If you are present in the web world, then there is absolutely no chance you haven’t used or even heard of WordPress. It is the largest Content Management System (CMS) out there with myriad of themes and plugins used by both individuals and businesses alike. So, let’s take a look at what makes it so special with our 10 amazing facts about it.

1) WordPress is THE most used CMS in the world

According to W3Tech surveys, nearly 60% of all websites are built on WordPress and over 28% of website content is managed by it. This means that WordPress manages over 66 million websites, while at least 17 blog posts are published through it every second. Moreover, not only is the WordPress community growing in all parts of the world, but also its growth rate is the highest – it is said that it will increase 30% in the next few years. This is partly due to the fact that its developer, Matt Mullenweg, is on a “democratizing publishing” mission, where everything about WordPress is available to everyone.

2) High profile brands use WordPress

Among the users of WordPress are brands like CNN, Reuters, Forbes and Wall Street Journal blog pages; also, The New Yorker, Vogue, People Magazine, Rolling Stone, Harvard Business Review, as well as NASA, Mashable, The Next Web, Coca-Cola, PlayStation, and the list goes on. Aside from big brands, WordPress is the preferred choice of many world federal or state governments, counties, cities, municipalities, universities, colleges, schools, churches, etc. If it’s good enough for them, then you know you can build any kind of website you want on WordPress.

3) WordPress is free and open source

If you decide on using WordPress for building a website or running a blog page, you never have to pay a dime. It is released under GNU GPL license, so downloading and using it is completely free no matter what kind of website you want to build or even how many. You have access to thousands of free themes and plugins, and you can make personalized changes to the source code to accommodate your specific needs as well.

4) Personalization through tons of plugins

In case you don’t want to modify the source code of WordPress, with plugins you can expand what you can do. Some of them are paid, but there are now more than 50,000 free plugins in the official WordPress directory that you can download with one click and broaden the way you use the platform. Moreover, by paying the fee of downloading and using certain premium plugins, you get even more additional features. However, you don’t have to stop there – you can further customize the plugins or even create entirely new ones if you know your way around PHP.

5) Make money through WordPress without clients

In case you don’t want to deal with clients and like working on your own, you can create your own themes and plugins and earn money by using WordPress. There are companies like WooThemes or individual artists like Kriesi that create and sell premium themes and plugins for quite some time now. Furthermore, they do it very successfully as their sales are measured in thousands and earnings in the tens of thousands of dollars a month.

6) WordPress is available in nearly 70 languages

Should you choose to work in WordPress in your native language and it happens to not be English, you needn’t worry, because the platform is fully translated into 68 world languages, while it is partially translated to a few more. To name just a few, the available languages are English (Canada), French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Swedish, Slovak, Romanian, Polish, Scottish Gaelic, Dutch, Macedonian, Croatian, Japanese, Norwegian, Slovenian, Hebrew, Indonesian, etc. Aside from the platform itself, a large number of themes and plugins are also translated into multiple languages to make the whole user experience more appealing worldwide.

7) WordPress is not only for developers

WordPress as a skill is one of the most sought-after in the web world right now. Even if you are not a developer, knowing how to set up an online business can be a real money-saver for an entrepreneur. Creating online stores and landing pages doesn’t require much more than being adept at setting up WordPress, or customizing a theme, or installing a particularly useful plugin.

What’s more, knowing your way around WordPress is advantageous not only in the business world, but also for landing a more creative job in a marketing agency, for example. A little knowledge upgrade would go a long way in the sense that WordPress is the skill to have in 2017.

8) WordPress has conferences all around the globe

WordPress users of all levels and areas of interest get together and share their knowledge and experience at WordCamps and meetups in over 60 countries across 6 continents. The events are organized by local communities and have brought around 100.000 attendees in 2016 alone. WordCamp Europe 2017 was held in Paris from June 15 to June 17 and had great success in bringing together the community from all Europe and inspiring more small communities to organize new meetups in the future. To that end, it was also announced that WordCamp Europe 2018 will be held in Belgrade, Serbia thus continuing the tradition of moving the event to a different part of the continent every year.

9) WordPress updates itself

The platform has a built-in Auto Update System, and so it is constantly updated for minor bug fixes as well as major version upgrades. Usually, updates are released once a month, but that varies depending on the importance and size of the update. Nevertheless, it is crucial that your WordPress is up to date so as not to miss security updates, new features, speed improvements, as well as to make sure your version is compatible with the new and improved elements and add-ons.

10) WordPress has been targeted for security breaches

As the largest CMS in the world, WordPress has been the target of many security breaches simply because of the number of websites it powers. It goes to show that once you hit it big, you are put in the crosshairs of black hat hackers, but it certainly also means that it doesn’t really depend on the platform you are using or the precautions taken.

For example, some of the breaches were the result of brutal force attacks on the login page of a WordPress website, where the programs the attackers used made numerous attempts at the user’s login names and passwords. The solution to that particular problem is quite simple – change your login name from admin into something else and use a password that is not so easy to guess.

Since WordPress development in future depends on the community behind it, resolving security issues quickly is based on informed users taking timely action, which means you can feel safe while using WordPress.
And since WordPress is a rising star with a bright future head, don’t hesitate to start using it (if you already haven’t) or to expand your use range (if you have).

In case you fear any threats while using WordPress, contact us and let us ease your minds.