10 Things About WordPress You May Not Have Known
March 4, 2021
there are some things everyone must know about WordPress in order to be effective and prolific.
Here are 10 things you absolutely, positively and maybe desperately need to know about WordPress.
- WordPress is the Most Popular CMS in the World
More websites are powered by WordPress than any other content management system (CMS) in the world. Around between 50 and 60% of websites that use a CMS are built on WordPress. There are 17 blog posts published on WordPress sites every second of every day.
- There are Some Really High Profile Brands Using WordPress
CNN’s blogs, Reuters’, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes are built on WordPress. Mashable, The Next Web, and The New Yorker are also all built on WordPress.
Other notable brands using WordPress include People Magazine, The Rolling Stones, Vogue, MTV News, Facebook (for their Newsroom), Harvard Business Review, and NASA, among lots of others.
- WordPress is Not Just for Blogging
WordPress got its start as a blogging platform, but somewhere along the way, developers realized you could do so much more with it. Now, WordPress is behind everything from e-commerce sites to communities to online courses—like Skillcrush Blueprints!
Whether you want to create a basic website for a local business or a huge online store selling thousands of products, it can be done with WordPress. And, of course, it’s still great for blogging!
- Plugins Let You Add a TON of Functions to WordPress Without Coding
WordPress lets you extend what it can do through the use of plugins. There are both free and paid plugins out there that can do virtually anything you might want to without the need to write code from scratch.
Right now, there are over 45,000 free plugins in the official WordPress directory. That doesn’t include all the premium plugins that can add even more functionality to your sites.
Plus, if you know PHP (the language WordPress is built on) you can further customize any plugin you want to do exactly what you need it to do. Or, build your own plugin from scratch.
- WordPress Skills are Useful Even if You Don’t Want to Be a Developer
Developers aren’t the only tech pros out there who need WordPress skills. Entrepreneurs can seriously benefit from knowing WP, because it’s such a great tool for setting up an online business (including creating online stores, landing pages, and more). Knowing how to set up WordPress, customize a theme, and install plugins can save you tons of money when you’re just getting started.
Marketers can also make use of WordPress skills. You can use it to create landing pages and for publishing blog posts. Knowing the ins and outs of how WordPress’s code works gives you the advantage of not having to wait for your developers to make minor changes, or for someone else to set up a new page or website.
- WordPress Can be Used for Intranet Sites, Too
There are thousands of plugins out there that can extend WordPress’s functionality, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that some of those plugins are perfect for back-end functionality that companies need.
Things like customer relationship management software, Issue tracking, and even all-in-one intranets are possible with WordPress.
- You Can Use it For Membership Sites
It’s easy to set up a members-only site with WordPress plugins. There are dozens of members-only site plugins available, some free and some paid.
You can use these membership plugins to create sites with premium content, gated online communities, and more.
- WordPress is Totally Free
WordPress is totally free and open source. You never have to pay a dime for WordPress, and you can make any changes you want to the site’s code. You can use WordPress for whatever kind of site you want, and as many sites as you want, without purchasing additional licenses.
- There are So Many Jobs You Can Get with WordPress Dev Skills
If you want to work as an employee, you can find jobs working with WordPress at creative agencies or companies who run their sites on WordPress. WordPress skills can help you get a job as a developer or designer, or in marketing.
- WordPress is Great for Freelancers
In addition to working in agency or corporate jobs, you can freelance as a WordPress specialist. Whether you want to offer basic services like site setup and theme customization, or go all in with fully customized sites with all sorts of back-end programming, there are so many opportunities.
