With a history of over ten years in web design I have an extensive knowledge of WordPress and other web technologies. In this article you will find out if web developers use WordPress and why.
Do web developers use WordPress? Yes. WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for build a website or business. WordPress controls about 30% of the website market and 60% of the CMS (content management system) market making it one of the most used technologies. If you are going to build websites, you need to know WordPress and how it works.
In this article we will dig into why WordPress is so popular and what you can expect building a website with it.
WordPress Market Share and Facts
According to the latest statics on WordPress, it controls about 30% of the website market and 60% of the CMS market.
That is a giant amount of market share for any company let alone websites when people have so many choices. Still as a new developer or customer you may wonder why does WordPress do so well. There are several reasons that cause them to gain in popularity over the years.
One of the main reasons WordPress has done so well is it is steam rolling the competition. It’s been around so long and has so many themes, plugins and support that there is zero things you can’t learn from Googling “WordPress X”.
This has made WordPress only gain ground in the website market. Because of this, developers have been forced to support WordPress even if they don’t want to support it due to popularity.
There is a growing number of people who do not care for WordPress and will not use it but if you look at sheer statics, WordPress is overwhelming winning the web. The second and third closest websites are Joomla and Drupal and they have 3% and 1.9% which is a big gap from 30%.
Why Developers have to accept WordPress
WordPress is completely free so if someone wants to build a website today they could download and install it for free. That principle makes WordPress one of the most attractive offers but doesn’t seal the deal.
The community that is behind WordPress is what is driving the CMS to explode among developers. A lot of newer developers are being forced to use it if they haven’t learned it due to the sheer demand.
Another thing that is happening is the market is changing. When Squarespace and Wix came out the market demanded a simpler interface. Since then WordPress has made changes to make sure they keep up with the market demands.
The greatest asset of WordPress is not the company itself but the millions of people who support it by building themes and plugins which increase its value.
Why WordPress isn’t the right solution for Every project
Web developers are masters of knowing what should be used for what. WordPress does not differ from any other project. Not all projects will meet the demand of a WordPress platform. It’s important that people understand WordPress is not a one size fits all.
If someone wants to open up an e-commerce store for instance, WordPress while it can do that is not the only choice. Developers can use Shopify or Magneto which are two popular e-commerce platforms.
Also, because of WordPress’s popularity its put a target on the company. Hackers are constantly trying to break WordPress sites. This is because the more popular something becomes the easier it becomes to find exploits.
Some developers will have you shy away from WordPress because of this but companies have been doing a great job of protecting websites. Website security is becoming top notch even for some free plugins that stop a majority of web attacks.
What WordPress Alternatives can a web developer use?
The top four alternatives to WordPress are the following in the order of popularity:
1. Joomla
Joomla has really made a name for itself as another solid CMS. Out of the box it comes with way more than WordPress provides such as better search engine optimization and better security. However, in the plugin market it struggles to compete with WordPress. Still on the security side Joolma is a very secure CMS with lots of features that a normal developer would not struggle to deal with.
2. Drupal
Drupal is the third wheel on our list against WordPress. Drupal is another CMS that has seen its fair share of attention but most of this attention comes from Government websites. It’s a fairly good and solid CMS with the ability for complex websites but unlike WordPress it’s not user friendly. A person has to know code to do simple things like updates of modules. Due to the fact that it is not as popular security issues have been less of an issue for this CMS.
3. Squarespace
Squarespace is a newer comer to the website market who has been around for a little while. Anyone who is anyone has seen their commercials and advertisements. They are completely contained ecosystem meaning you pay Squarespace directly and they host your website. They handle updates and security while you pay a fee. Squarespace has quickly become a popular choice among newer business owners but the platform really can‘t support a government level business nor a huge website such as New York Times. It’s specifically meant for newer websites.
4. Shopify
Shopify is the WordPress of e-commerce. No one does e-commerce better than Shopify and their numbers prove it. Millions of people have signed for a store deciding to forgo the traditional website and Shopify has made them happy. Like Squarespace it’s got its own ecosystem so you will pay to play. Addition-ons will cost extra and many other features you would find free in WordPress and other CMS. Still Shopify has made the process so easy users can’t help use it.
How to get started with WordPress
WordPress is so easy you can use something like WordPress.org and sign up for an account which is free. If you have your own hosting companies 99% of them support WordPress and will allow you to install it on the host.
Either way, getting started and learning it is helpful for finding a good developer and knowing what you want.
Of course all the above solutions work well also. A good developer should be able to use whatever platform you would like to use. Some developers will specialize so it’s important that you ask when you are looking for someone to work on your website.
Related Questions
Is WordPress really the best? I won’t use another platform. If a customer comes to me, it’s either WordPress or you can find someone else. While this is a personal opinion, it’s because of how well developed WordPress has become. It’s come a long way from the days of blogging.
If I don’t pick WordPress will I run into issues? Yes and No. Obviously websites are not without issues. In order to do certain things you will find limitations that might not be in WordPress due to the sheer number of plugins that can add almost any functionality to a website. But at the same time picking a less popular solution will have it own set of problems.
How do I find out if a web developer can work on WordPress? Ask them what platform they have worked on before. Most web developers are very honest and will go into technical details with you to explain what they did on a project. It never hurts to ask them, you may learn something new.
I hope this article has answered your question and given you enough to think about. If you want to learn more about WordPress we publish articles all the time teaching people how to do things in WordPress.
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