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Why Is It Important For A Business To Understand WordPress As A Website Option?

What your business uses for its website will determine how much control you actually have not only now, but in the future! It’s why it helps to understand what WordPress is and what advantages it can offer your business. A business doesn’t ever want to be trapped, yet this is the typical scenario with most website solutions. So why not start with ownership? With WordPress you can own your website, granted not the open source code made available to support it, but all of its content and what makes hosting it just about anywhere completely possible. Knowing there are already cost-effective plugin solutions for any application necessary is a big relief; how about endless options for design, for support, and an ability to build a web footprint of references, links, and citations without any end or interference!

No business should be held hostage in one companies limiting host environment, which is exactly why it is important to understand WordPress!

The WordPress Options For Business Website Design

Let’s look at how WordPress works and how it is supported. To begin, it’s important to know the WordPress use options which include:

  1. Create a free website at WordPress.com, which can offer free hosting. The understanding being that if you want free hosting you should be willing to
    • do it in the WP.com environment,
    • on a subdomain of WordPress (i.e. YOURNAME.wordpress.com), and
    • accept their advertising/advertisers on your pages; 
  2. Download WordPress.org software, build a customized and host a user-owned | user-controlled website, including on a user chosen domain ( i.e. YOURNAME.com) with NO advertising – yourself OR 
  3. Hire comprehensive’ WordPress design, build, setup, maintain and manage updates host service ‘ ongoing support.

Video offers context for understanding how the WordPress open source community of programmers work together in ways that empower a business. In fact, the largest no. of business owners worldwide choose WordPress based upon what follows!


How WordPress Open Source Software Works


Officially there are two versions of WordPress software, each mentioned above. WordPress is managed by a core development team of experienced individuals and it is also supported by a committed international community of independent ‘open source’ programmers and designers. The core development team manages software updates, which include feature improvement as well as any potential code vulnerability. The ‘open source community’ backs them up with immediate knowledge and support for improvements and bug fixes as well as an elaborate choice for plugin applications or design frameworks (themes, templates). The plugin applications or design frameworks are mostly paid- for solutions, understandably so considering pay supports the incentive to participate at a level of quality the discerning business requires. Simply put, there is no other solution with the depth of support and the no. of design or application options. Website and web footprint ownership makes WordPress the undeniable world leader for business. 


Open Source Software, Defined


Open Source Software could be summarized as software that harnesses the collective knowledge and experience of many in order to support its’ ongoing advancement. Specifically, software source code is made available by someone (in the case of WordPress via a copyright license) that permits collaborative use, change, improvement, and even modified redistribution. Many believe it’s the best way to manage software development because of how (assuming the support environment is committed) the ‘power of many’ can collaborate to enable rapid fixes, improvements, and fine-tuning.

By no means should we write off proprietary software because there are potential pitfalls! For instance, lots of people contributing to software code doesn’t necessarily guarantee a good thing. Like anything, without good management things will go wrong. No one pays the ‘open source community’ to participate with WordPress; however, the core development team does manage what ultimately is and is not used. They are paid, likely, from what WordPress.com generates in revenue. In fact, studies have shown that open-source software has a higher, quicker flaw discovery turn around than proprietary. And let’s face it, even Microsoft software has had its’ issues.


Why Do Developers Participate With Open Source WordPress?

Why would so many great programmers and designers participate in something like the advancement of WordPress? Or to be specific, WordPress.org. 

From the core-team, you get software code, which is managed and advanced in the WordPress.com environment. From that experience, WordPress.org sees regular upgrades to its’ code. Simultaneously, the ‘open source community’ produces paid-for theme options and plugin applications for virtually any imaginable need. It’s the opportunity to sell these solutions to WordPress.org users that offer them an incentive to participate in bug fixes, random advancement challenges, and/or in defense against the random hack. The core team allows the ‘open source community’ to see what is coming down the pike update- wise. The community is then both encouraged to offer input and it gains insight for how to update their various themes and plugins.

Again, WordPress software is the core team’s full time paid job; whereas, the open-source community of talented independent programmers and designers offer both support and paid- for theme designs and plugin applications. They do it, part, for the love of WordPress; part because it serves as recognition for unique programming skill and part because it affords them an opportunity to be on the leading edge of paid-for WordPress solutions. It’s virtually free advertising and/or they do it to sell things in what has become a huge managed WordPress marketplace! Imagine it: build something great, form a successful business to sell it in a thriving marketplace, and do it all without the need to borrow money. 


WordPress Website Business Requirements And Support

Understanding How WordPress Works | Kinetic Knowledge

As a business, it’s important to understand all of the above. It’s also relevant to know that where there was once a lack of formal (open source) theme or plugin evaluation there is now! We recommend evaluating any WordPress theme or plugin in Theme Forest where there are public reviews, Q & A forums, ‘update timeliness information’, and visibility for how supportive the developers truly are. To demonstrate, consider this scenario early on and how it should NEVER be a concern thanks to Theme Forest:

“I’m not familiar with what the protocol is for these matters but…many WP users have installed themes by XYZ. She has stopped updating her themes and her former website is down. I have tried contacting her w/o success. I was wondering whether protocol permits another theme developer to support the thousands of WP users who have these wonderful themes. Many of us hope they won’t be abandoned.”

Let’s face that it can be a miserably frustrating experience when something breaks or doesn’t jibe… and it happens with any software! Business people are often too busy to keep up with the development of software, not to mention vetting a developers’ reliability. In the long run, it can pay to have experienced WordPress Webmaster Support and we’ve been providing it for over 20 years now.

 

Website Design | Website Development Services NJ

At Kinetic Knowledge, we are a local SEO expert and have helped hundreds of local businesses around NJ increase traffic, visibility, and leads through our Fundamental SEO services. We even offer packages for custom website design. Find out how we can help with WordPress and other marketing necessities by contacting us today!