Why I Still Love WordPress CMS 13 Years Later

When I first started working online in 2009, I have to admit that I didn’t know much – if anything – of how websites worked, were built or any website management technology.

Working nights, weekends and holidays I carved out the time to study & implement different web platforms, software packages and systems.

It was a long, difficult process to get up to speed but it was the day that I downloaded my first self-hosted WordPress package when things really started to click for me online.

Even back then the WordPress Content Management System was quite easy use (outside of the installation & setup) and customize.

Need to publish a blog? Write your piece and you were a few clicks away.

Need a new landing page? Gather your content & layout and off you go.

Want to embed a video or integrate another web service? Search the WordPress plugin database for possible solutions.

WordPress allowed me to do things online that I never thought I’d be able to do.

More importantly, it allowed me to do things to help my clients that I never thought I could do.

I still remember how excited my first few clients were when I launched their sites for them — and how excited they were when leads started coming in from the SEO campaigns that followed.

Flash forward 13 years and WordPress is the most widely used Content Management System.

Like any piece of technology there are pros & cons of using WordPress, but below are the main reasons why I love using it today — and will continue to use in the future.

Constant Improvements

Because of its open source philosophy and initiatives, WordPress enjoys the freedom of having anyone capable contribute to its overall improvement.

Unlike other platforms that keep their core code closed (and only available to internal developers), WordPress’ core code is open and available for anyone to suggest and add changes for improvements.

These changes and updates are, of course, curated and implemented by professionals who ensure they are properly added to WordPress.

Ease Of Use & Flexibility

One of WordPress’ cornerstone features is its simplicity, which is one of the staples of its overall philosophy.

With some of the best documentation on the web, it’s very quick for users to pick up the basics to launch and use their websites effectively.

You don’t need any coding background to use it, but because of it is open codebase it’s still flexible enough to make any customizations you may want to put into place.

Great For SEO Implementation

The world of SEO has changed much since ’09 and it continues to evolve to this day.

Very often I was able to keep my clients at the top of search results page because I was able to implement changes quickly with WordPress.

There are many built-in SEO-friendly features in WordPress, but there are many that need constant attention and updating, which WordPress allows you to do very quickly in most cases.

WordPress, For The Win

While there are many other website platforms and builders like Wix, Squarespace and Shopify — among others — WordPress is still my favorite looking ahead for the reasons above.