WordPress has come a long way since it first released its self-hosted publishing platform in 2003. It started out as a blogging tool, and quickly became popular because it was free to download, open source, and easy to use.
Users eventually realized the WordPress platform has extended use beyond creating blogs. With a little code tweaking the platform turns into a powerful and versatile content management system for many different types of websites. Businesses and individuals use WordPress for everything from informational and portfolio websites, to e-commerce and subscription sites.
WordPress has an active developer community. There are thousands of free and paid plugins which can be installed into the platform to enhance functionality. Need to add a Twitter feed to your homepage or tie in your opt-in box to your MailChimp account—there are plugins for that, and for most any feature you can imagine.
For additional cost savings, businesses can install ready-to-use WordPress themes, both free and paid. These themes provide customized design and functionality specific to your industry or website type. You can have a WordPress e-commerce store or real estate listing site installed and ready to go in a few minutes.
Catch Ramon Ray at the WordPress booth at SXSW 2011 in the video below:
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