As the largest and most widely used content management system (CMS) on the internet, it should come as no surprise that people are constantly trying to bring WordPress down. Naturally, a number of WordPress myths have been conjured up over the years. In order to be properly informed, you have to make sure you know how to separate fact from fiction.
WordPress: The Leading CMS Platform on the Web
WordPress isn’t the only CMS around, but it certainly blows the competition out of the water in terms of adoption and appeal. Just consider the popularity of the platform:
- As of last count, WordPress powers more than 26 percent of the web and has a whopping 59.4 percent market share, which makes it the most used CMS platform.
- More than 500 sites a day are created on the WordPress platform.
- There are 44,225 WordPress plugins, which have been downloaded more than 1.25 billion times.
- WordPress is translated into 56 different languages worldwide.
These are just a few of the striking data points. When you dig into the nitty gritty of WordPress, it becomes clear that this is one of the most superior CMS platforms on the web. But along with this title comes a target. When you’re the best, people want to tear you down. And when they can’t tear you down, they resort to bending the truth or making things up altogether.
Don’t Fall for These 3 WordPress Myths
In order to be an informed website developer, entrepreneur, or business owner, you need to be cognizant of the fact that the internet is filled with myths regarding WordPress.
Here are three of the most common myths about WordPress:
Myth #1: WordPress Isn’t Scalable
Somewhere along the line, a myth has been perpetuated that WordPress isn’t scalable. Some people believe that it’s a platform that’s only suited for small blogs and tiny business websites. However, this simply isn’t true. If you look at the facts, you’ll see that WordPress is anything but a CMS designed exclusively for small sites. Just ask celebrities and businesses who regularly rely on WordPress for their websites.
Musicians like Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Katy Perry, and The Rolling Stones all use WordPress. From the business side of things, companies like Bacardi, Sony Music, Mercedes Benz, The Rotary Club, and the New Yorker Magazine are all WordPress users.
One of the primary reasons why large businesses and brands use WordPress is that it is scalable. Not only are the search, caching, and content delivery capabilities top-notch, but there’s also true horizontal scalability. This allows websites with high traffic demands to always have sufficient architecture on-demand if they need it.
Put simply, the idea that WordPress isn’t scalable is ridiculous. “With the right infrastructure, services and resources, WordPress is highly scalable,” Pragmatic explains. “It can serve tens of thousands of logged in users at a time and deliver hundreds of millions of monthly page views. It can process page requests immediately and can produce lightning-quick results to search queries. It is flexible, upgradeable and ultimately can power all manner of websites, right up to the largest and most visited.”
Myth #2: WordPress Doesn’t Come With Support
The second most popular myth is the idea that WordPress doesn’t offer good support. Again, this is totally unfounded. There’s actually a ton of support available for WordPress users, though it comes via a variety of channels.
There is no support available directly from WordPress (outside of plenty of educational materials and help guides). However, there’s a robust community with thousands of users willing and able to answer questions other users have. The support and information is there. Users just have to be willing to ask.
Additionally, there are literally hundreds of smaller WordPress and developer communities available for support of issues of any kind.
The myth that WordPress doesn’t offer customer support is probably rooted in the idea that there is no support over the phone from a company. Remember that WordPress is an open source project, meaning that you don’t have to reply on a single support department to help!
Myth #3: WordPress is Too Complicated to Learn
It’s time to get over the myth that WordPress is an over-complicated CMS platform that you can’t learn without getting a four-year degree in web development and coding. The reality is that WordPress is among the easiest, while Drupal and Joomla are typically considered to be far more challenging.
You can get started working on WordPress within days of learning how to use it! That’s because you really don’t need any HTML or programming knowledge to get started (it helps, but it’s not a requirement). It is, however, important to pick up knowledge about PHP and HTML in order to customize themes, templates, plugins, and other parts of your WordPress sites.
WordPress is intuitive on its own, but the fact that there’s such a massive base of users means there are plenty of resources, guides, and courses available online. If you really want to become proficient at WordPress, you can do it!
WordPress: The Leader for a Reason
Is WordPress perfect? Absolutely not. Does it have flaws and shortcomings? You bet. But there’s a reason WordPress is considered the leading CMS platform. Whether you’re currently looking around for a CMS platform to run your business website, or you’re simply doing some research as a current WordPress user, be careful what you read and where you consume information. Anyone can make anything sound true on the internet and it’s up to you to verify the validity of certain statements before considering them to be truth.
WordPress is a leader in this area for a reason. If you want a scalable platform with ample support and an easy-to-learn interface, this is the platform for you.
Larry AltonLarry is an independent business consultant specializing in tech, social media trends, business, and entrepreneurship. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
