Creating a website is easier today than ever before. The days when the only people who could create compelling websites were web designers are long gone – now anyone can use a content management system to share their content – in much the same way as they would write a letter in a word processor.
WordPress is one particularly popular web publishing platform. This blogging platform is incredibly sophisticated and powerful – and yet it is also really easy to use. With WordPress, you can run a membership site, an online store, a blog, a video sharing platform, or almost anything else that you can think of – without needing a high degree of technical skill.
WordPress is quite easy to set up – if your web host supports “Fantastico” then you can get up and running in just a few mouse-clicks. Even if you have to install WordPress by hand, it can be done in a few minutes just by following the on-screen instructions.
Once WordPress is installed, it’s really easy to use – you can install one of the many free themes (or opt for a paid theme if you prefer), and add some easy-to-use plugins for things like SEO, image sharing, video sharing, etc, to make it even better. After that, it’s just a case of clicking “Add New”, writing your post, and you’re good to go.
Out of the box, WordPress is mobile friendly, looks good, and is search engine friendly, and it’s easy to extend as well.
Of course, just because WordPress is so user-friendly and powerful, it doesn’t mean that your website will automatically be a success. WordPress makes the job of publishing easy – but you still need to write the content, schedule it, post it, and keep the website updated on a regular basis. You still need to clean up comments (if you allow comments on your blog), network with other bloggers, and market your site. WordPress won’t run your website for you – it just makes it really easy to have a web presence.
WordPress is the perfect choice for a new webmaster that isn’t sure what direction their site will go in. It gives you the flexibility to run anything from a shop to a membership site or blog – without the complexity associated with Magento or Joomla. There are some things that you will need to learn – for example, you will want to learn how to update the content management system and patch security holes, and how to take regular backups. But overall, WordPress is far easier than most platforms – and certainly more efficient than updating your website by FTP.
WordPress empowers you to run your own website – even if you aren’t a developer. It frees you from having to hire website designers, and makes a lot of the design and marketing jobs a lot easier than they could have been. Definitely consider WordPress for your next website design project.