We’ve pretty much fallen in love with WordPress. And we’re not alone. It’s highly regarded around the world by end users, developers and designers. In fact WordPress fans are so fervent in their devotion you could be excused for thinking they’d joined a cult, the cult of ‘easy to use web software’!

Like any self-respecting cult, there is always a charismatic leader with a clear vision for the future. WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg is certainly charismatic, but he’s also a genuinely humble guy, who seems to be in awe of the whole WordPress phenomenon.

WordPress has not always been regarded as a ‘content management system’ as it has its roots well and truly in blogging. Just a few years ago you’d be hard pressed to find tutorials on how to use WordPress as a content management system. Things have certainly changed. In November 09, WordPress won a coveted Open Source CMS award which, according to Matt Mullenweg, “marks a shift in the public perception of WordPress, from blog software to full-featured CMS”.

So its official – WordPress has grown up and become a fully fledged content management system, but it hasn’t lost any of it blogging ‘street cred’ either. It’s still a fantastic way to publish a blog and link up to social media websites for extra exposure online.

As web designers with business clients (who have a strong desire to update their own websites), we have some very specific requirements in a content management system, and WordPress delivers every time.

So here’s why we choose WordPress over other CMS systems:

  • Our clients find WordPress very intuitive to use; they get excited about their websites – and we get a thrill every time we discover they’ve published a new blog or added an image gallery. It makes us look good!
  • The search engines love WordPress so our clients get better rankings in Google, which is great for business.
  • Installing WordPress to a web server is a breeze with WordPress’s famous ‘5 minute install’ – and the system is very widely supported by web hosting firms.
  • It’s very well supported. If the answer to a WordPress coding question isn’t in the Codex there will be someone somewhere in the world who has published the solution online.
  • There are thousands of WordPress themes to look at for inspiration.
  • There are dozens of WordPress showcase websites where you can discover how others are using WordPress.
  • There is an amazing community of WordPress users who are very generous with their time and information.
  • There are thousands of WordPress plugins that greatly extend the functionality of a website. Some of our favourites include quote rotators; image galleries, sitemap generators, and search engine optimisation add-ons.
  • WordPress provide one-click installs of themes and plugins direct from their website.
  • It’s so efficient to set up that we can spend more time on designing the look and layout of a website, and less on technical issues.
  • WordPress is constantly being improved with new features and enhancements.
  • Using a ‘pick n mix’ approach to using plugins, custom fields and code snippets, we can pretty much bend WordPress to fit many different requirements – it will even do e-commerce.

So that’s it in a nutshell – why WordPress is our content management system of choice. Now, if you want to benefit from its ease of use, extendibility and ongoing development, give us a call on 03 366 3340 or email info@tmlwebdesign.co.nz and let us know about your website needs.

PS, here are some of the WordPress things we can do for you:

  • Install WordPress for you
  • Install themes for you
  • Host your WordPress website
  • Create a new theme for you
  • Build you a blog
  • Build you an entire website with a blog