Assignment 5 – Define the key elements of WordPress ecosystem
WordPress is one of the world’s oldest Content Management System (CMS) software, and provides a support platform for developing websites and blogs without charging a penny.
Founded in 2003 by Mr.Matt Mullenweg, this CMS drives over 40% of the websites, and is still a preferred choice amongst other CMS like Joomla, Drupal and Squareshape.
It is free to use as it is an open source software, and enables the website/blog developer to use from over 11000 themes and over 55000 plug-ins (in-bulit software) that readily provides the required customization, flexibility and variety. There are two websites with the same WordPress name – one is WordPress.org and the other is WordPress.com.
WordPress.com (owned by a company named AUTOMATTIC) facilitates free web development in which the developer can use WordPress web hosting. However, this is with a few limitations though –
- We cannot have our own domain name, but can have something like xxxxxxxx.wordpress.com,
- We cannot have our own theme, but have to use them from already installed over 55000 themes,
- We cannot monetize by enabling posting of ads on our webpage,
- WordPress can delete our website if they find the content not conforming to their policy, and
- We cannot upload plug-ins.
To overcome the above, we have the option of using WordPress.org, where we can self-host the required domain name alongwith –
- Access to thousands of in-built plug-ins,
- Enabling monetizing by posting of ads,
- Option of creating our own on-line store,
- Customizing our website as per preference.
In short, WordPress.org is the home to the software that enforces WordPress.com, which provides services like hosting, domain, themes, Stats and support.
The WordPress Ecosystem –
The WordPress ecosystem is very huge, and comprises of hundreds of companies who have built their business on WordPress platform in the form of Theme shops, Plug-in makers, E-Commerce, Consultants, Designers and Developers, Copywriters, Hosting companies and many others.
Theme shops – Among the contributors who facilitate free access to themes, some of the premium themes can be availed at a small investment. These are provided by these developers like Envato, Woo themes, Themeisle, Organic themes, I themes, Mozo themes etc.
Plug-in developers – Plug-in is considered as an ‘app’ of WordPress ecosystem, which is used to provide additional feature and flexibility to the users advantage. Some of the examples of plug-ins are Yoast SEO, SEO framework, SEO press, Word lift, Language translator etc. Plug-in developers like WPML.org, Ninja Forms, Gravity forms etc provide these.
E-Commerce – This is one the large part of the WordPress ecosystem, as this helps to generate revenue from a website by selling products and services. Some of the popular service providers for this is Woo Commerce, WP eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
Consultants – They support for everything related to WordPress from setup to selecting hosting, plugins and themes, in addition to everyday tasks like backing up website or fixing and securing it for any security breach etc. Moreover, providers like WPSiteCare, Valet and WP Buffs can provide complete support for any issue/s.
One of the most famous consultant firms is Yoast, who are the makers of Yoast SEO, which is the world’s leading SEO plugin. WordPress has taken the consulting services of Yoast, rather than using the Yoast plug-in.
Designers and Developers – This is perhaps the most populous segment of the WordPress ecosystem. There are tens of thousands of Designers and developers around the globe who create beautiful, customized designs for WP based sites utilizing a wide variety of tools and programming languages.
In addition to contributing individuals towards developing web page designs, WordPress also has agencies for designing and developing web pages viz. 10Up, Web dev studio, Werkpress, Modern Tribe etc.
Copywriters – WordPress is the world’s largest blogging platform, and with increased thirst for quality content, copywriters with required skill sets can soon have a full time profession with WordPress.
Hosting management – With the development of multiple sites on WordPress over the past few years, managing these sites is a challenging job, and companies Manage WP, InfiniteWP, WP remote etc. are effectively working towards managing these multiple sites at ease.
Word press ecosystem Conclusion –
There is no doubt on the potential of WordPress to maintain its numero uno position, with the large-scale ecosystem, which will continue to grow in the coming years.