If you’re planning to start a blog, you should definitely consider using WordPress to build it. Since its release in 2003, WordPress has become the leading content management system (CMS) for blogs.
Available for free from WordPress.org, it allows you to create and manage postsA post is a type of content in WordPress, a popular open-source content management system used for creating an... More directly from your web browser.
By building your blog with WordPress, you can take advantage of the nine following benefits.
1) Customization
You can easily customize your blog using WordPress’s interchangeable themes.
A theme is a template that, when activated, changes the appearance and layout of your blog.
There are tens of thousands of themes available. Some of them are free, whereas others cost anywhere from $5 to $300. Regardless, all themes will change the layout and overall appearance of your blog.
To further customize your blog’s appearance, you can tweak your theme’s settings. For example, you can add or remove navigation menusIn WordPress, a menu is a collection of links that are displayed as a navigation menu on a website. Menus are ... More, change the placement of those navigation menus, upload a custom header image, change the background color and more.
2) Cost Savings
Building a blog with WordPress can save you money.
WordPress is distributed under an open-source license known as the General Public License (GPL). Therefore, you can download and use it for free.
To be clear, you will have to pay for web hosting and domain registration, but WordPress itself is free—and you can get a great deal on web hosting by using one of our recommendations here.
3) Full Control & Ownership
Unlike many commercial website builders, WordPress allows you to have full ownership and control over your website.
There’s no limit to what you can do with it, and you don’t have to rely on a company that could raise their prices at any time, holding your website hostage. If you ever have issues with your web host, you can easily migrate your site to a different one—because you own it.
You also won’t have any third-party ads or branding on your website, and you’re free to monetize your site in any way you see fit—such as promoting your own ads, affiliate links, products, and so on.
4) Authorship Recognition
WordPress can help you build recognition as an author.
Most WordPress themesA WordPress theme is a set of files that determine the design and layout of a website. It controls everything ... More are designed to show the author’s username at the top or bottom of posts. Some themes even show a small image, known as a Gravatar, alongside the author’s username. When you publish a post, visitors will see your username and Gravatar.
Over time, visitors will begin to recognize you as a credible author in your blog’s respective niche.
If your theme doesn’t show author usernames in posts, you can install a pluginA plugin is a software component that adds specific features and functionality to your WordPress website. Esse... More like WP Post Author or Simple Author Box, both of which will add an author byline to your posts.
5) On-the-Go Blogging
As a blogger, you’ll probably gain inspiration for new posts throughout the day. Assuming you build your blog with WordPress, you can start writing new posts while they are still fresh on your mind, using your smartphone.
The WordPress mobile app allows you to easily manage your blog while on the go. It’s available free to download for both Android and iOS devices.
After downloading the app, you can log in to your blog’s admin dashboardIn WordPress, the Dashboard is a central hub for managing a website's content and settings. It is the first sc... More to begin blogging. With its simple, clutter-free interface, the WordPress mobile app makes mobile blogging a breeze.
6) Visitor Comments
WordPress features native support for visitor commentsComments are a feature of WordPress that allow users to engage in discussions about the content of a website. ... More.
While all websites can benefit from visitor comments, they are particularly beneficial for blogs.
By definition, a blog is a website that’s frequently updated with conversational-style content. Because of their informal nature, blog posts often trigger discussions between visitors. Two visitors, for instance, may share conflicting opinions about a topic in the post’s comments section, or a visitor may simply ask a related question in the post’s comments section. If you build your blog with WordPress, visitors can leave comments such as these.
While WordPress allows you to disable visitor comments, it’s recommended that you leave it enabled. Each comment adds new information to a post. If a visitor reads a post and doesn’t see the information for which he or she is searching, the visitor may look to the comments section.
Visitor comments are an invaluable source of information because they contain the perspectives and insights of multiple people.
7) RSS Feed
WordPress will automatically create a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed of your blog’s most recent posts. Also known as a Rich Site Summary, an RSS feed is an XML file featuring some or all of your blog’s most recent posts as well as metadata like titles and descriptions.
If a visitor enjoys reading your blog posts, he or she may add your blog’s RSS to a feed reader app. These apps convert the information and data in your blog’s RSS feed into readable content. By taking advantage of WordPress’s RSS feed, you’ll generate a larger and more loyal following of readers.
You can access your blog’s RSS feed by visiting your domain, followed by a forward slash and then the word “feed,” such as example.com/feed.
To change the information displayed in your blog’s RSS feed, you can log in to the admin dashboard and select the “Reading” link under the “Settings” tab.
8) Post Taxonomy
WordPress offers meaningful taxonomyIn WordPress, a taxonomy is a way of grouping content together based on shared characteristics. It is used to ... More for blog posts to make it easier for visitors to find specific types of content.
There are two primary forms of taxonomy supported by WordPress: categoriesIn WordPress, categories are a fundamental taxonomy used to group and organize posts based on their topics or ... More and tagsIn WordPress, tags are a taxonomy used to classify and organize posts. They are similar to categories, but unl... More.
Categories offer a broad way to group related posts, whereas tags offer a narrower and more specific way to group related posts.
When you write a post, you must assign it to at least one category. Even if it’s the default “Uncategorized” category, all posts created in WordPress must be assigned to a category. With that said, you aren’t limited to using a single category per post. You can assign posts to multiple categories, and you can create and child categories under relevant parent categories
WordPress doesn’t require posts to have tags, but it’s still a useful way to organize your content. For example, you can add a tag cloud widgetA widget is a small block of content that performs a specific function and can be added to certain areas of a ... More to your blog’s sidebar, and visitors can then click a tag of interest to access a list of all posts to which the tag has been assigned.
9) SEO
Your blog may rank higher in the search results if you build it with WordPress. The CMS features clean, lightweight code that’s easy for search engines to crawl.
More importantly, WordPress supports search engine optimization (SEO) through third-party plugins such as Yoast SEO. After installing an SEO plugin, you can optimize your posts’ title tags and meta descriptions, set up canonical URLs for duplicate content, add schema markup, create an XML sitemap and more.
Ready To Get Started?
With all of its benefits, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn WordPress powers over one in three of all blogs.
While you can always experiment with other CMSs, you’ll probably experience the best results by building your blog with WordPress. The popular CMS offers easy customization, authorship exposure, mobile blogging, visitor comments, RSS feed creation, post taxonomy and SEO.
If you’re ready to start building a blog with WordPress, you’ll definitely want to check out our free guide on How To Start A Successful Blog. It covers everything from setting up WordPress to creating amazing content, driving traffic, and even making money from your blog. 👨💻
Author: Charles Harvey
Charles is a freelance writer, journalist, blogger, webmaster and digital marketer who's been engaging readers with stellar content for nearly a decade.
