Back in early 2023, we decided to set up GSF Creations, a non-profit web design agency that would specialise in supporting other nonprofits and local businesses to improve their digital presence. As we went about having our first conversations about what such an agency would look like and what it would do, we pretty quickly decided to focus on WordPress.
WordPress, for those not familiar, is an open source platform to build websites. WordPress powers almost 50% of the internet: every second website you visit is probably a WordPress website. We believe there are great reasons to love WordPress and that’s why we’ll usually encourage using it. In this short article, we want to give a few reasons why.
- WordPress is Open Source
As a web design agency fighting for a better world by building better websites, the ethics that underpin our business are hugely important to us. That’s why we’re huge fans of the fact that WordPress is open source software. Open source means that the code behind is publicly available – anyone can go in and see how it’s working. This is not the case for most digital softwares. Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and most other private companies that host digital services fiercely guard their code. Not only does this go against the spirit of collaboration that we believe in, but it also makes it impossible to know what they’re up to, who they’re tracking, and what they’re after. WordPress, on the other hand, is part of what we call the ‘digital commons’ – nobody owns it, it’s publicly shared, much like Wikipedia. We think that’s just fab!
- WordPress is FREE!
Another reason we love WordPress is that it’s free. A lot of the clients we work with have pre-existing sites on Wix, SquareSpace or another similar provider. Whilst offering easy-to-build websites, these come at a hefty price – and one that keeps growing. Their monthly subscriptions add up and it usually costs a couple of hundred pounds, or more, for each website you want. WordPress, as part of the digital commons, is free. There’s no charge and there never will be. Of course, there are costs associated with hosting a website even on WordPress: you need to buy a domain name and purchase your own hosting space, and then there’s the time that goes into building and maintaining a site. That being said, long-term a WordPress website will save you a lot of money versus one of its privatised competitors.
- Anyone can use WordPress
There’s always a big upfront initial effort needed to create a beautiful new site. However, with WordPress, once you’re more or less happy with the site, maintaining it over the long-run isn’t too hard. Much like SquareSpace or Wix, most WordPress sites are built with a ‘visual builder’, meaning you can literally drag-and-drop elements on a page. At the other end of the spectrum are websites written with code. Whilst this ultimately offers the greatest flexibility, if you don’t happen to have this skill-set in-house, you’re going to be pretty reliant on sourcing coders (probably at a cost!) For every small change you want. At GSF Creations, we usually run a couple of training sessions with clients so they’re empowered to take ownership of their new WordPress website. This makes it easy for them to update text, upload a new blog, or check the analytics of the site. But we’re also always on-hand to help as needed with more technical or cosmetic changes and to make sure the back-end is fully functional.
- WordPress is customisable
Being open source also makes it easy for WordPress to interact with all manner of digital solutions out there. There is an army of people creating new connections and integrations – that’s the power of the digital commons! For instance, WordPress has its sister-software WooCommerce which is a much more flexible (and cheaper) rival to the likes of Shopify. There are millions of solutions out there, enabling WordPress to integrate with mailing software, analytics, accounting packages, event organisation, membership sites… the list could go on!
- WordPress is sustainable
WordPress itself is a very light software that already sets us up to build planet-friendly sites. But the other great thing about WordPress is the fact (as mentioned earlier) that you have to find our own website hosting. There are hundreds of providers out there, but this gives us the opportunity of selecting green hosters run on renewable, local energy. We’re chuffed that all the websites we host at GSF Creations are powered by renewables!
So that’s it, 5 great reasons to LOVE WordPress! If you’re a small business or nonprofit looking to create a new website or improve your digital presence in some way, don’t hesitate to reach out to us on [email protected]. We’d love to chat!
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