WordPress holds some lofty and impressive numbers. Nearly 19% of all the websites in the world use WP as their method for uploading content and creating designs. This number is staggering and accounts for many tens of millions of websites worldwide, with more being built every single day. Some people have thought of WP as just a blogger’s platform, but the truth is that whether you want a constantly updated blog or an amazing and responsive stand-alone site, WordPress offers a solution for virtually any needs. There’s no denying that among platforms this makes WordPress a king, but what is it about WP that makes it so attractive to marketers, business owners, bloggers, programmers, and general hobbyists alike? What can make such a diverse group of individuals all embrace the same platform?

The versatility is amazing
When it comes to what you can do with WordPress, the versatility is absolutely amazing. Bloggers love it because it’s easy to install, easy to post to, and takes most of the programming details out of their hands so they don’t need to worry about it. Is it really surprising that half the blogs on Technorati’s list of top 100 blogs are managed on WordPress? When it comes to being able to set up a nice site with great layout and SEO friendly on-page factors right off the bat, it’s hard to beat WordPress as a content management system. Bloggers can run through the set up and worry about what they do best after that: blogging.

Business owners like it because a simple business site with all the pages clearly marked out is easy to make, and it’s easy to keep the contact information up in the header, out in the sidebar, or both. This makes WP sites very easy to create for small business owners who then can set things up the way they want and then they can add a blog if they want or just leave it the way it is over time.

Marketers love the fact that they can use the same content management system for an authority website that needs hundreds of pages, a blog that only needs a couple dozen posts, or even get a special plug-in to take care of squeeze pages and sales letters. All of these are available via WordPress. Managing one type of content management system instead of three is the type of money-saving versatility that online marketers love.

Premium themes and plug-ins
Another reason for WordPress’s popularity among marketers is the fact there are so many premium themes and plug-ins available. Not only does the demand allow them to develop their own that they can then sell and support, but if a marketer wants to find a very specific type of upgrade or a theme that allows their programmer to completely customize the design of several pages while still using the familiar WordPress Admin settings, then all of that is possible.

The special use of Premium themes or plug-ins gives marketers a level of control for only $50-$200 (depending on the theme or plug-in) that would take thousands of dollars to charge out to freelancers or a new hire if they had to code it from scratch. That is an amazing trade off and one that can’t be discounted. Getting what you want or need for a much cheaper price is always a good long-term strategy for business.

The popularity has created more popularity
At the end of the day, the wild success of WordPress has been self-fulfilling in some ways. Since so many people use WordPress, more and more businesses provide services and programming based around WordPress. The same goes with talented programmers and freelancers. If you choose to use WP as your management system you never have to worry about finding freelancers or professionals who have the knowledge and experience you need to take care of any unforeseen bumps in the road.

This is a much better situation than having a programmer who uses a CMS you’ve never heard of, and then disappears one day. You don’t know how to get into your site, you don’t know what it’s built on, you don’t know who can help. With a WordPress site, you never have to worry about that sort of situation again! In this case popularity begets more popularity, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that so many marketers choose to use WordPress.