It’s no secret around here that I love WordPress: I have a free WordPress guide, I offer a course called “The Worry-free WordPress Academy,” and you can follow me on Instagram @wordpresswithashley. WordPress is just kinda my jam, ya know?! Today, I want to talk to you about the top 5 reasons why I choose WordPress for all of my websites.
I am often asked if I have experience with other platforms, like SquareSpace and Wix. Yes! I definitely do. In fact, I even have a couple of clients whose websites are built on SquareSpace, and I think it’s a great platform (but not as great as WordPress!).
Another question I’m asked even more frequently: “Why should I pick WordPress over [insert other platform name here]?” This is a great question, and it’s definitely worth exploring.
Before we dive in, though, let’s just reflect on something for a minute: if you’re a new blogger or entrepreneur in this day and age, you are blessed to have so many options available to you when you’re ready to build your website. Seriously! So let’s all do a little happy dance for that.
Okay. Back on task. From SquareSpace to OfferingTree to Wix to Weebly to WordPress.com… the WordPress alternatives are many!
Oh, another sidenote: WordPress.com vs. “self-hosted” WordPress. Anytime I refer to “WordPress,” I’m talking about self-hosted WordPress (this means that you buy your hosting through someone like BlueHost and install WordPress on your site). WordPress.com, on the other hand, is in the same category as SquareSpace, Wix, etc.
Now, let me tell you why I choose WordPress over any other platform.
Reason #1: You have full ownership of your WordPress website.
What does this mean for you? It means that you can literally design your website to be anything at all that you want.
With a WordPress website, you have access to every single line of code written on your website. Wait–don’t freak out because I mentioned “code”… (you can create a beautiful WordPress site without ever writing a single line of code!). BUT, should you have the need or the desire, you can access every single line of code in every single file that makes up your website: all the PHP and CSS you could ever want!
With these other platforms, the platform owns your code. They own your website–not you. Here are a few things that could happen as a result:
- If your provider decides they don’t like the content on your website, they can pull it down.
- If you ever decide you want to move to another platform, you may or may not be able to get your content to import it to the new platform.
- If your provider ever decides to shut their doors… well… hopefully they’d give you options for moving your site and content to a new platform before they closed.
I realize that some of these scenarios are unlikely to happen, but I’d hate for you to spend all that time creating your beautiful site only to lose it all in the end!
Reason #2: You have full customization options for your WordPress website.
Because you own 100% of your website content and code when you have a WordPress site, you can customize your website in any way you please. You can make it as big as you want!
Want to host your own course on WordPress? You can do that.
Want to have your own membership site on WordPress? You can do that.
Want to have the biggest-ever e-commerce site on WordPress? You can do that!
The possibilities are endless with WordPress. Other platforms are limited in their customization options. Now, don’t get me wrong! I’ve seen beautiful websites created on all the other platforms that I’ve mentioned…
BUT…
If you’re looking to do something highly-specialized with your site, either now or maybe as a remote possibility for the future, you’re going to want to be on WordPress to do it.
As a caveat to this, I will say that if you know you’re going to stick to a pretty basic website, you probably won’t even realize that your customization options are limited on these other platforms. I just want to be sure you’re armed with all the information you need to make a fully-informed decision!
Reason #3: WordPress is affordable for any budget!
The third reason why I choose WordPress: it’s free. Now, I don’t mean to be misleading–you can’t actually have a WordPress website for zero cost. You do have to purchase your hosting and domain. To install WordPress on your website, though? Absolutely free. No charge. Zip. Zilch. Nada. That’s pretty cool!
Some of the other platforms offer free plans as well, but you sacrifice a lot going with one of those plans. For example, you usually don’t get to use a custom domain, and you might only get access to their bare-bones customization features.
Let’s say you wanted to have an e-commerce store on your SquareSpace website. That’s going to cost you a minimum of $26/month, and that price is only good if you pay for a year at a time.
With WordPress, all you need to get your website going is a domain and hosting. I recommend BlueHost, and you can get their hosting for less than $4/month, AND you get a free domain with it! Full disclosure: in order to get the $4/month pricing, you do have to purchase two years of hosting at a time. There are, however, other hosting providers who allow you to purchase hosting for less than $10/month that allow monthly payments.
Once you have your hosting, you can create a fully-functional site without spending any additional money. It might lack some bells and whistles, but you can add those as you go after you start making some money from your blog (because you definitely plan to make money from your blog, right?!).
Reason #4: Plugins, baby!
A WordPress plugin is kind of like an app for your WordPress website that adds additional functionality to your site without requiring you to write any code. Think of anything that you’d like to do on your website, and you’ll most likely find several plugins available to choose from to achieve your goal.
Not all other platforms offer plugins, so depending on the platform you choose, you may be stuck with whatever functionality they choose to offer to you.
Reason #5: WordPress is #1!
Did you know that nearly one-third of all websites in the world are run on WordPress? That’s crazy!!!
Because WordPress is such a popular platform, AND because it’s open-source, super-smart developers all over the world are constantly creating cool new things for WordPress users: new themes, new page builders (like my favorite–Elementor!), new plugins… It’s constantly improving, and as WordPress users, we constantly have access to new and better products!
Additionally, if you run into a problem with your WordPress site, there is a huge community of users out there who are ready and willing to help you resolve it. That’s pretty cool!
Why do you choose WordPress?
Now you know the top 5 reasons why I choose WordPress. What are your reasons? Tell me in the comments!
