This article has been updated on June 29, 2024.
WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world, powering millions of websites. Its flexibility and ease of use make it a top choice for businesses of all sizes. Selecting the right business WordPress themes is crucial for creating an engaging and professional online presence that reflects your brand’s goals.
What is WordPress and Why is it Popular?
WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) that allows users to create and manage digital content with ease. Itโs the most popular CMS in the world, powering over 60 million websites, including 31% of the top 1 million e-commerce sites. But what makes WordPress so popular?
Originally developed as a blogging platform, WordPress has evolved into a multifaceted CMS that caters to a variety of website needs, including eCommerce and customizable themes. It gives you the tools you need to get your project or business online fast to make your vision a reality.
While many perceive WordPress as just a blogging platform, it has grown into a comprehensive content management system capable of supporting various types of websites, emphasizing its flexibility and robust features.
WordPress stands out because it adapts to your needs. More than simply a platform, itโs a companion on your brand journey, providing the tools and support you need to thrive and grow online.
WordPress is an excellent CMS for businesses. Its open-ended architecture allows it to grow with your business.
For small business owners and entrepreneurs, WordPress offers an easy-to-use interface that requires little technical expertise. Its flexibility and scalability make it suitable for both small businesses and large corporations, with a wide range of customizable themes, plugins, and extensions to meet your specific needs.
As the worldโs most popular CMS, WordPress stands out for its versatility. Itโs like a Swiss Army knife for web design, offering solutions for nearly any type of website. As an open-source platform, it allows users to transform a basic setup into an ecommerce website using plugins like WooCommerce, or into a photo gallery, news site, or anything else your heart desires. Making it ideal for developers and designers seeking customization and enhanced user experience..
Table of Contents
The WordPress Market Share Stats are Impressive
Here are some key statistics regarding WordPress in 2024:
- Market Share: Worldwide, 42.7% of websites use WordPress. WordPress dominates the CMS industry with a 62.5% share, surpassing Joomla (1.8%) and Drupal (1.1%) (Kinstaยฎ). (Kinstaยฎ)โโ
- Plugin Availability: The WordPress plugin catalog has over 60,000 plugins, allowing users to modify their sites. (Hostinger)
- Theme Variety: Besides the 12,000 free themes in third-party marketplaces like ThemeForest, premium themes are also available. Astra and Divi are popular themes with millions of active installations.(Hostinger)
- Usage Statistics: WordPress is used by 43.3% of all websites. More than 500 sites are built using WordPress each day. Notably, 36.28% of the top 1 million websites are powered by WordPressโ (BloggersPassion)โ.
- E-commerce Dominance: WooCommerce, the leading WordPress e-commerce plugin, powers 22% of the top 1 million e-commerce sites and has over 86 million downloads. This technology is essential for online retailers, providing customization and functionalityโ (Hostinger)โโ
Which CMS Should I use? Spoiler Alert: Wordpress
You might ask yourself, which CMS should I use? There is a lot of competing information, and some of it may be biased. You must decide whether companies promoting their own CMS or affiliate marketers are writing the information.
While thereโs nothing wrong with content marketing, itโs important to keep this in mind when comparing articles and opinions.
Many authors champion their favorite CMS. For us, itโs WordPressโand thereโs no affiliate commission involved here. You might hear that PHP, which powers WordPress, is dying, but thatโs far from true. Similarly, claims about one CMS being better for SEO or loading faster can be subjective. How they are built will determine these things.
Just a few examples of websites you can create with WordPress include blogs, e-commerce stores, portfolios, and business websites.
Let’s dig into why.
Choosing the Right WordPress Hosting Plan
Choosing the right WP hosting plan is key to your online businessโs success. With various options available, itโs important to consider factors like storage, bandwidth, and dedicated support. Look for plans offering unmetered bandwidth, ensuring your site can handle heavy traffic without performance issues.
Our favorite hand’s down is Rocket.net after trying some of the most popular hosts – more on that later.
Valuable add-ons such as SSL certificates, or caching capabilities can boost both performance and security, creating a more professional experience for visitors.
Dedicated support will give you access to knowledgeable staff who can quickly resolve issues, freeing you to focus on growing your business.
How Your WordPress Business Website is Built Determines the Performance
The site’s construction will determine the performance regardless of the CMS you select.
Your most significant limitation is not knowing what you are doing to mitigate any issues that could make a site slower or have inadequate searchability.
Thatโs why contacting a web design agency or having an internal resource with experience is suggested. One that can optimize a website to load fast and ensure itโs searchable based on your product or service.
However, there are plenty of plugins that can assist with optimizing images so that you can achieve good performance. One that works well is the EWWW image optimizer. This plugin will work well if you are starting out with a template and trying to optimize your media for a fast-loading web page.
Optimization is the name of the game now, especially with mobile devices. A modification in Google’s ranking and interpretation of web content, known as Google Mobile-First Indexing, gives more weight to a website’s mobile version than its desktop version. This is due to the fact that mobile devices account for over 50% of all web traffic worldwide.
Seven Reasons Why Wordpress is an Excellent CMS
1. WordPress is Responsive on all Devices for Business Owners
Most content management systems have cross-platform capability due to the responsive architecture built in โ it’s pretty much a given these days. Designing for each device is a lot easier now because many of the themes that WordPress supports do a lot of the heavy lifting while you are developing.
The platform carries over elements to each screen size while you are creating. However, you will need to tweak the design for each device because themes aren’t perfect for resizing.
While they will not always be precisely the same, you can create the same brand experience for each device. Consistency is key!
2. There are Thousands of Business WordPress Themes and Templates
Our creative agency prefers WordPress because it lets us do what we do bestโdesign. We use Divi by Elegant Themes, a flexible theme builder that offers access to a broad plugin ecosystem.
Theme builders like Divi replace WordPressโs standard editor with a visual one, allowing unique, custom designs instead of relying on pre-made templates. Think of the builder as the steering wheel and WordPress as the engine. Unlike templates with set layouts, website builders let you design from scratch or deeply customize.
Diviโs visual builder makes crafting branded websites easy with intuitive controls, saving time otherwise spent on coding. Compared to Elementor and Beaver Builder, Divi reduces coding needs, allowing us to focus more on design and user experience.
Though builders handle most tasks, custom coding is sometimes needed for advanced solutions. AI-powered coding assistance in many themes now makes this even easier.
For beginners, templates provide simple, customizable layouts. In our view, thereโs little reason to choose non-WordPress CMS options like Squarespace or Wix, as WordPress offers superior versatility.
Unmatched Variety and Flexibility of WordPress Themes
With thousands of free and premium themes available, WordPress themes offer an unmatched variety that lets you align with your siteโs purpose and style. Theyโre highly customizable, allowing you to adjust layout, colors, fonts, and design elements to suit your brand.
A key advantage is scalability. Quality WordPress themes ensure your site looks great and functions smoothly across devicesโdesktop, tablet, or smartphone. This adaptability is crucial in todayโs multi-device world, where user experience impacts success.
Even without coding knowledge, WordPress themes are user-friendly. Many come with drag-and-drop builders, making content creation and customization simple. The flexibility to switch themes or adjust elements as needs evolve is invaluable.
When selecting a theme, prioritize responsiveness, browser compatibility, and SEO. Many themes are optimized for search engines and include built-in security features to keep your site safe.
3. WordPress is SEO Friendly
WordPress shines for search engine optimization (SEO) with its clean code and customizable URLs, making content easy for search engines to index. Plugins like Yoast and Rank Math simplify on-page optimization, empowering both beginners and pros to improve their SEO.
As a user-friendly content management system (CMS), WordPress makes updating content easy, a crucial aspect of SEO. It also streamlines image optimization, social media integration, and regular security updates, all working to boost visibility in search results.
Setting up SEO on a WordPress site is straightforward with the right plugin. Rank Math, for instance, provides essential on-site SEO tools like title descriptions, keyword placement, metadata, and more to optimize your siteโs appearance on search engine results pages (SERPs). The plugin also includes Content AI, a generative AI tool that suggests relevant keywords and meta-data to enhance your posts.
Additionally, quality SEO plugins offer internal linking suggestions, helping Google understand your site’s content and purpose. With these tools in place, youโre set with a solid SEO foundation and can achieve impactful results over time.
4. Thereโs Probably a Plugin for Any of Your Business Needs
The website design process can feel complex, but โ as weโve mentioned โ you donโt need to be a developer or have coding expertise in today’s web design and development space. With WordPress, many plugins are plug-and-play, so gone are the days of spending months and big budgets on custom functionality. WordPress plugins make implementation much faster and cost-effective. As the saying goes, โThereโs no need to reinvent the wheel.โ
Are you building a new website and need to add a calendar feature? The Events Calendar has you covered. Building an eCommerce site? You guessed it โ WooCommerce will handle the heavy lifting. Do you want a membership website with restricted content? Restrict Content Pro can set up paid memberships.
The website design process can be complex, but you donโt need coding knowledge. Many plugins are plug-and-play, saving time and cost versus custom development. Instead of building from scratch, you can find plugins that meet most needs, for example: The Events Calendar for scheduling, WooCommerce for eCommerce, or Restrict Content Pro for memberships.
Constant Development Brings New Features
Reliable plugins are regularly updated with new features, ensuring the technology remains relevant and powerful. For instance, WP Forms has evolved beyond basic forms, anticipating usersโ needs much like an iPhone goes beyond being just a phone. Reputable developers actively improve based on user feedback, so you can count on consistent functionality and innovation.
5. Ease of Use and Maintenance
WordPress stands out for its user-friendly design and easy maintenance. Its intuitive interface simplifies content creation and management, making it accessible even without coding knowledge. With a vast community of developers and users, WordPress offers countless plugins and themes that enhance its functionality and ease of use. Regular updates keep your site secure and up-to-date, allowing you to focus on business growth.
Effortless Maintenance
WordPressโs automatic updates and backup features ensure your website runs smoothly. The platformโs large support community offers resources for troubleshooting and resolving issues. With regular updates and a wide range of plugins, WordPress keeps your site secure and optimized, freeing you to concentrate on expanding your business and connecting with your audience.
6. WordPress Is Safe and Secure
WordPress provides solid security features by default, protecting most websites effectively. Hosting on an enterprise-level CDN further strengthens this security with built-in firewalls and advanced measures, ensuring comprehensive protection against online threats.
Choosing a reputable hosting company with two-step authentication is key. We host multiple client sites and have never experienced a security breachโknock on wood.
For added protection, WordPress has various security solutions. A widely trusted one is WordFence, which has a solid track record. As described above hosting your website that has Enterprise Level CloudflareCDN built in is one of the best options around. There are too many advantages to list but it offers the best speed and robust security.
7. Dedicated WordPress Hosting Providers for WordPress Websites!
Dedicated WordPress hosting providers have evolved, offering more performance-focused options. These platforms either specialize in WordPress or have integrated it into their services, allowing greater customization of hardware, software, and security.
Hosting is key to performance, with shared and cloud hosting as the primary choices. Shared hosting may be tempting due to low costs, but sharing resources with other sites can slow down performance, creating a bottleneck.
Cloud hosting offers better performance, flexibility, and scalability by utilizing a network of servers, both virtual and physical.
For top-tier WordPress hosting, I recommend Rocket.net. After switching, we saw significant performance improvements with its enterprise-level Cloudflare integration. While weโve tried A2 and SiteGround, Rocket proved to be the best.
Optimizing your websiteโs speed is crucial for good UX and conversion. Seconds matter because a slow website is less likely to convert and will probably not reach the first page of Google SERPs.
Building a Successful Online Store with WordPress
Building a Successful Online Store with WordPress
Creating a thriving online store with WordPress starts with choosing a mobile-friendly, conversion-optimized e-commerce theme. A well-designed theme ensures your store looks professional and delivers a smooth shopping experience on all devices.
Install a reliable e-commerce plugin like WooCommerce, the most popular e-commerce solution for WordPress. WooCommerce includes essential features like product listings, inventory management, payment gateways, and shipping options to help you efficiently manage your store.
Prioritize user experience by optimizing your siteโs layout, navigation, and checkout process. A streamlined checkout reduces cart abandonment and boosts conversions. By following these steps, youโll be well on your way to building an online store that drives sales.
WordPress Updates Made Easy
Regular updates are key to keeping WordPress running smoothly. Many hosting companies offer automatic updates through the C-Panel, allowing you to opt for automatic updates for major or minor versions. We’ve found auto-updates ideal for minor versions since major updates may create conflicts with third-party plugins, which typically get resolved within a few days.
Alternatively, working with a WordPress developer can ensure your hosting and maintenance needs are covered. Professional agencies keep everything optimized and regularly adjust settings for better performance. Though maintaining a WordPress site is straightforward, itโs essential to dedicate some time to keep it up to date.
Best for Blogging
When it comes to blogging, WordPress stands out as one of the best platforms available. Its intuitive interface and user-friendly WordPress dashboard make it easy to create and manage blog posts, even for those without technical expertise. With thousands of free and premium themes, you can customize the look and feel of your blog to perfectly match your brand and style. Additionally, WordPressโs built-in SEO features and compatibility with top SEO plugins like Yoast and Rank Math make it simple to optimize your blog posts for search engines. This ensures your content reaches a wider audience and ranks higher in search engine results.
Must Have WordPress Plugins
Must-Have WordPress Plugins
Full disclosure: We use most of these plugins, but we are not paid affiliates.
Thereโs a learning curve to setting up plugins, as needs vary, but you wonโt need to pay a coder for hours of custom work. Almost any functionality you can imagine likely exists as a plugin.
Use WordPress plugins wiselyโtoo many can slow your site down. However, plugins open up a world of possibilities, accomplishing in moments what would take a coder much longer.
Weโve always found a solution with plugins, and we only use those that are regularly vetted and updated. While some are free, the best ones are often paid.
Hereโs a list of essential plugins we use on every clientโs website (except Wordfence, as our hosting includes Cloudflare Enterprise):
WordPress Caching Plugin
Premium Plugin: Premium Plugin: Caching plugins are essential for any WordPress site. They boost your websiteโs loading speed, which is critical to preventing users from bouncing. While many factors impact page speed, caching plugins play a major role in optimizing how your site loads.
Most caching plugins start optimizing your site immediately after activation, delivering impressive results. For even better performance, exploring advanced settings can help fine-tune the optimization.
We’ve tried out our fair share of plugins over the years, and by far, the best one is FlyingPress. It’s lightweight, easy to use, and has absolutely everything you’ll need to make your WordPress website lightning-fast.
Security Plugin
Free and Premium: This one is probably not much of a shocker. Ensure your site has a security plugin to protect against malware, DDoS attacks, and hacking unless your hosting plan includes this service. Some Premium hosts often offer optimized security plugins with their hosting packages. If not, Worfence has a proven track record and has been around since 2012.
The free version of this plugin is robust and should be enough unless you desire additional security. It offers the same benefits as the paid version, such as competent developers, regular upgrades, and security.
Rank Math SEO (SEO Plugin)
Free and Premium: While many good WordPress SEO plugins exist, our choice is Rank Math. Rank Math is a user-friendly SEO plugin that allows you to optimize your website to rank higher organically on search engines and social media.
With over a million active installations, frequent updates, and a 5-star rating โ the proof is in the pudding. While the basic, free version of Rank Math is already incredibly powerful, you can take it a step further with Rank Math Pro, which we highly recommend. The performance outweighs the cost.
If you want to compare plugins, Yoast is another reputable, longstanding one. These two are the best in the business.
WPForms (Form Plugin)
Premium: Although many WordPress themes will include the ability to create forms, you want to use the #1 form plugin on WordPress for a few reasons. For one, it offers an incredibly easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder to set up new forms within minutes. They’re responsive and offer a suite of options/extra capabilities, such as capturing partial entries(abandoned forms), payment integration, and effortlessly connecting with your email campaign software of choice (such as ActiveCampaign, MailChimp, or Constant Contact).
We highly recommend that you integrate WP Mail SMTP with this โ it comes with WPForms
Form submissions without SMTP will usually workโฆ until they don’t. The last thing you want is to miss an important email from a prospective client or someone seeking your services. WP Mail SMTP ensures your forms are delivered to your inbox by reconfiguring WordPress to use a proper SMTP provider when sending emails.
CleanTalk (Anti-Spam Plugin)
Premium: If you haven’t noticed โ spam has become insane in recent years. More and more bots are crawling the web and sending spam messages and calls than ever before. So, if your site doesnโt have a way to combat that, youโll be inundated with messages that arenโt relevant to your businessโ website. Our anti-spam WordPress Plugin of choice is CleanTalk.
One of its many great features is that it doesn’t require users to answer questions, solve math problems, or riddles. Instead, The plugin notifies the CleanTalk cloud of each message, which determines whether the sender is a real person. If not, it’s quarantined. And you can choose never to see it again if you’d like.
How Many Plugins Should I Use?
As the saying goes, โThere is such a thing as too much of a good thing,โ and this applies to WordPress plugins. While they add valuable features, too many can slow your site down. Each plugin adds code that consumes resources, affecting performance and load speed.
Itโs not about how many plugins you use, but the quality of each one. A feature-rich eCommerce plugin, for example, is heavier than a simple form plugin. The key is to only use necessary plugins and ensure theyโre well-optimized.
Tip: High-quality plugins are lightweight and efficient, while poorly coded ones can bloat your site, much like a marathon runner in heavy clothing versus one with top gear.
Free or Premium Plugins (with exceptions)
When possible, we advise using premium WordPress plugins because reputable developers update them frequently. This ensures better security, performance, and optimization for the latest WordPress version, reducing the risk of slowing your site. Premium plugins are developed with performance in mind, unlike poorly coded, bloated plugins that can cause performance and security issues.
Stay away from Infrequently updated or abandoned plugins.
Ensure the plugin you choose is actively maintained. Outdated plugins can become incompatible with other plugins and new WordPress versions, posing security risks. Ideally, select plugins that update every few weeks. Avoid plugins that haven’t been updated in over three months, as they can make your site vulnerable. Always be aware of the risks if no better options are available.
Conclusion
WordPress is an excellent CMS on which to build your website. It allows for a level of creativity thatโs only limited by oneโs imagination. You can scale your website as your business grows and stay ahead with the latest website trends.
Youโll never have an issue finding someone to help you with your WordPress site because it powers over 40% of websites globally. Thereโs no shortage of third-party developers creating new technologies specifically for WordPressโit has its own ecosystem. Weโve been using WordPress with the Divi Visual Builder for the last eight years. We are impressed every year by the upgrades that enable us to create more sophisticated designs with an expanding list of capabilities.
If you need a professional WordPress Website Design Agency to start your new website, please feel free to reach out.
