WordPress – The World’s Best CMS
There are countless content management systems (CMS) available to website owners today. Some CMS systems are proprietary and custom-built that will set you back a monthly or annual licensing fee, while others, like WordPress, are completely free to download and customise to suit your unique website needs. Over the past decade, we have worked with a handful of different solutions and even custom built a few content management systems, but when it comes down to it, we wholeheartedly believe WordPress cannot be beaten. For this reason, our website developers recommend WordPress website design almost exclusively to our clients with the exception of extremely complex websites that sometimes require a more robust content management solution such as Drupal, or perhaps a custom built solution. If you are considering a new website design and have need for an easy to use CMS system, here’s why we’d highly recommend considering WordPress…
WordPress is Open Source
WordPress website design is an “Open Source” platform. The term “Open Source” refers to software whose source code is available for modification or enhancement by anyone, anytime, anywhere. Source code is the part of website software that most computer users don’t ever see; it’s the code that computer programmers work with in order to determine how a piece of software like WordPress works. Programmers who have access to a computer program’s source code can improve that program by adding new features or fixing parts that may not always work as expected to create a better, more secure product.
Essentially, what makes WordPress open source software so great is that developers from all around the world continually improve upon it. It’s a global effort by developers with different and unique views on how things should work that all come together to create the best possible product available to us all.
WordPress is an open source software program that runs on the Internet providing website administrators with the ability to make quick and easy updates to their web content. WordPress is typically installed within minutes and most hosts offer a “one-click install” for the average user to get started without the help of a web developer. Website administrators can log into their website via web browser at any time and perform regular website updates, such as text and image additions (or revisions), software updates, and even modifications to things like meta content that help with web search engine optimization.
As developers around the globe are continually improving upon WordPress, users enjoy regular core and plugin updates that add new functionality and address things like ever evolving security requirements. Additionally, like most Open Source solutions, there are countless plugins available for WordPress that can be highly customised to suit a specific need for just about any website.
Best of all, WordPress is completely free.
There are key advantages to note when choosing an Open Source content management system like WordPress instead of a Closed Source or proprietary system. With WordPress:
- There are regular security updates
- The software is inherently flexible and can be customised on the fly
- There are no costs associated with using or updating WordPress software
The web is continually evolving and your WordPress CMS system should be up to date at all times to keep your information and online reputation secure. And in the end, who doesn’t like free stuff?
WordPress is Extremely Flexible
WordPress was first launched in 2003 as a free blogging software that was designed for the everyday web user to install and use, without much effort or technical knowledge, and begin blogging in minutes. Since then, largely due to the fact that WordPress is an easy-to-use, free Open Source solution, the software has grown into a mature and stable content management suite that is used by more people around the world than any other web-based platform. WordPress software is so flexible and versatile that developers are consistently finding new ways to customise and stretch its functionality on the web. This point alone is why we like WordPress website design, it is our favourite content management software system. With a little web development expertise and creativity, Parachute Design can easily shape the core software to suit just about any of our client’s unique requirements and apply a completely custom-tailored web design to a website’s front end to engage viewers and deliver exceptional results that our clients have come to expect.
WordPress is Fast and User-Friendly
Perhaps our second most favourite thing about WordPress web design is how quick and easy it is for our clients to pick up and learn how to use in just minutes. With all of our new WordPress website designs, we spend an average of 15 to 20 minutes on the phone guiding our clients through the administrative tools available to manage their new website. In addition to this training session, we also prepare a digital CMS User Guide featuring actual screenshots of their WordPress website, along with notes sprinkled throughout each scenario explaining everything from content management to managing user accounts to best practices for web search engine optimisation. We’ve found this has made life so easy for our clients that we often don’t hear from them for months or even years at a time! Yes, we do get lonely…
With web search engine optimisation playing such a critical role in every business today, giving our clients the tools and knowledge to manage this aspect of their online presence is a critical part of our WordPress website design and development philosophy.
WordPress Security
With any website, especially database-driven content managed websites, security is always a pressing issue. Some people may tell you that WordPress is not very secure and is frequently hacked – this is partially true. WordPress sites are hacked all the time, in part, because of the sheer volume of WordPress websites out there outnumbering every other platform, and also because the majority of these sites are inadvertently left open to attacks by their owners.
For comparison, you would not go away for a holiday and leave your front door unlocked. The same goes for your website. There are several ways to secure a WordPress website design and they are all very quick and easy to do, even for the average website administrator.
Use a Reputable Hosting Company
First and foremost, we recommend you host your WordPress website with a reputable website hosting company that offers security and regular website and database backups. We highly recommend WP Engine for these reasons and more. WP Engine specialises in hosting WordPress web design exclusively and they are currently the only hosting company in the world that can boast that title. Created, managed and supported by WordPress gurus, they are so confident in their service and security, that if your WordPress site gets hacked, they will fix and restore it for free.
Security Plugins
Second, you should ensure you are running a security plugin like Wordfence. Wordfence Security is the latest and greatest in open source security plugins for WordPress website design. This enterprise-class security software offers top notch malicious URL and live traffic scanning, plus two-factor cell phone authentication and a rock solid firewall. Wordfence also boasts built-in tools to verify and repair the WordPress core, as well as any plugins or installed themes without the availability of backups.
You can also purchase a plan from Sucuri and install their WordPress plugin that helps you automatically harden your WordPress installation against attackers with the click of a button. Sucuri will also continually scan your website for real-time threats and notify you by email when action should be taken. They will also clean and restore your website for free in the event of a security breach if you are a current plan holder.
For more tips on securing your WordPress web design against attackers, have a look at our blog articles “How to Help Prevent Your WordPress Site from Being Hacked” and “The Four Pillars of WordPress Security.”
WordPress Hosting
Choosing the right host for your WordPress website is a critical step for any website owner and the specifics of your website’s programming and unique functions will help narrow your choices. For clients that use our WordPress website design we highly recommend Kinsta as their specialised WordPress hosting is second to none. Core WordPress software updates and daily backups are made automatically for you, their security is best in class, and their site administrative services and support are easy to use and designed with you in mind. Not to mention, at $29 per month, we think this is a great deal!
If you choose to host your WordPress web design (or any open source content managed a website for that matter) somewhere else, there are a few things to consider outside of security and support. Be sure to choose a Linux-based server, as Open Source PHP software will run more efficiently in this environment than in a Unix-based environment that simply emulates the Linux server. This essentially slows your website down and can result in sketchy, less stable performance that not only hinders your WordPress website’s SEO performance but can frustrate your visitors as well.
Also, you should consider a web host that makes a regular backup at least once a day, that is readily and easily available to you in the event of an emergency or malicious attack. Most website owners do not possess the know-how to create website or database backups on their own or how to reinstate a website if something terrible does happen.
Ask Us About WordPress Website Design
If the above points are still not enough to convince you to consider WordPress website design we encourage you to read our blog article “7 Reasons to Use WordPress as Your Content Management System” or get in touch with us and we’d be happy to answer any questions you might have about choosing a content management system.
To find out more about our WordPress web design and custom WordPress development services, please contact our Toronto WordPress Design Company or feel free to explore some of our work, such as the JUNO Awards case study.
If you’re ready to start planning your custom WordPress Website Design, please fill out our online quote request form, or call us in Toronto at 416 901 8633.
