For some time now, starting a blog has been a popular way of both passing time on the internet, and of building the foundations of a valid e-commerce business.
It is much easier than many people realise to make a business out of your ability to write and to blog, and for those that can manage it, it can be a very rewarding and enjoyable way of making money. A big part of the appeal of blogging as a career path is the simple fact that blogging is free and simple to pick up.
Anyone with something to say, and a device to type those things on, can potentially turn their talents to blogging. Blogging is a very democratic art from. By this, we mean that there is no decentralised body or authority who arbitrates on what is good and worthwhile. In the field of music, for example, there are record companies and other organisations without whom it is very difficult to make it as a professional musician. Instead, when it comes to blogging, as long as there are people who enjoy your work, there is nothing to stop you from achieving commercial success, releasing your own work to the world.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a publishing platform that enables those with only the bare minimum of knowledge and understanding to publish their written content. It is a testament to the power, simplicity, and capabilities of WordPress as a platform that it now powers an extraordinary 26% of the whole internet! More than 1 in every 4 websites is built using WordPress. Clearly then, its appeal stretches beyond absolute beginners and it has plenty to offer experienced web developers and bloggers as well.
When you take a peek under the hood at exactly what it is that WordPress offers, it begins to become a little bit clearer how this blogging platform has come to take over the landscape.
It’s Free and Open Source
One of WordPress’ biggest selling points is the fact that it is completely free and open source to use. Being free is self-explanatory, you won’t have to pay any money in order to use and publish on the service. However, many people make the mistake of equating free services with basic services. In other words, lots of people think that any service that doesn’t ask for money can only be providing the most run-of-the-mill services.
In reality, however, the strength of WordPress comes from the other half of the equation – its open source model. Being open source means that anyone can view the WordPress source code, and can therefore make their own alterations and variations of the original. Many of WordPress’ most awesome features have been made by dedicated fans and users who, rather than waiting for new functions to be added to the main platform, take it upon themselves to program them.
WordPress is Secure
Whether you are blogging for personal reasons, or as an adjunct to an e-commerce business, it is important that the platform you use to make your blog is safe and secure. Never underestimate the possibility for nefarious actors to try and access your account, nor for one of these miscreants to cause severe disruption to your blog for little reason other than they can.
Being an open source platform, it is also possible for members of its ever-growing community to vet the current procedures, structure, and source code in order to determine how secure WordPress is as a platform. There is no such thing as a perfectly secure piece of software; there will always be the possibility for some kind of attack, and users need to remain vigilant of these possibilities. Fortunately, WordPress has robust security built in. While this should be enough for most users, you should also look for any tools and plugins that can further enhance your site’s security.
Excellent Support System
Sometimes, things go wrong. Whenever you are dealing with digital technology, the potential for things to go wrong is even greater than it otherwise would be. When problems do occur, you want to know that there is somewhere you can turn to solve the problems as quickly as possible. If your WordPress website or blog also forms the basis of an ecommerce business, you may well not even be able to literally afford the downtime.
Thousands of Free Plugins and Themes
By default, WordPress offers its users a whole host of excellent features. However, given the infinite complexity of websites out there, and the endless array of things that website owners want to do with their websites, the ability to further add to and enhance a website’s features is a major selling point.
The free plugins and themes for WordPress websites enable users to accomplish things that would otherwise be impossible. If you’re willing to pay a small amount of money on the freemium and premium plugins, the sky really is the limit!
WordPress Can Help With SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a key consideration for any website today. Your SEO score will determine how prominently your website is listed in search results. The nearer the top you are, the more visible your website will be. In addition to a number of SEO features offered by default, WordPress also provides users with a multitude of tools that can further improve their SEO capabilities.
Multilingual Support
WordPress makes it as easy as possible to set up multilingual sections on your website. Needless to say, these are excellent ways of improving the reach and appeal of your website. Don’t restrict yourself just to your mother tongue. As your site grows, look for ways to add in foreign-language sections. If or when budgets allow, you can hire someone to ensure accurate translation for you.
Scalability
The ability to scale up a website without any loss of service is vital if you are aiming to grow your website quickly. When your website starts bringing in more traffic, you will need the serve capacity to handle that extra traffic. WordPress automates much of the scaling process on your behalf.
WordPress is an excellent platform for anyone looking to build a website or blog. Not only is it free to use, but the range of community-driver plugins, addons, and other features means your WordPress site can be made to do a great deal more.
Interested in hearing more from Pinch? Feel free to get in touch by calling 0161 615 5550 or by sending a message via our Get in Touch page.
