Curious has been using WordPress for (pretty much) all the websites that we’ve ever produced.
There’s a bit of snobbery out in the Internet and everyone has a view as to the ‘best’ platform to use – some swear by Shopify, others thing that going headless is the answer, other tribes will scoff if you venture away from just using pure HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Everyone has a view on their ‘best’ solution, so we thought it might be good idea to explain why we’ve landed on ours.
But first, a caveat.
For reasons that will hopefully become clear, we think WordPress is pretty great. That doesn’t mean though that it’s the only answer to a web development problem. It really depends on what you need from your website.
Very often, the platform isn’t that important. What’s more key is presenting your users with clear messaging, and delivering a smooth user journey, so they’re encouraged to do what you want them to.
Speak to your web developers about what it is you need and let them find the right solution for you.
What is WordPress anyway?
WordPress isn’t a coding language – it’s a Content Management System (CMS). It was created back in 2003 as a simple way to allow people to create content really easily and post it online as a website blog.
It’s come a long way since then, but its foundations have remained the same. It isn’t a way to code. It’s a framework that allows users to edit and store data so it can be displayed on a website.
There are lots of ways you can do that displaying bit – but most people make use of WordPress’ ability to use one of thousands of commercially available ‘themes’ to take that stored data and present it online in a visually appealing way as a website.
Since its launch it’s grown and grown, and now over 40% of ALL websites use it:
Market Share of Content Management Systems
63% of websites that use a content management system, use WordPress
One of WordPress’ other strengths is that, if you want your website to carry out a specific function, you can bolt on a whole host of ‘plugins’ to the core platform that will allow you to extend the website to carry out a huge array of tasks. Want an online shop? No problem. Event Management? Again, there are a loads of options to choose from.
Pretty much anything you want to do with a website – from a tool hire service to online course delivery is possible, just by installing the appropriate plugin – saving days of time (and thousands of pounds) on coding the functionality from scratch.
The huge marketplaces of different themes & plugins that you can simply download and install is one of the key reasons WordPress so popular. Whilst there’s a bit of a learning curve to work out how the platform works, you often don’t need to have any software development skills to be able to put a website together.
Under the hood, things are a little different. WordPress is built on a software language called PHP, and this along with HTML, JavaScript, CSS are what are working in perfect harmony to actually generate the websites it’s used to create. And that’s where it gets interesting for us.
Open Source Heaven
Fundamentally WordPress is Open Source software: the developers that built it make the code available so that other developers can review it, suggest changes, and add to it. Each of the plugins and themes available for it are created as a result of this approach, and are themselves also licensed on an Open Source basis. That means that we can use, edit and develop the code to make it do exactly what we want.
We’ve taken the base version of WordPress, which by default comes with a lot of features designed to make it easier to use for the average user, and stripped it right back: creating a version of the software that’s quicker and more efficient than standard WordPress.
Then, when we create a new WordPress website, we create a unique theme for that customer, that only includes what they want – so each of our clients gets a fast, bespoke website that precisely meets their needs.
Let’s dive into why this approach works so well for us and our clients…
Seven reasons we love WordPress
1. Freedom
When you create a website from a template, they all end up looking a little bit ‘samey’.
Sometimes that’s for good reason – users get used to seeing things a certain way, and when you’re designing functions on a website you want to leverage that and have things where users intuitively expect. That’s great for deciding where you put your ‘Buy’ button, but most of our clients want a website that stands out from the masses and truly reflects their company.
Creating a bespoke theme for each of our customers means we’re completely free to create any visual design that we choose, rather than be constrained by the rules that might exist within an ‘off the shelf’ theme. We start each project with a blank sheet of paper and are free to create any layouts, animation or content we choose.
A bespoke theme also means that, should our customers want to change their website in the future, we don’t have to rebuild things from the ground up. As we’ve created the rules that decide how it looks, it’s simple for us to change them.
2. Flexibility
One of the best things about WordPress is its flexibility. You can use it to create any type of website, from simple blogs to complex e-commerce sites. With our custom version, we take this flexibility to the next level. We can tailor the platform to meet the specific needs of each project, ensuring that our clients get exactly what they want, and only that – without any unnecessary ‘bloat’ that will slow the website down.
Need some functionality that isn’t available from WordPress’ plugins libraries? We can create it.
Despite some pretty complicated requests over the years, the platform’s flexibility means we’re always able to deliver what our clients are looking for – no matter how challenging the requirement.
3. Easy to Use
With around 43% of websites on the Internet being built on WordPress (that’s over 80 million websites!), and it being around over for over 20 years, WordPress is pretty familiar to many people.
Though our front ends (the screens that users see) are bespoke, the admin area is immediately recognisable to someone that’s used WordPress before – making it far less scary to use. WordPress’ user-friendly interface makes it easy for our clients to manage their websites and ou custom version retains this simplicity while adding powerful features tailored to each client’s needs. Even if you’re not tech-savvy, we’ve create a platform where you can still update your content, add new pages, and manage your site with ease.
If you’re a complete technophobe and really don’t want to get your hands dirty? No problem. We’ve a range of care plans that means, once it’s live, we’ll be on hand to keep your site updated and relevant.
4. Search-Engine Friendly
WordPress is known for being SEO-friendly – helping your website rank higher in search engine results. Our custom version includes additional SEO features, to help give our clients an edge over their competition. And that lack of ‘bloat’ I mentioned earlier? Well, that means the site naturally loads more quickly – a big tick for search engines.
It gives our customers more bang for their buck: improving their online visibility; outperforming their competition; and helping deliver free traffic to their websites.
5. Security
Security is a top priority for us. Whilst we’re not going to share all the details here (they’re far too hush hush!), our custom version of WordPress includes enhanced security measures to protect our clients’ websites from potential threats. We have industry leading monitoring to check our sites for vulnerabilities, and regularly update our platform – ensuring that our clients’ data is always safe.
6. Community
WordPress has a massive and incredibly active community, which means there’s a wealth of resources available. There’s a huge array of help, support, guides and extensions available. If you’re stuck and don’t want to get us involved, there are tonnes of forums. blogs and videos offering all the help in the suit o guide you. More importantly, our team is available to provide dedicated support to ensure our clients always have the help they need, when they need it.
7. Scalability
As your business grows, your website needs to grow with it. WordPress is highly scalable, allowing you to add new features and expand your site without starting from scratch. Our custom version is designed to accommodate this growth, making it easy to evolve and scale up as needed. We truly believe that you should never need to build a new website again.
Is WordPress Right for you?
As I explained at the start, there are lots of different view as to the best platform to use for a website – and we’re certainly not going to claim that WordPress is the best fit for everyone.
There is though at 80:20 rule at play here, with most clients that come to us want a site that’s cost-effective, easily updatable, flexible and fast – and WordPress is a very good fit for them.
That said, with each client that gets in touch, we start off the project by taking time to understand their needs and finding a solution that’s right for them. If we think that’s Shopify, or Headless, then you can be sure we’ll recommend.
Want to speak to us about whether WordPress is the right platform for you? Get in touch.