WordPress Org Support & Hosting – What You Need to Know

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) used today. With a global user base of more than 200 million monthly active users, WordPress is the go-to platform for any business or individual who needs a simple, yet powerful blogging platform.

While WordPress offers a lot of flexibility, ease of use, and the ability to build a completely custom website, it doesn’t necessarily offer the best security or performance for certain tasks or use cases. For example, if you’re looking for a robust, scalable, and secure content management system (CMS) for your organization, then you might want to consider another option.

Why Do You Need a Robust, Scalable, and Secure CMS?

As the name implies, a content management system (CMS) helps facilitate the creation and maintenance of content— blog posts, product descriptions, FAQs, and more —on your website. In other words, a CMS allows you to easily create content for your website without needing to hack out code by hand.

Why pay for expensive web developers or copywriters when you can hire talented interns (often at no cost to you) who are passionate about your product or service to write and update content for you? You can also outsource the copywriting and editing part to further reduce your costs.

A CMS also makes it much easier to maintain your content over time. Think about it, all you need to do to add new content to your blog is to log in, click a button, and add a new post. Simple enough right?

Well, in addition to being easy to use, a CMS allows you to separate content (such as blog posts and web pages) from the design of your website. So if you ever want to change the design of your website, or add or remove a blog post, you can easily do so with very little effort (and even less technical knowledge).

Further, if you’re looking for an easy-to-use, affordable solution, then WordPress is a great choice. Not only is it free, but it also offers a robust, feature-complete platform with a large community support base and a global network of over 2000 hosting providers (including dedicated servers, VPSes, and cloud hosting).

What Are the Most Popular and Cost-effective Options for a CMS?

There are a lot of options when it comes to choosing a CMS, so let’s discuss the most popular and cost-effective options so you can make an informed decision.

WordPress is, by far, the most popular content management system (CMS) used today. With a community of over 200 million monthly active users, WordPress is a great choice for any business or individual who needs a simple, yet powerful blogging platform. WordPress offers a free, open-source version, as well as a premium commercial version. The free version is fully functional, and provides you with all the features you need to get started. If you’re looking for a robust, scalable, and secure CMS, then WordPress is the perfect solution.

Another great option for a CMS is Drupal. With a user base of more than 600 million monthly active users, Drupal is also a popular choice. The community-driven, open-source CMS is a coder’s delight (especially with the help of talented developers like WP Engine) and provides you with a robust platform, excellent performance, and a large network of over 2000 hosting providers worldwide. If you’re looking for a commercial-grade content management system (CMS) that’s highly customizable, then Drupal is the perfect choice.

Joomla! is another great option, with a user base of more than 500 million monthly active users. Thanks to its open-source design, the flexibility of its architecture, and its global community of users and developers, Joomla is a popular choice for organizations, governments, and businesses worldwide looking for a robust, scalable solution. While Joomla! is completely free, as with all the other options discussed here, you can also purchase a premium version to get the additional perks that come with scalability and security.

Scalability

One of the primary reasons why you might want a scalable, and robust content management system (CMS) is to accommodate additional website traffic. Say, for example, you’ve launched a new product or service, and you want to encourage users to discover your website and learn more about your product or service. Or, perhaps you’re just growing your business and looking to attract new customers. In any case, you can use a CMS to allow you to easily add additional content (such as blog posts, product descriptions, and more) to your website, without needing to worry about performance or the ability to scale.

Security

Another reason why you might want a secure content management system (CMS) is to prevent unauthorized users from accessing your website’s content or performing certain actions on your behalf. You might want to consider a secure CMS if you’re an eCommerce store owner, and you want to make sure that only customers can access your products and transactions. Or, if you’re working with financial information, then you might want to look into a PCI-compliant solution.

Fortunately, most content management systems (CMS), including all the ones we’ve discussed so far, offer a secure option. You can use a CMS’s built-in security features to add an extra layer of security to your website. This way, even if someone does manage to gain access to your CMS’s backend, they won’t be able to view or edit your content without your express permission.

Cost-Effectiveness

While all the CMSs we’ve discussed so far are more than sufficient in terms of functionality, ease of use, and performance, not all of them are ideal for every situation. In fact, some may be more expensive than you’d like to pay for certain tasks or applications. If you’re looking for a robust, yet cost-effective content management system (CMS), then consider one of the following options:

  • Shopify
  • Wix
  • Squidoo
  • Contently
  • Cockpit
  • GoDaddy Optimized

How Do You Backup And Restore Content on a CMS?

It’s important to back up your content regularly, in case something happens to your computer or the server on which your blog or website is hosted. It’s also key to be able to restore your content in the case of a disaster.

Fortunately, most CMSs, including WordPress, offer a full backup and restore feature. You can simply click a button and save all the content on a local computer or external storage device. Should anything happen to your computer or the server on which your content is hosted, then you can easily restore it. This feature makes WordPress a relatively easy platform to manage, especially if you’re not a techie by nature.

Use Cases For a CMS

While all the CMSs we’ve discussed so far are great for general purposes, certain industries and use cases benefit more from specific CMSs.

Here’s a short list of industries and use cases where you may want to consider a CMS.

  • Real Estate
  • Legal
  • Accounting
  • Banking
  • Healthcare
  • Manufacturing
  • Education
  • Public Safety
  • Food/Drink
  • Entertainment
  • News
  • Web Design
  • Non-Profit Organizations
  • Sports
  • Travel
  • Media
  • Automotive
  • Fundraising/Non-Profit Organizations
  • Shopping

Final Takeaway

If you’re looking for a simple, yet powerful blog or website platform, then consider using WordPress. You’ll be able to choose from a wide range of free, professional-looking themes and integrate popular third-party tools (such as WooCommerce, Google Analytics, and more) to get the most out of your content.