WordPress Myths & Facts: The Truth About The World’s Most Used Website Builder

For something so popular, there certainly are a lot of myths surrounding WordPress, its uses, and its viability in certain situations.

If you’re searching for a website solution for your coaching business, you’ve likely heard many stories—both ​for and ​against—about WordPress that have left you scratching your head in confusion. Here are some of the most common misconceptions, and what you really need to know.

Fans of static HTML sites like to drag this out as the reason for remaining stuck with difficult-to-manage sites. While WordPress is definitely less secure than HTML (that’s just the nature of php-driven websites) it is by no means the security risk some people would have you believe.

Driving a car increases your risk of having an accident but that doesn’t mean you don’t drive. It just means you take steps to reduce your risk. WordPress is no different. With a few security measures in place, your risk of being hacked is nearly non-existent. To start:

• Use strong passwords and change them often.
• Never use “admin” as your user name.
• Create user accounts for your staff and give them only the permissions they need. Don’t make them administrators if they don’t need to be.
• Choose a secure hosting environment.
• Keep your site and its plugins and themes up to date.

Let me bust this one flat out: if you can use Microsoft Word or Pages, you can use WordPress. To be fair, ​this phrase is often heard when discussing drag-and-drop website builders such as Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly, in comparison to WordPress. ​It's unfortunate that this myth is the one that keeps many people from even considering WordPress because WordPress is far more ​flexible and scalable than any of its competition. 

Yes, WordPress can be pretty overwhelming at first glance. But here’s the thing: any software that offers as much flexibility and versatility as WordPress does is bound to have a learning curve. And those other builders? They all have their own quirks and difficulties too. The difference is that the WordPress community is huge and incredibly helpful. If you need to know how to do anything on a WordPress site, simply spending 30 seconds on YouTube or Google will reveal the answer.

While it’s true that WordPress was originally developed as a blog platform, changes over the past several years have made it the ideal choice for a variety of website needs. Chances are some of your favorite websites are built in WordPress, you just don't know it.