Daily ArchivesJune 9, 2022

You’re going to build a website. With so many options available, making a choice just keeps getting harder. You’re probably familiar with household names and why some of them just aren’t for you, and still have some questions.

You know the WordPress name, but maybe you’ve never used it for page-building. Exactly what is WordPress? You may also be wondering, Isn’t WordPress just for blogs?

Oh, no. There’s a reason 44% of all content management systems rely on WordPress.

When it comes to building a website, WordPress gets stereotyped as the “best for writers and bloggers” when its versatility is one of its biggest strengths.

That’s because there are two versions of WordPress: WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org. WordPress.com is geared towards blogging and WordPress.org is the open source powerhouse we’re really talking about.

You want to know why WordPress? Let’s find out. Keep reading to learn some of the benefits of WordPress and why you should choose it.

Why Use WordPress? 8 Good Reasons

1. WordPress is Easy to Use Without Sacrificing Quality

It may have been a fashion designer that said, “simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance,” but the same is true for running a website. The more complicated your CMS, the harder it is to update, edit, and keep your site looking great.

If you are looking to launch a WordPress website, the good thing is that you aren’t starting from scratch. You technically get a fully composed website to work with that you pull elements into and customize the way you want.

You pick a theme, select plugins, edit code if you want, and pretty much start adding content. It can get as technical as you want, or you can keep it super simple. The beauty of WordPress is that you make it your own and it’s really not that hard to do.

The interface is user friendly and navigation is intuitive. If you find yourself in a bind, there is a robust support community both within WordPress itself and externally. If you use Managed WordPress, there’s even more support available to you. There are many advantages of WordPress hosting.

Outside of the domain itself, everything you need to manage your site is at your fingertips.

Just because it is simple doesn’t mean it is “less.” The elegance within WordPress is in its simplicity because it doesn’t take a lot to understand how to make it great. That in itself makes it a huge asset.

2. Like it Custom? Have it Your Way

With so many options available for making a website, you may be wondering, why WordPress? Well, it’s highly customizable — which is a huge draw.

Look and feel are what make your site better and different from everyone else in your space. If you want to stand out, you’re going to have to do more than just load a basic template.

There are themes to suit everyone’s purposes and tastes. Better ones are highly customizable. You can pick one that’s gorgeous from the get-go, or use a tried and true one that you truly stamp your brand on. Some WordPress themes are faster than others. A little research goes a long way with WP.

Don’t like where you’ve ended up? You can customize a WordPress theme to your liking. You can even customize your WordPress dashboard to have it set up however you want.

Whatever vision you have for your site, there’s a path forward using WordPress, and that’s why more people select it for their sites.

3. Tools? Try a Utility Knife

Plugins can increase and alter the functionality of your site, change how you monitor or otherwise interact with it, or even add ways to communicate with you.

The Essential Guide to WordPress Plugins >>

Whether you want to add images, give visitors a way to contact you, or supercharge your performance — there’s a plugin for that. Here are some of our recommendations:

Of course, you’ll want to monitor your site performance closely when adding plugins. There are a number of tools that can help you detect slow WordPress plugins dragging down your site.

With simple, easy integrations, and constantly becoming more innovative, WordPress is simply Stellar at making your experience better than the rest.

There are free plugins, paid plugins, and even add-ons to those plugins that enhance the functions of those plugins. Think of add-ons as DLC for a game you’ve already installed.

Not only are there countless great plugins available, but a great combination can take your site from iron-tough to Iron Man. Test different combinations and see what works best for you, or leave it to the pros.

For example, Plugin Performance Monitor by Hostdedi compares site performance before and after plugin updates have been made, so you can keep your site fast and high-performing.

4. Great for SEO. No Quip — It’s Just True

When it comes to search engine optimization, it’s more than just about keywords. Think of it this way.

If Google is a highway, your website is a driver. WordPress is the car flashing lights, honking horns, making turns, and (hopefully not) crashing with other cars on the road trying to get other drivers’ attention. But that’s not all!

WordPress is also being monitored by some cameras that are keeping an eye on the road to ensure everything is going smoothly, nobody is driving erratically, and figuring out who shows up at the green light first.

With fantastic plugins like Yoast SEO, your digital content strategy, and the simple fact that so many WP themes are SEO friendly to begin with — WordPress already has a leg up with SEO. It’s one of the key benefits of WordPress.

Further capabilities make it even more valid of a choice. Compression tools like EWWW Image Optimizer, compatibility with a variety of page builders like Beaver Builder and Elementor, and features like autogenerating a robots.txt file are important for your SEO efforts.

The Top 5 SEO Plugins for WordPress Compared >>

Site structure, page load time, and crawl are all affected by the way your site is designed and the size and quality of your resources. That all affects your page rank. WordPress helps make it a breeze.

5. Support So Robust, Emeril Issued A Cease And Desist

As WordPress is free, you’re going to have a ton of people both asking questions and looking for help on the internet. One of the best parts of choosing WordPress to build your site is its enormous support community.

Chances are, if you’ve run into an issue, someone else has too. Simply running a search will likely find you an answer or point you in the right direction.

If you’ve gone with managed, secure WordPress hosting, you’ve got access to an even more extensive panel of experts. There are even companies that provide WordPress Support Services because, as you might expect, with so much of the web dominated by WP, there’s absolutely a need!

As with any open source software, there are limits to what you can get for free on demand — but between YouTube and web forums, you can find an answer to nearly all your questions.

So why choose WordPress? Why do a bit more work? Frankly, everything looks and works better when you’ve put effort into it, and your website’s visitors can tell.

Taking the time to look through support pages and learn can be the difference between staying and leaving when UX means so much to users.

6. More Secure Than That Password You’re Never Going To Remember

Let’s face it. You can really bungle some things up pretty easily if you try. Keeping your site updated (not a problem with Managed Plans, by the way), installing SSL certificates, and enabling security options will go a long way.

There are some vulnerabilities on your site — and that is usually within maliciously-coded themes and plugins. How do you avoid that? Research. There are also a number of ways for hardening WordPress and keeping your site safe.

If your theme or plugin has malicious code, it can affect visitors of your site and potentially people sharing resources on your server. Protect yourself with plugins and software that detect that right off the bat like iThemes.

7. Flexibility That Makes Yoga Enthusiasts Jealous

Why choose WordPress when there are so many other options? Well, the flexibility of the CMS makes it an ideal choice for just about anyone.

Want a blog? Done. Want a site for your business? That’s easy. Heard membership sites are all the rage and want to build a subscription business? WordPress ticks that box, too.

Beginner? No problem. You don’t need to have coding experience. Veteran? Even better. There are options for you, too. There are countless plugins, tools, and interfaces available for transforming your site into virtually whatever you want.

Migrate your existing site over or start fresh. Want to take it a step further? There are plenty of coding tutorials available to guide beginners, and seasoned professionals will be right at home.

With all the resources available online, nothing can stop you from building a site the way you want it because it’s capable of being anything. And really, if you don’t want to learn but have the vision, you can also hire a skilled WordPress developer too.

If you’re wondering, why WordPress? just think of it this way. WordPress is a site builder tofu: it’s got all the important core elements you need. All you need to do is add your flavor.

8. It’s So Reliable, This is Almost a Car Commercial

It’s hard to believe WordPress has only been around since 2003 when it feels like it’s been around forever. With WordPress history going back to almost 20 years, you can’t go wrong with a classic.

Nearly half (44%) of all of the websites on the internet were built on WordPress. If you’ve visited a site today — you’ve probably seen a WordPress site (hint: you’re on one right now).

Why do people use WordPress? Easy. Because it’s great.

People trust WordPress because it consistently performs well. You can create beautiful, functional sites with it. Thanks to it being open source and highly customizable, it’s become the powerhouse that it is, and it’s only gaining more territory.

Generally speaking, people trust what is familiar. WordPress isn’t just familiar, it is used extensively and by industry leaders.

Don’t believe us? Some of the most recognizable brands and hottest celebrities have dropped sites built on WordPress: Clorox, Snoop Dogg, BBC America, Felicia Day, The Walt Disney Company … even The Official StarWars.com blog is built on WordPress.

I Don’t Think You’re Ready For This Query

Why use WordPress? Now you have eight great reasons. And we’re just scratching the surface of all the benefits of WordPress. There are countless reasons why you should use WordPress for your website.

If you want a powerful, customizable site that won’t look like anyone else’s, WordPress is for you.

If you have tried drag and drop interfaces and feel like you’re playing a kid’s game instead of building a professional website, WordPress is for you.

If you want a simple, but elegant solution that doesn’t compromise on the tech flavor that today’s devs can offer, WordPress is for you.

Are you ready to try WordPress yet? Power your site with fully optimized WordPress hosting by Hostdedi.

Get Scalable, Secure WordPress With Hostdedi

With Hostdedi, better is built in.

Hostdedi provides fully-managed WordPress solutions that include:

• Automatic updates.
• SSL for security.
• Built-in CDN.
• Image compression.
• Caching.
• And more.

With Hostdedi, your site is optimized, secure, and fast. Contact us today or check out our fully managed WordPress hosting plans to get started.

If you’re a talented crafter or vintage reseller, Etsy may seem like the only option for making an ecommerce store. An Etsy shop is easy to set up, and you don’t need to know anything about building a website. It would seem like a no-brainer. But then you ask yourself, “Should I sell on Etsy or my own site?”

The ease of setting up your ecommerce store may not be the only factor to consider. Earlier this year, Etsy raised its transaction fees for sellers to 6.5%. And while Etsy’s CEO claims it was to improve marketing and the tools they provide to their sellers, the sellers organized a strike in protest.

Before you decide if you should sell on Etsy or your own site, consider the benefits and limitations of selling on Etsy, and compare them to selling from your own website.

Selling on Etsy

Etsy is a well-known online marketplace for unique handmade and vintage items. Etsy offers brand recognition and other benefits.

Benefits of Selling on Etsy

For sellers looking to hit the ground running without worrying about building their own website, Etsy offers a quick and easy setup. And the setup itself is free, so there’s no web hosting fees or web design costs. Plus, the Etsy platform gives sellers tools to help track their statistics, enabling sellers to better understand and track their sales data.

For new sellers, Etsy can be a great place to build community. Not only does Etsy already have an established audience that is actively searching for products to buy, but sellers help each other and even forge marketing partnerships. For sellers who aren’t sure if their products are viable yet, Etsy is a great place to learn more about ecommerce, as well as a place to refine their process and how they market their work.

Limitations of Selling on Etsy

Unfortunately, there are also limitations to the Etsy platform. Even though it can be a great place to build community, millions of Etsy sellers exist, which means tons of competition for your shop. It’s almost impossible to stand out against the more established sellers. There’s also the threat of copycats since Etsy doesn’t stop other sellers from stealing your designs.

When you consider that Etsy now allows dropshipping — a way to fulfill orders where sellers don’t actually create or house the products — there are concerns that Etsy allows sellers to circumvent the handmade, custom-made, or vintage prerequisite for selling on the platform.

And at the end of the day, Etsy isn’t an ideal platform for building a brand. Your Etsy shop is limited in how much you can brand it, meaning your customers won’t remember you and are unlikely to remain loyal. There’s no easy way to get your customers to sign up for your email list through your Etsy shop, so you can only really contact them through Etsy’s messaging system.

Even though it’s cheap to set up a store, Etsy charges transaction fees, many of which are higher than most common payment processor fees. Sellers pay a flat rate of 20 cents per listing, 6.5% of the total payment collection, and a 25-cent fee when the sale processes through Etsy’s Direct Checkout.

If that weren’t enough, Etsy sellers don’t actually own their stores. So, if Etsy decided to close your shop at any time, you’d lose the entire store and all your reviews and data. So when someone asks if they should sell on Etsy or their own website, what they’re really asking is, “Is Etsy worth the risk?”

Selling on Your Own Site

With all those limitations, it’s good that Etsy isn’t the only option for selling online, especially if you’ve done the “Etsy vs. my own website” cost benefit analysis. Selling on your own website may have a bigger learning curve, but the benefits far outweigh the obstacles.

Selling on your own site allows you to build customer loyalty. You can design the look and feel of your website and use forms to collect customer emails to reach out when you have a new product. This access allows you to create more targeted marketing campaigns because you can collect customer data and create ads and email sequences based on that information.

And even though your site is one of many on the internet, your customers won’t be distracted by sellers with similar products or product copycats because you won’t be sharing a site with other sellers. Since you own the site, you get to determine the rules you operate by. You won’t be subject to arbitrary fee increases or the high fees Etsy charges on sold items. Most payment processors tend to charge smaller fees than Etsy.

When you build your store, you’re in charge of the content you put on the site, the product descriptions, the design of the store, and the search engine optimization. Selling on your own site puts the power back in your hands.

StoreBuilder is an Easy Option

If you’re ready to build your own ecommerce store and avoid Etsy’s fees and lack of transparency, StoreBuilder is an easy way to create your own online store with all the best features already included.

Learn more about StoreBuilder and how you can quickly and easily build your own online store.

Don’t let the fear of not knowing how to create an ecommerce store hold you back. And don’t get stuck selling your products on a platform with arbitrary fees and no customer loyalty. Get started with StoreBuilder today.