5 Reasons Why You Should Learn How to Use WordPress

If you find yourself wondering, “should I learn WordPress,” then you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be, because I will help answer that question for you. It means you’ve heard about it, maybe from a colleague or friend, and you’ve done your research.

But, what you’ve probably missed is weighing all the in-depth pros and cons of why you need to start learning how to use it. That’s exactly why I’ve decided to show you what perfecting WordPress skills can do for your future career.

I graduated in English a couple of years ago, and I never believed I would find a job that suited my skills, so I decided to take up anything as long as it pays the bills. Eventually, I learned about WordPress. I figured, why not try it? I can put my writing skills to good use, and on top of all that, it’s free, so it wouldn’t hurt to try. So, that’s what I did.

At school, I learned to think critically and write, but WordPress taught me something more, something that should have been implemented at school so that students will learn it as well, and those are skills that an employer will value.

Here I will focus on the following topics:

• Should I learn WordPress and What Makes it Special?
• List of Factors that Make WordPress Popular
• What to Use WordPress For?
• The Top Most Important Skillsets WordPress Can Teach You

Should I learn WordPress and What Makes it Special?

To answer the question, should I learn WordPress today, I will be focusing on some research to point out the importance of this platform and its influence.

Based on statistics, as of 2019, 35% of all the websites in the world have been created on WordPress, which is 60% of the CMS (Content Management Systems) market. And this is how it compares to its competitors on the global market. This is a table of some of the most popular ones. Let’s take a look.

As you can see, most of the websites and blogs in the world are hosted on WordPress. I don’t believe this platform will lose the crown anytime soon. It is even more popular than self-hosted CMS.

In 2011, WordPress powered 13.1% of all the websites. While in 2014, their success almost doubled, reaching a staggering 21%. In 2017, that number reached exactly 27.3%. By the beginning of 2019, it was 33.6%, and now it has reached 35%. If you do the math, that’s 23% growth. In other words, their success may not be immediate, but it’s growing much faster, shadowing their competition.

List of Factors that Make WordPress Popular

There are multiple reasons why this platform is so popular. Here are the most common ones:

• Easy to work with
• Good for a website or a blog
• Plenty of themes to choose from
• Has the option to add plugins
• Search engine – friendly
• Huge community
• Adapted to mobile phones and tablets
• Updated and perfected through the years
• Open-source platform
• Mature community

It is easy to set up and gets started on WordPress. You will only need a web browser and a proper internet connection to create your own website, that’s it. And, you will learn everything else you can use step by step if you follow the tips on the platform itself. Also, you can customize and manage your website as you see fit.

You will also have access to thousands of themes professionally designed to meet everyone’s taste – some of which are completely free to use. If you want to add a little complexity to your website, you can do that too. The platform allows for plugins to be added if necessary, adding additional functionality to the entire site. These plugins are not as complex as you think. You don’t need to hire a professional coder to do that for you, and all the options will be easy to access.

The SEO options make it a search-engine-friendly platform. Therefore, if you plan on getting more people to see your website, WordPress will automatically solve that problem for you if you know how to make use of it. You get a Yoast SEO plugin completely free.

Something that not many other platforms have is the option to be mobile-friendly. WordPress is evolving and adapting to current trends. Therefore, if you make a website on WordPress, that website can be easily viewed from a mobile device as well. Anyone with a tablet or phone can access your site from anywhere.

According to statistics from 2019, more than 2.70 billion people use a smartphone, while 5 billion use different mobile devices. That means having a website suitable on different devices is a crucial factor to success.

Moreover, WordPress has been around for more than ten years. So, it has been updated, tested, and refined multiple times. The community is also more mature. Even though anyone can make a website, only the most serious ones decide to stick to the very end investing time and effort into building their own content. And, we all know that time is an extremely valuable commodity.

Last but not least is the fact that WordPress is open-source. In other words, there are no limitations or commercial restrictions. All the software you see, it’s available for use. You can choose to host the website without fearing that a more expensive business model will have a more serious impact than you. Of course, the WordPress business model does have its perks, but it doesn’t separate the free users from the paying ones with unreasonable restrictions. On the contrary, you can still make the most of it without having to pay a huge sum of money.

What to Use WordPress For?

One of the most popular reasons people decide to try out WordPress is to create their own blog. The service is easy to use, fun, free and doesn’t require too much work to get started. Others use it to make their own business websites.

This is a convenient and flexible platform with a lot to offer, and you can use it for a lot more than that. Anyone can create webpages for both big and small companies. No need to have HTML knowledge; all the options and features are within reach.

Another reason people use WordPress is to make their own sales page where they can market products for any kind of item. You can even create your own portfolio to show-off your WordPress skills. Basically, you can monetize your website to make money from it.

In other words, there are many things you can use WordPress for, but some of the most popular ones are to:

• Create a blog
• Start an online business
• Make a website
• Offer online courses
• Create a membership website
• Make an online magazine
• News site
• Portfolio
• Polls