Did you know that there are over 5000 airlines in the world? It’s true, but most people in the United States use the 12 mainline options. The rest are niche airlines–great when you have a specific type of need, but useless if they don’t fly in your area.
Similarly, there are at least 1200 content management systems (CMS) for building websites. (This doesn’t include the many software-based web builders.) A significant number of these are used by very small numbers of companies or are most appropriate for specialized purposes. In fact, there are just 5 website content management systems that are used to build one percent or more of all of the world’s websites: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, and Blogger. WordPress is clearly dominant: 26.6% of websites were created with it, which gives it a whopping 59.4% share of all of the CMS-based websites.
Why is WordPress so dominant? There are a wide variety of reasons, such as:
- The software is open-source and free.
- There are thousands of plugins (tools that enhance the functionality of WordPress) and themes (which create “the look” of a site) available, often for free.
- Developers who specialize in WordPress are very, very easy to find.
- Free support and tutorials are widely available.
- While not the easiest platform ever created, the basics of how to use it can be grasped with just a short orientation.
- It is updated very regularly with new features, security enhancements, bug fixes, and up-to-date documentation.
- WordPress-based websites are fairly easy to move to a different web host, should that become necessary.
Many church website companies don’t disclose what CMS they use. There’s nothing wrong with that–they don’t have to tell you. In many cases, they have created their own platform, one they feel has the features and ease-of-use churches desire.
However, there are significant disadvantages with proprietary and undisclosed web builders. For example:
- The content may be difficult to export if you wish to move to a different platform.
- There often is no export tool included.
- The number of specialized developers for hire is likely smaller.
- You’re limited to the feature set the company feels is best for you.
- The number of people who are continually developing the platform is tiny.
Aboundant is built on the awesome power of WordPress, just like more than a quarter of all of the world’s websites. Shouldn’t your church website use WordPress too? Start your free trial of Aboundant today.