When I was thinking about starting a blog, I had no knowledge of the various platforms available to me. And I only knew of a few folks that were blogging at that time. One was my wife, and the other, a friend. My wife was on Tumblr and my friend was using WordPress.com. With the wide variety of platforms available, how does one know which platform to choose?
I can’t even quantify how I made the choice, but I decided to go against my wife and went with WordPress. I’d like to say it was a wise decision, but I don’t even remember why. To be honest, Tumblr has a lot sexier user interface, especially at first blush when you know nothing of blogging platforms. Regardless, I charged ahead and started with a WordPress.com blog.
To be honest, it was a rough start getting to know WordPress, but I couldn’t be happier with my decision. After a short learning curve it was evident that Wordpress offered extreme flexibility, while it seems my wife was continually frustrated with Tumblr and it’s seemingly endless server issues. Her site was down about once a week. It was pretty clear that Tumblr had issues and was holding her back from growing her blog the way she wanted to.
As time went on, I decided to migrate to a self-hosted WordPress site. This was my second stumbling act in which a friend recommended checking out TentBlogger’s fantastic series “The Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog.” The most informational step-by-step guide I’ve found. Yet another reason WordPress rocks. The community that supports WordPress is fantastic and there is no shortage of helpful guidance for those getting started.
Meanwhile, over on Tumblr my wife was becoming increasing frustrated with the dead ends and low ceilings of flexibility that her blogging platform offered. To be honest, I felt great pride that I randomly chose WordPress over any other platform.
And the more I looked at other blogs and how they functioned in terms of themes, plugins, widgets, design, and usability, the more I fell in love with sites on WordPress. They just seem to be more stable, flexible, and have the sustainability for the long run.
A Few Reasons I love WordPress
1. Robust
There are so many options to create a site just the way you want it. The more I use it, the more I realize WordPress has a solution for all my problems whether it be a plugin, theme, widget, or native setting within the dashboard.
It’s all out there for you when you are ready to explore. Some of my favorites plugins are: nRelate, WordPress SEO, and JetPack.
2. Dashboard
I love the ability you have in customizing the dashboard. On nearly every screen you have the option to move, hide, or include certain features to taylor the experience to your personal preference.
Simply click the Screen Options button in the upper right hand corner and select your desired features. You may also click the header of most boxes and move them where you want them. Here’s what that looks like.
3. Updates
They make this very easy to do and updates happen frequently. That’s a good thing. It means that WordPress is always getting better. The new “Add Media” feature in the recent WordPress release was a home run grand slam.
They’ve simplified adding multiple photos and when selected, the photo details and placement options appear to the right instead of a drop down area.
4. Comments
It’s super easy to manage the comments via the dashboard. And the WordPress apps make it even easier on the go. I prefer to reply from the comments page within the WordPress dashboard where I can see all the comments from all posts in one spot. You can also click straight into the post if you wish to see the comments on your site.
5. Community
It’s sites like WP Daily that amaze me. People who care so deeply about this platform that they are willing to dedicate whole blogs and a heck of a lot of time to make sure it’s the best experience out there for bloggers. I probably don’t know enough about all that goes into it, but I do appreciate it.
From building amazing themes like the team at 8Bit to anyone who has ever created a plugin. (Of course not all of them are of high quality, so I would caution you to investigate before installing on your stie. I’m not a developer, so if you ever see a plugin built by Eric Williams; STAY AWAY!)
How about you? Why do you love WordPress?
P.S. My wife eventually switched to a self-hosted WordPress blog, saw increased traffic, and now we blog happily ever after.
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