No one imagined WordPress would turn out to be this big.
It started as a humble blogging platform that’s built on MySQL and PHP. Its purpose was to help bloggers, well, blog. It’s an open source software which means a lot of people worldwide are working to constantly improve it. And it’s free, too.
These might be the reasons why there is this misconception that WordPress is not really a proper website platform. That if it is free and for blogging—which has been stereotyped as “just a hobby”—then it might not be suited for commercial websites. And most likely, it also isn’t secure.
But blogging has grown to be more than just a diversion. It is now a profitable profession. In fact, a lot of people have made their fortune writing blogs.
For most businesses, blogging has grown to be one of the best ways to publish authority content and connect with their audience. It is a lead generation tool and the cornerstone of most online marketing strategies.
WordPress has grown, too, and it has grown immensely. It is now one of the biggest, most powerful Content Management System (CMS) in the world.
WordPress is still free. It is still an open source software, but it is a platform not just for personal recipes and DIY ideas, but as home to some of the world’s most popular names and brands. Here are some of them:
1. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
If NASA is not a serious agency, we don’t know what is. Scientists need to build their site on a platform that can adjust to their needs without taking up too much of their time so they could focus more on aeronautics and space research.
And WordPress does just that.
This is what NASA have to say about WordPress: “We use WordPress as a flexible platform. It’s a CMS that we adapt to a whole bunch of needs.”
They also said their nontechnical personnel are able to contribute to their blog and figure out how to do it on their own. This shows just how easy it is to use WordPress.
2. Reuter’s Blog, CNN, BBC America, The New Yorker and other news agencies
These news agencies have huge followings. Can you imagine how many visits these websites get in a day? On average, about five million. When there are important events like election day, the number of unique visit can reach as many as 27 million – or even higher.
The reason why their sites don’t crash is because WordPress, the platform they used to build their website on, can be scaled.
It has the capacity to handle high volumes of traffic and in effect, helps these websites reinforce trustworthiness and reliability, retaining their visitors and creating more loyal users. Nothing less than optimal performance is expected from news agencies and WordPress helps them deliver it.
3. The Official Star Wars Blog, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and other entertainment personalities and sites
Aside from being scalable and easy to use, WordPress is also beautiful.
You can check out the websites of Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Kobe Bryant, Jane Fonda, Sylvester, Stallone, Miley Cyrus, Enterprise Magazine UK and other stars and entertainment sites to see just how beautifully-designed a website could be with WordPress.
WordPress can also be easily integrated with social media and other services.
AMC’s ”Walking Dead” was able to bring together its fans from around the world by integrating a service to their website called StorySync. Through it fans from all over the globe were able to come together to share exclusive videos, trivia and even watch episodes on air. You’d be surprised at the extent of service integration you can do with WordPress.
4. Marks & Spencer for Business, Ebay Inc., Best Buy, Xerox, Verizon and other businesses
WordPress has the capability to support the needs of eCommerce brands. You can host your own URL, set up a shop, manage inventory, marketing and other features needed for eCommerce such as accepting Paypal payments, shipping rates, and many others.
There is an extension for anything you might possibly need which is why it is the choice of big businesses like Ebay, Best Buy, Verizon, Ford, Samsung, Sony, Coca-Cola and so many other big brands.
5. The Mozilla Blog, Google Ventures, Yahoo!, TechCrunch, Facebook Newsroom, etc.
WordPress has advanced analytics and SEO plugins. It allows you to launch quickly. It is also mobile-friendly. In fact, even tech companies and personalities have websites built on WordPress.
Web optimization expert, Even Matt Cutts from Google, has a personal blog that’s been built on WordPress.
Danny Sullivan created the search engine news site, Search Engine Land, through WordPress.
SaaS app OptinMonster switched to WordPress because they need to have more room for rising API requests.
WordPress is a dynamic platform that could support any kind of site—be it a small or well-known business brand, fashion, technical or entertainment company. You can count on it to keep your websites reliable, uninterrupted, fast and secure. That’s how capable WordPress is.
Would you like to have a unique website built on WordPress? Something that’s great not just on PCs but on mobile as well. We can help. Just send us an email at [email protected] and let’s talk about it.