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| What You Should Know Before Using Wordpress For A Website |
Wordpress is easily the most popular CMS on the internet right now. And while much of that popularity rests on its remarkable usability, there are a few things that many people fail to consider before jumping on the Wordpress bandwagon. Is Wordpress secure? How beneficial is Wordpress for businesses? What are the benefits of shared hosting vs. Wordpress hosting? These and other questions are ones that new users rarely ask, but ones that can cause you trouble in the future if you pass them by.
Hosting
The two most popular hosting options for new Wordpress users are shared and Wordpress hosting. But what can sometimes confuse new users is that you can get both of these options at the same time. Shared hosting simply means that your website is sharing server space with other accounts. This kind of hosting is by far the cheapest, which is why it’s so popular with first-time users. Wordpress hosting, on the other hand, means that your hosting plan is specifically designed with Wordpress in mind. Certain features are optimized to serve Wordpress users, and the overall hosting plan caters to the specific needs of Wordpress sites over sites created on other platforms. Wordpress hosting can come with any kind of hosting plan, including shared, VPS, or cloud. Many new users feel like they have to choose one or the other, and when they can’t find an exclusive “Wordpress hosting” package, they often opt for shared hosting that isn’t necessarily Wordpress optimized. Don’t let yourself fall into this trap. When looking for a hosting package, look for web hosts that provide Wordpress hosting as part of their plans.
Security
Wordpress is secure, but because it’s so popular, it’s a high target for hackers. This is yet another reason to opt for Wordpress hosting, as many of the extra features included with Wordpress hosting plans have to do with security. Wordpress does a relatively good job of updating its system, but every version inevitably has security vulnerabilities. Because it’s used by so many people, security holes can become common knowledge relatively quickly. If you do decide to use Wordpress, you should make security a priority. You don’t need to go crazy, but making sure that your passwords are strong and that you’re keeping up with your updates.
Different Kinds of Sites
In theory, you can create any type of site with Wordpress. People have made very successful sites on Wordpress for all different purposes, including business websites, eCommerce, blogs, portfolios, resumes, forums, and even social networks. However, the way that Wordpress is set up does tend to favor certain kinds of sites over others. Wordpress was originally designed as blogging software, and it remains true that blogs and portfolios are by far the easiest kinds of sites to build with Wordpress. If this is the kind of site you’re looking to build, there’s no other CMS that going to give you better tools. However, where Wordpress can sometimes lag behind other platforms is in the world of eCommerce. Many people have built extremely successful eCommerce sites with Wordpress, but this almost always necessitates many plug-ins and extra design features. Increasingly, other CMS platforms that cater to eCommerce like Shopify or Magneto are pulling eCommerce business owners away from Wordpress, as their platforms are far superior when it comes to building that kind of business. If you intend to use Wordpress for an eCommerce business, you should definitely install WooCommerce, a Wordpress eCommerce plug-in that optimizes your Wordpress site for doing business. However, it might also be worth it to look into other CMS programs and see if what they have to offer is going to be better for your site.
Cost
Many people say that the best thing about Wordpress is its usability, but it wouldn’t have proliferated if it wasn’t free. Wordpress is 100% free to download, which means that if you exclusively use free plug-ins, themes, and other features, you can have a gorgeous, fully functional site for $0. This is not something to take for granted, especially if you don’t have access to a big budget.
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