WordPress is a popular open-source Content Management System (CMS) used for creating a website, a blog or even an application. In other words, WordPress allows building and managing a fully-functional website using just a web browser - without the need to learn to code. Since its launch in 2003, WordPress has come a long way and today it has been embraced by the top leading brands including TechCrunch, Sony, Disney, Time Magazine, Reuters, GoDaddy, IBM, Glassdoor, Yelp, Bloomberg Professional, Bata, and many more. The best thing about WordPress is that it is free to download, easy-to-use and flexible enough to customize it according to the user's requirement. This may be the reason why the popularity of WordPress has grown incessantly over the past few years and today it is powering 32% of all the websites available on the internet.
SWOT Analysis of WordPress
Strengths
There is a Plug-in For Almost Everything
It doesn't matter what kind of functionality is needed, there is a strong possibility that a plugin is already available in the WordPress store. There are hundreds of thousands of plugins available for almost everything that expand the usability of a WordPress powered website. Most of these plugins are free to download and are highly configurable. By using the plugins, one can augment the functionality and appearance of the website.
SEO Ready
WordPress is search engine friendly. Websites or blogs built using WordPress have search engine friendly codes making them ideal for indexing on the major search engines, like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. In other words, using the WordPress platform for the website development gives a user an upper hand in the SEO game. This robust platform takes care of the following elements:
- Title tags, headings, and descriptions
- Proper HTML markup
- Easy content creation
- Optimized images
- Permalink structure
New Gutenberg Editor (WordPress 5.0)
WordPress has completely revamped its classic WordPress editor with the new Gutenberg Editor. It is a block-based editor that allows users to add, edit, and manipulate multimedia content using the content blocks. Instead of writing custom code, one can simply add a block and focus more on the content.
Those who have used WordPress before may know how the classic editor works. It is a single box wherein one can add images, write text, embed videos, create galleries, etc. However, with the release of WordPress 5.0 “Bebo”, the new Gutenberg replaces that by offering a streamlined writing experience wherein each content element is enclosed inside a block. By default, this new editor comes with several blocks to add commonly used content elements such as text, images, videos, cover images, photo gallery, media, buttons, lists, quote, and more. Each block is a separate entity and comes with its own toolbar and settings, which allow a user to change not only the basic formatting options but also the width, colors and other attributes of the block.
Pros of Gutenberg WordPress Editor
- Offers a less distracting experience
- Easier to use for beginners
- Blocks are fun to use
- For content creators who love to use the new Medium style editing experience, they will embrace the WordPress Gutenberg editor with open arms.
- Works great on mobile. It is anticipated that going forward people will use this new editor a lot more and make quick edits from their smartphone on the go.
Weaknesses
Hackers' Paradise
WordPress is a popular open-source platform and this fact alone makes it an easy target for hackers. Almost everyone knows that it relies heavily on third-party extensions, plugins, and themes for customization. These plugins, extensions, and themes are developed by diverse developers and companies and since there is nobody monitoring them, they can easily add malicious code or a bug to steal the site data.
Customization Requires Coding Knowledge
To make the website stand out in the market, it’s important to customize its appearance and with the free themes being overused, opting for a custom theme seems to be the right choice. To personalize it in a unique way, it might require writing several lines of codes, which can only be achieved if one possesses a good knowledge of PHP, HTML, and CSS. However, for not so tech-savvy user, things can go a little awry. Hence, the need for an expert who can personalize the store as per the business requirement.
Opportunities
Offers a Range of Possibilities with Zero Investment in the Beginning
With WordPress, one can start a website without spending a penny. As the business scales up, one can invest the money in the website to make it more appealing to the customers. However, it's not obligatory to customize the website.
Expanding Capabilities to Allow Users to Create a Robust Website
Started out as a blogging platform, WordPress has been evolving incessantly and today it is perceived as a popular website builder. This may be the reason why it is giving a tough competition to the best CMS out there. Gone are the days when WordPress used to create simple blogs, today, one can create a robust, scalable, and feature-rich website using WordPress.
Threats
Emerging Competitive Blogging Platforms
The competition among the blogging platforms is getting intense. With the advent of competitive blogging platforms like Medium, Tumblr, Yola, Wix, Weebly, etc., people may start shifting to other intuitive platforms. In other words, WordPress is likely to witness a shift in the profits with the rise of other blogging platforms.
CONCLUSION
Even after the rise of other competitors like Wix and Weebly with their extensive marketing efforts, WordPress still dominates Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) with over 600 Million WordPress related search results. Along with its versatile structure & easy to use user interface, WordPress remains the major player in the CMS market with over 59.6% market share. Despite the weaknesses and threats, WordPress is still one of the popular open-source platforms that offer immense value and open up a world of possibilities for the users having no experience in website design and development. But if you need the experts to build a smart and gorgeous website, just select one from the pre-verified list of top WordPress development companies at GoodFirms.
