Why Choose WordPress for Your Website

There are tons of website platforms to choose from these days. And those pretty, drag and drop builders sure are enticing. But did you know WordPress powers 43% of all websites on the internet? And that’s for a good reason.

WordPress is an incredibly powerful website platform. It’s capable of handling huge, complex websites as well as simple, brochure style sites and everything in between. Let’s dive in to what makes WordPress so amazing and why you may want to consider it for your next website build.

The #1 reason why I recommend WordPress to any business in need of a website (and why it’s the only platform I build on) is because it’s scaleable

What does it mean to have a “scaleable” website? 

As a business grows and evolves, their website needs may become more advanced and complex. And while choosing an all-in-one, visual builder (like Squarespace or Showit) may do everything you need it to do now, it could possibly limit you down the road. The truth is there are essentially no limitations to what WordPress can do so whatever needs may arise as a business continues to grow – WordPress will be able to handle it.

If you reach a limit with Squarespace, you’ll up needing to move the website over to WordPress anyway and build it all from scratch – costing time and money. By starting on WordPress from the beginning you can seamlessly add to or change your website with ease.

Let’s dive deeper into what makes WordPress so limitless.

01. Plugins

Plugins are small bits of software you install onto your website to add to or extend its functionality. There are over 60,000 plugins available on WordPress – so pretty much anything you’re looking to accomplish can be done.

Plugins can help you add smaller features like contact forms and social sharing buttons. They can also add some heavy duty functionality like e-commerce and membership spaces. There are even plugins to help you improve your site’s optimization, speed and security. 

The beauty of plugins is that they offer an easy, no-code solution to adding functionality to the site. Many of them are free or have a free version available and you purchase premium plugins for some of the more complex features. 

02. Complete customization

Another reason why WordPress is so limitless is because it allows for complete and total customization – of anything. While you can add a few lines of CSS into Squarespace to change the way elements appear, that’s it when it comes to customization. You’re stuck with editing elements that already exist and limited to the options available to you with CSS. 

With WordPress you can access and modify your website files to change not only how things look but how they work and function. 

Editing website files does require some knowledge of code, but depending on what you’re looking to achieve it may be much simpler than you think. Because WordPress is so popular there is a ridiculous amount of support available online. Sometimes all you need is one line of code to make something work the way you want it to and I guarantee the question you have is answered somewhere online.

03. Dynamic Content

This is probably my favorite aspect of WordPress and really extends the customizations you can do. Most visual builders allow you to create static web pages. This means the content on the page doesn’t change unless you go in and manually change it. With WordPress you can create dynamic web pages. This means content is pulled in from other sources and you can display content on a conditional basis. 

The easiest way to explain the difference between a static and dynamic content is to think of your About page vs your Blog page. Your About page will look the same every time you view it (of course, unless you manually update it). Your Blog page, however, will change as its source content changes (your blog posts). You don’t design a Blog page by manually adding in the title, image and link for every post. You’d have to go and edit the page every time you publish a new article in order to add it your feed. Instead you tell your Blog page to pull in content from another source (your database of posts). So as you add new articles, your Blog page automatically updates to display the latest posts. If you change the image on the post itself, it will change the image on the feed for that associated post as well. 

On a platform like Squarespace a blog is really the only dynamic page available to you, where as with WordPress you can make any page dynamic and create custom conditions for how to display content. 

WordPress allows you to create custom post types. So just like a blog article is different from a normal website page, you can create any number of different types of content. You can also add custom fields to these post types that can be used dynamically as well.

Let’s say you have a portfolio of work you want to display throughout your website. You have a Portfolio page that shows all of your work and you want to showcase your latest 3 projects on the Home page too. On a static website you would have to manually update both the Home page and Portfolio page every time you have a new project to share.

With WordPress you can create a custom post type called “projects”. You can set up your Portfolio page to dynamically pull in content from your list of projects – automatically updating when a new project is added. You can also create a section on your home page and tell it to only the 3 latest projects from that list – it will also update automatically as you add a new project. 

By editing one source, you’ve updated 2 different pages.

Another example of dynamic content in action is when promoting lead magnets at the end of blog posts. On a static platform you’ll have to manually add a section with your lead magnet at the end of every blog post. Easy enough, I suppose. But, say a couple months later you create a brand new lead magnet and now your last 10 blog posts are promoting the wrong thing. You’ll have to edit each and every post promoting the old freebie to update it and show your new freebie. Using dynamic content for this promo section, you’re able to make edits just once and have the update take place on every post.

You can even take this a step further and use conditions to promote different freebies for different posts. Let’s say you’re a digital marketer and you specialize in Instagram and Pinterest. You blog about both these topics. You also have one lead magnet all about increasing engagement on Instagram reels and another lead magnet showing your audience how to set up a Pinterest business account. It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to promote a freebie about Pinterest after a viewer reads a post in the Instagram category. With dynamic content you can tell your website to show your Pinterest freebie at the end of all blog posts in the Pinterest category, but show your Instagram freebie at the end of posts categorized as Instagram. 

These are just some basic examples. The power of dynamic content is truly incredible.

04. Your website is self hosted

Builders like Squarespace are proprietary, closed-source platforms. This means if you choose to build your website with them you’re also choosing to host your website with them. And your subject to the prices that they set. These platforms also like to trick you into believing that you need to pay more to implement more functionality. On Squarespace you have to jump up a tier and pay more each month if you want to add e-commerce. On Showit, you’re forced into the next tier simply to add a blog to your website. 

WordPress is self-hosted. This means that even though you’re building your website on WordPress you get to choose your own hosting provider. There are many to choose from and they vary in terms of quality, but you have the flexibility to shop around and find a host that fits your budget. Also, you’re only going to pay more if you actually need more storage space or bandwidth. So your monthly bill only goes up if your website gets bigger and/or gets a lot more traffic. 

The lowest tier is typically all you need for an average website. Even if you have a blog.

05. You don’t need to know code

There’s a huge misconception that you need to know how to code in order to build a website on WordPress. This simply isn’t true. While coding does come in handy (especially for some of the more advanced customizations) it is not necessary. 

There are several page builders available on WordPress. These are plugins and/or themes you can install to your site to turn it into a visual, drag and drop builder. My favorite page builder for WordPress is Bricks

With Bricks you can add different blocks or elements to the page and style them with just the click of your mouse. It also comes with tons of pre-built blocks so you can add some neat features like accordion drop downs, image sliders, social media links and tons more. 

Even if you’re hiring a developer to custom code your WordPress site for you, updating and editing content is still super simple. Developers are able to code in custom fields on the back end of your website so you don’t have to touch any of the code to change text, swap out images or even add new pages. This lets you benefit from a completely custom website while still having the ability to make updates and changes yourself. 


In conclusion, WordPress is an amazing platform for any type of website. It’s easy to integrate any kind of functionality, has no restrictions when it comes to design and customizations, packs some serious power with dynamic content and is more flexible (and usually more affordable) because it’s self-hosted. The best part is WordPress is a scalable platform. So as your business grows and your website needs become more complex, you know your website can handle anything you throw its way. Starting your website on WordPress is easy because page builders allow you to build beautiful websites without needing to write a single line of code. 

Have questions about WordPress? Send me a DM @scoutdesignco_, I’d love to chat!

And if you’re interested in outsourcing your next web design project, check out my WordPress Development service.

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hi, I'm Caitlin
After 10+ years in the industry, I know the importance of your online presence. I know what it takes to build a website that sets you apart, scales with your growth and gets you results. I build websites for evolving brands – so you can continue growing your business doing what you love.
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