Nowadays, almost all sites are made based on a CMS, a Content Management System. But what can you do with such a system, which systems are available and which techniques do we really use online? You can read it all in this article. First of all, what is a Content Management System? Well, actually the name itself says what it is: a content/content management system. With a CMS, you can place new things on your site, adjust existing things and remove (obsolete) stuff from your site. So you can add new blog articles, change texts or delete old photos and replace them with recent photos.

So why is such a CMS like WordPress important to me?

Well, with such a system, you can easily keep your site up-to-date. This will be appreciated by both your site visitors and Google. Like entrepreneurs who do not stand still, follow the latest developments and are busy with their relationship with their (potential) customers. Because you can manage your site yourself with a CMS, you are (if all goes well!) Continuously working on renewing your site and you will therefore attract more visitors and therefore potential customers.

Plugins: expand endlessly

Another advantage of a CMS is that since so many sites run on it, many people work with a CMS every day. As a result, there is an existing (free or not) solution for almost every problem in the form of a plugin, which is a piece of software that you install in your CMS. You have plugins for contact forms, slideshows or portfolios. But complicated problems also have existing solutions. Do you want to sell something on your site? Then you can easily install a complete webshop in your CMS! Including payment and shipping solutions.

Templates: a new look in an instant

In addition to expanding your CMS through plugins, many templates have also been written for most Content Management Systems. A template is, as it were, a shell that you place over a CMS. That “shell” determines the appearance that can be seen on the front of the site. So that’s the part of the site that is visited by a site visitor. A template determines the colours, font, layout, the menu looks, etcetera. A CMS’s advantage is that you can easily install another template if you are looking for a new look for your site. Pages, menus and blog articles will remain and will all be given a new look according to the styles defined in the new template! So you can renew the complete look of your site in an instant.

Which WordPress systems are there?

There are many different CMS systems, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. The most famous three systems are WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. The latter two CMS systems are mainly more technical and are often used to make heavier websites. They are not necessarily just a CMS, but also a framework (piece of software) to build real applications. Joomla and Drupal are both excellent Content Management Systems, but we really only go for:

WordPress

WordPress is the most used CMS in the world. That is why there are so many plugins and templates available. There is a lively community of WordPress users and developers. WordPress is regularly updated and often gets new useful functions. Partly for this reason, WordPress is the CMS that we work with and that we are secretly in love with!

WordPress originated as a blogging platform but is now also used to create complete websites. According to the website BuiltWith, 25% of the top 10,000 sites run on WordPress. In total, it is estimated that there are currently about 75 million – yes indeed 75 MILLION – sites using WordPress as a CMS.

Why WordPress?

WordPress is very accessible, easy to learn and has endless expansion options. WordPress is made to modern standards and has a very active community. Because WordPress started as a blogging platform, WordPress is less suitable for running cumbersome websites. However, that is not entirely true. With the right optimization, even enormous, gravesites with millions of visitors can smoothly run on WordPress. Sites from the BBC, CNN, Sony, MTV, James Bond (007) and even the fastest man’s website in the world (Usain Bolt) just run on WordPress!

In short WordPress:

• Is the most popular CMS in the world;
• Has been downloaded more than 140 million times; (Joomla> 30 million, Drupal> 15 million)
• Is free;
• Has more than 5000 templates to choose from.

Has more than 30,000 plugins for extensive functionality (even a free plugin for webshops).