Having an online presence nowadays is a basic requirement anywhere you go. And we’re not just talking about having accounts on all the major social media platforms. No, we’re talking about owning and updating your very own website with whatever content you like. Although social media platforms are a perfect way to connect to an audience, first of all, you need to find an audience to interact and connect with. And this is why you need your own website, whether it’s going to serve as your online portfolio of your photography skills or your graphic design work, or perhaps it is going to connect to any website that you’ve designed or developed, or, at the very least, your own personal store where people can purchase any goods or services that you are offering.
However, owning a website and marketing are not the only things that you need. Apart from putting up on your website all your previous works or all the items you are selling, you are also going to need to write and post an article or two, every now and then. Just by doing this simple thing you can easily attract bigger audience and promote your business. You can tell your stories or share your opinions and even meet new people this way. And that, in turn, can create even more opportunities for you to learn and grow your business. This is the point where WordPress becomes very useful.
Over the past 15 years, since it’s been established, WordPress has slowly but surely grown from a powerful blogging platform into even more powerful content management system. Although it only started out as a way to improve blogging experience, its various plugins and themes have made it a very successful and a widely used content management system. This may sound surprising, but nearly 30% of the websites in the world are actually powered by WordPress. It’s reliable and trusted tool that plenty of people use, and it’s a perfect choice if you’d like to start your very own website. Even if you’re running low on creativity or inspiration about design, there are thousands of themes and even more plugins to help you build your new website exactly the way you imagined.
Did you know that some of the WordPress core developers share love for jazz music? That’s why all major WordPress Versions are named in honor of various jazz musicians these developers admire. The list of musicians includes Miles Davis for the 1.0 Version, Art Blakey for the 1.0.2, Charles Mingus for 1.2 and so on, until the latest version, 4.9, named Billy Tipton. So far, they’ve used names of 34 jazz musicians.
Although it’s primarily used in English, WordPress is also available in over 72 languages worldwide. It’s fully translated into these, and partially translated into dozens additional languages. Furthermore, many of the WordPress plugins and themes have also been translated in different languages. The fact that it’s a popular platform worldwide was particularly prominent in 2014, when the number of non-English WordPress downloads actually surpassed the English version.
Even though there are plenty of themes available directly at WordPress, there are separate markets that actually cater specifically to those needs such as ThemeForest which has over 40,000 WordPress themes and templates. Users have spent there nearly $300 million on WordPress themes since 2008. There is also Elegant Themes, which most popular product is Divi. Divi is their flagship theme/plugin that turns your control panel into a visual page builder using the drag-and-drop system and is also available in multiple languages.
It’s the most used content management system (CMS) worldwide for a reason, with its popularity and usage constantly on the rise. Even companies like Forbes and The Wall Street Journal have decided to use it! Both Katy Perry’s and Rolling Stones’ websites are built on WordPress.
You can have your very own beautiful and fully functioning website, and get that online presence that you need very quickly. There are plenty of ways to design and use your website. One of them being as a social network. In case you have a very niche audience, this is a great tool for you. The plugin you’re looking for is called BuddyPress, and it allows your visitors to sign up, create their profiles and then post messages. Once there, feel free to communicate and interact with your audience. Next, plugin called WooCommerce can convert your website into an eCommerce store. It’s free and powers over 28% of all the online stores and is also one of the most popular ways in which you can monetize your website. Finally, you can also use plugins NextGEN Gallery Plugin or Photo Gallery Plugin to convert your website into your online photography portfolio. With these plugins you get to control the size of the photos, transitions, make albums and beautifully showcase all your work.
If you’re still thinking about it and you’re not really sure what choose, take a look at the WordPress infographic to learn more facts about it in order to make your decision.