WordPress is a Content Management System that is in demand in the market today and has a 62% market share for websites built using this Content Management System. Besides, the interesting part is that over 400 million people interact with WordPress websites every month.
In 2020, over 455 million WordPress websites are developed throughout the world. That is, contributing 35% of the market share of all websites in the world! It marks an increase of 2% and 4% as compared to 2019 and 2018 respectively. Additionally, about 20% of all self-hosted websites are using WordPress.
If you already are a WordPress developer, you can identify how WordPress is an excellent tool to build a website. It is a versatile platform and an ideal choice for both any business as well as individuals. Large companies, influential bloggers, small businesses and individuals prefer WordPress for multi-functioning and creative websites.
But now the important question is –
With all the rising web frameworks and most of them based on Javascript, pressure from people telling you that WordPress is outdated, new content management tools like web-flow which are much easier to use –
Should you learn WordPress in 2021?
If I must put it straight, Yes. WordPress is still pretty much in demand and is continuing to grow every year!
To justify the answer, here some facts and technical aspects to support my view:
1. 30% of online stores are running on WooCommerce.
That is about 1.5 million online stores are powered by WooCommerce eCommerce software and WordPress, which means we have a lot of plugins for almost every task we want to achieve. But that is not all. The statistics reveal that more than 500 WordPress websites are developed each day, whereas approximately 70 sites in a day on other platforms like Shopify.
2. Used by known and authority websites.
WordPress is used by TechCrunch, CNN, TED, Best Buy, CBS Radio, UPS, NFL and many other known companies, making it popular and giving a higher edge to it over other platforms.
3. Receives millions of page views
WordPress receives over 20 million page views every month. Blogs which are powered by WordPress get over 400 million monthly viewers.
4. Over 50,000 free plugins.
You can install over 50,000 plugins for free. WordPress offers a wide range of plugins to use without paying single money.
5. Data Analysis
It is a core technology and a trending skill for almost any industry. Today, technology allows us to access and read data for multiple purposes. It means you can interpret any arbitrary data and elucidate it into relevant information. WordPress is a great entry point to use for data analysis. For instance, Google analytics and A/B testing allow you to perform experiments, understand results and improve further actions to be taken on your website. It is a way to explain to your clients about setting goals and reviewing the result.
6. Community
WordPress, being run since 2003, has now become an integral part of the website industry which in turn has developed a huge community. Almost every question you have whether it’s business-related, theme-related, plugin related, you get super quick responses from the community.
7. Easy to Use
The most important point is that it is absolutely simple to create a WordPress website even if you are not a developer. Even a beginner can create stunning websites with a ton of free themes and template-kits available. On a technical level, WordPress is an open-source CMS and is licensed under GPLv2. It means that everyone can work on or alter the WordPress software easily and for free.
Being in the tech industry for a long time now, I have come across clients asking for simple, fast and easily editable websites. About 70% of them are already familiar with WordPress and prefer to use it. One major addition to the likeliness of WordPress is its huge community. You can find most of the solutions to your queries in WordPress forums.
WordPress makes it easy to manage essential features of your website like web content, designs and even advanced animations with least knowledge on complex programming. It completely describes the phrase Content Management System. The only downer about WordPress is that it uses PHP. PHP is becoming obsolete day by day so it is hard to find great developers. However, it is easy to find cheap developers. Moreover, WordPress has recently moved to a core coded in React. There are rumours that the complete framework may be migrated too which is good news for the community.
Conclusion:
Usually, the clients ask me to create a website for them and I prefer going with WordPress being an easy option saving lots of time. A basic website takes a couple of days at max to design. Moreover, its popularity is not going anywhere for at least a decade ahead and is worth learning even in 2021.