At Ironpaper, we work hard to understand the needs of an enterprise in order to make a content management system recommendation. Wordpress is one of our favorites, and here are a few reasons why we love the platform.
Pingomatic integration.
Wordpress integrates with Pingomatic, a web service that automatically notifies Google and other search engines when new blog/news/press content has been added to a website. This is important for SEO, as it helps to expedite the inclusion process in search engines.
Extremely customizable design.
Sure many Wordpress users purchase themes that are used by hundreds of other websites. Wordpress can also be used by businesses that need a unique, branded presence. Wordpress is a developer-friendly environment that allows for the custom creation of themes, plugins and tools for a website.
Design separate from core application / CMS.
The Theme engine of Wordpress keeps the website design separate from the CMS and core functionality to make maintenance and updates easier. Many CMS tools do not have this same clean separation between the design (theme) and core.
PHP-based CMS.
PHP is a server-side language that is extremely popular on the web. PHP is used to develop Wordpress themes and plugins. From a maintenance and hiring standpoint, PHP is much easier to source than other web development languages.
SEO-friendly CMS.
Wordpress is a great platform for websites that focus heavily on organic search as a marketing channel. SEO is one of the big benefits of Wordpress. Wordpress began as a blog and news engine, so it is perfect for websites that publish frequently. It has a tagging system, SEO-friendly URLs, controllable taxonomy and extensible environment well-suited for marketing.
Website redesign capabilities.
As mentioned above, Wordpress has a theme engine that is separated from the core CMS application. This allows enterprises and businesses to make updates quickly and cost-effectively. It is also relatively easy to overhaul the design of a website, while keeping the content and overlying application in tact. Many companies may be able to redesign their website, without having to switch systems. Wordpress web design can reduce cost and frustration.
Quick and easy installation.
This may not be a big concern out of the "starting gate" for most brand managers or CMOs, but a fast installation process helps reduce overall development time. This can get your brand in the game faster. Also, for brands that like a contemporary web design process, Wordpress can be a great tool for rapid prototyping and iterative web design.
Brainless installation of core system updates.
For many content management systems, updating the core CMS can be a pain. Wordpress alleviates much of this pain by push button (instant) core updates. This also makes it easier to keep a website secure. Many CMS owners do not keep up with security updates, because of the pain involved. This is much less true for Wordpress.
Most popular CMS in the world.
From a trust standpoint, Wordpress is the world’s most popular CMS. Wordpress powers more websites than any other CMS in the market.