce platforms, and the list goes on.
WordPress is a great choice for small business owners because the beginner-friendly CMS doesn’t take long to learn. You can save time and don’t need to learn any high-tech website jargon. The number of themes and plugins available from the community of WordPress developers — many for free — also give you the flexibility to create the site of your dreams.
Making an intuitive platform even more intuitive
While WordPress is free, you have to pay for your domain and hosting. Additionally, you’ll still need to complete some very basic technical tasks on your own, like connecting your site to your host server or downloading plugins.
There is, however, a way to enjoy the benefits of WordPress without these drawbacks: WordPress.com.
WordPress.com, which is a separate but related entity, expands on the benefits of WordPress to include hosting capabilities as well as supportive features that make it even more user-friendly. It comes with hundreds of free themes and offers a lot of functionality that users of the WordPress software would need an extra plugin for, such as integration with social media, security, and contact forms.
For most small business owners or bloggers, WordPress.com is the best choice. It eliminates the need for technical skills, provides more support, and makes your site-building experience faster and more intuitive.
Now that you’ve answered the question, “What is WordPress?”, you can make a more intelligent decision about whether it’s the right choice for your website. Whether you choose WordPress or WordPress.com, you can rest assured that you’ll have a tool that works for you.
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