Following my recent WordPress Workshop I received a number of requests to share some concepts from the session. I found it interesting that workshop was full of people eager to learn about the “magic” of WordPress and yet, no one could explain why they were specifically interested in the WordPress platform from a business perspective. There were a few comments like “It’s a good CMS” or “I’ve heard so much about it” but no one could give a strong “business case” as to why WordPress makes sense for so many businesses. This post covers a few key business reasons for considering WordPress as an online platform solution.

Every business must address the question, “Where are we going to invest our limited time, attention & resources?” The online space has huge implications for most businesses so it only makes sense to understand the commitment needed to whatever path is chosen.

For most businesses WordPress is the best choice.

Here are 3 key reasons to support that statement:

WordPress is Open Source

Many business people have no idea what open source is or what the benefits can be. A simple distinction of open source is: Original software source code which is made freely available and may be redistributed with or without modification.

For example Microsoft Windows is not open source – it’s not free and you can’t modify or redistribute it. The Linux operating system on the other hand is open source – it’s free (download it here) and you can make modifications to the code and redistribute it.

While it’s true that some open source software can be extremely technical, user unfriendly & geeky in nature WordPress has gained the reputation of being extremely user-friendly while retaining all the benefits of open source software. Ok, “whatever,” you say, “how does the open source nature of WordPress help make a strong business case?”

WordPress has gained HUGE traction of the past several years in part because of the software design & development approach (among other things) the good people of Automattic (the creators of WordPress) have chosen. WordPress has a culture, following & loyalty that some might say is similar to that of Apple.

This benefits the business owner because unlike software development being done purely for profit, the WordPress community can deliver very, very specific solutions and do so in much less time.

What this means to business is there are literally tens-of-thousands of developers actively contributing to the improvement, security & functionality of WordPress. Interestingly the motivation for many of WordPress developers isn’t financial but rather a love for the software. In many cases they are improving WordPress to scratch their own itch, solve a useful problem or simply show off their programming skills.

This benefits the business owner because unlike software development being done purely for profit, the WordPress community can deliver very, very specific solutions and do so in much less time. The issue with a for-profit software development company is that improvements must be done in such a way that the development, upgrade support, etc, makes economic sense. For most software development companies of any scale, a specific function needed to satisfy just a few hundred users isn’t economically viable.
But for a WordPress developer, who needs functionality to solve a specific problem, he can develop and distribute a plugin that solves the problem at no cost – and maybe that plugin only helps a few hundred people but it does so with no economic risk to the developer.

For a real world example look no further than the ubiquitous Facebook “Like” button available all over the web. While we now take the functionality of this little button for granted, back when Facebook made the announcement of this opportunity, no one knew how it would play out. While many for-profit software development companies took a wait & see attitude, the WordPress community had a working plugin to instantly add the “Like” functionality to a website the day of the announcement – for free.

The traction, developer loyalty and its open source nature makes WordPress of great benefit to businesses in terms of staying relevant and employing specific functionality.

WordPress Delivers the Complete Package

Ease of Use, Functionality, Design
Ease of Use
Ease of Use refers to the relative difficulty to add content, make changes and updates as well as perform routine maintenance and fixes.

In my experience the most frustrating aspect of a website for a business is making updates, changes and adding content. The pain points usually fall into one or more of these categories:

• The CMS has great looking front-end features but is extremely difficult to use.
• The backend looks like it was designed by a 14 year-old command line hacker.
• A third-party is required to make changes & updates.

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Functionality
This refers to the ability for the CMS to adapt to your specific business needs. For example designers might need strong portfolio capabilities whereas a news organization might need strength in social media and rapid content creation.

Typically a company launches a new site with great fanfare built on a number of business model assumptions. As these assumptions are challenged, proven wrong or insufficient many businesses find themselves trapped with a CMS that can’t provide the functionality needed to satisfy visitors and differentiate them from their competitors.

A well designed user experience can drive greater sales, more revenue and customer engagement than just about any other aspect.

Design
The third critical component, design, is one that far too many businesses don’t prioritize highly enough. A well designed user experience can drive greater sales, more revenue and customer engagement than just about any other aspect. And yet so little attention is paid to the user experience. And while a custom design project can be time-consuming and expensive, the WordPress premium theme market can do much of the heavy design lifting. Because the front-end design is separate from the back-end content businesses can quickly create compelling web experiences.

By leveraging powerful & flexible CSS techniques, a small business can create a design experience that rivals any fortune 500 company for a fraction of the cost. The custom CSS options are literally endless – allowing a business to create an experience that exactly matches their brand.

Design Samples

WordPress as a Platform

The ability for a business to stay relevant, current and useful to customers is absolutely critical because customer attention has never been so difficult to capture. With customers using so many channels for information, a static, siloed website is no longer competitive.

When selecting a web platform, being able to adapt to the ultra-fast-paced online world is a key consideration. The last thing any business wants is to invest significant time, energy & resources into a solution only to find themselves irrelevant a short time later because technology has progressed past the businesses capabilities. We call this collection a “platform” in that it houses a number of functions all on one common infrastructure.

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Features like social media integration, mobile capabilities, customer support, analytics and newsletter generation are just a few areas that need to be considered to offer an experience that meets customer expectations.

For example, at the time of this writing, less than 2 years ago the iPad was introduced. Now on its 3rd version, the iPad and iOS mobile platform has changed the entire content consumption universe. Content formatted for mobile should be a major part of any company’s online presence. And yet, creating that mobile experience is no easy task. In another example Pintrest.com is becoming a major online social destination. Quickly integrating Pintrest options into a company’s website can create a key marketing & competitive advantage. And yet most proprietary platforms can’t keep pace with the changing online landscape resulting in missed opportunities for businesses locked into their platform.

The “plugin” architecture allows endless possibilities of features & functions to be added to a WordPress platform.

The functionality, extensibility and open-source community make WordPress perhaps the most viable online platform technology for most businesses. The “plugin” architecture allows endless possibilities of features & functions to be added to a WordPress platform. But it’s not just the number of plugins available, it’s the degree to which very, very specific problems can be solved through plugins.

Because WordPress is open source, anyone on the world can create a plugin to provide any type of functionality. This is important because not only does it allow businesses to stay relevant but this functionality allows businesses to create experiences as unique as the business itself. This diagram represents a typical WordPress Online Platform:

Conclusion

Far too many businesses are locked into an online solution that’s no longer effective for them or their customers. Many other businesses may be using WordPress but don’t really know why. Perhaps they were led to WordPress by a suggestion from a business colleague or a reaction to online buzz. Understanding the business case for WordPress is a fundamental distinction most businesses never make. Having been in the online world for 17+ years in a number of roles including development, strategy, start-ups & consulting WordPress is the only platform I’ve encountered that has the flexibility, stability, security and functionality to serve as the center of most businesses online presence.

 
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