Is WordPress Just For Blogs?

A lot of people have the consensus that WordPress is nothing more than just a blogging platform. This is because WordPress was initially created as a blogging platform. However, this is no longer true. 

WordPress is not just for blogs. Since its creation, the WordPress platform has received many updates and support from developers which has transformed the platform from being “Just For Blogs” to becoming a powerful and flexible platform that is capable of creating any type of website.  

With the WordPress platform, you can create E-commerce websites, membership websites, portfolios, homepages, landing pages, magazine websites, blogs, etc. 

Is WordPress Just For Blogs

What Makes WordPress More Than Just a Blogging Platform?

WordPress can adapt to your needs and allow you to create any type of website that you please. The easiest and fastest way to manipulate the platform to cater to your needs is by installing themes and adding plugins to your website. Let’s take a look at this in more detail.

Themes Allow You To Create Any Type Of Website On WordPress

Themes are used to change the entire look and function of your website. In most cases when you first install WordPress it comes preloaded with the latest default WordPress theme. 

This theme is usually a starter theme and is geared towards mostly bloggers which further leads to the misconceptions that WordPress is “just for blogs”. However, replacing the default WordPress theme by installing a new theme allows you to quickly create a website that is geared to a different purpose. 

For example, let’s say that you will like to use WordPress to create an online store for your business. You can install a theme like Jayla which is a minimalistic eCommerce theme that changes the overall look of your website to a modern storefront and with the help of prepackaged plugins also adds eCommerce functionality to your website. 

Jayla WordPress Theme

Additionally, most themes have multiple demos which makes it even easier to create the website that you want. Demos are pre-created templates that allow a theme to have multiple designs. For example, with most eCommerce themes you can create different stores like a tech store furniture store clothing store and so on you can view examples of demos here. 

Jayla WordPress Theme Demo

At this present day, there is a massive repository of free and paid themes for WordPress. This means that there is literary a theme available for any type of website that you would like to create. 

Plugins Allow You To Add New Features To Your WordPress Website 

Plugins also play a huge role in proving that the WordPress platform isn’t just for blogs. Plugins are compiled code in the form of extensions or addons that add extra functionality to your website. 

With plugins, you can do so much more to your website than originally intended. This means you don’t have to change your entire theme if you would like to just add additional functions to your website. I’ll explain this with a few examples. 

Let’s say that you’ve created an art portfolio using WordPress and now that it’s growing and being noticed you would like to sell some of your artwork on your portfolio website. You can simply achieve this by installing a plugin like WooCommerce which adds storefront functionality to your existing website. 

Plugins also allow you to add more than just eCommerce functionality to your website. With plugins, you can add membership systems. maps, galleries, sliders, etc. Pretty much anything that you think your website is missing there is a plugin available to add that feature.

Options for Building a Website (WordPress.com and WordPress.org)

What further leads to the misconception that WordPress is “just for blogging” is that the platform is divided into two products, WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Where WordPress.com is a hosting service provided by WordPress and WordPress.org is the individual self-hosted platform. 

What leads to the confusion is that WordPress.com has five available plans. These are the free, personal, premium, business, and eCommerce plans. The issue that is caused by these four plans is that each plan has its own set of features, with the free plan having the least and the eCommerce plan having the most. This means that each premium plan unlocks new and advanced features with each tier.

WordPress Plans and Pricing

If one user was to use the free plan and another user uses the business plan or eCommerce plan these two users will have two different experiences with WordPress. 

The free user would most likely leave the platform thinking that WordPress isn’t capable of much because of how limiting the free plan is. The premium user would get a lot more features but would still be limited unless they were to upgrade to the eCommerce plan. 

On the other hand, if the user were to use WordPress.org, host their own website, and purchase a domain this user will have access to the full potential of the WordPress platform from the beginning. They would also have a totally different view of the platform and will definitely see that it’s not just for blogs.

Websites That Are Powered By WordPress That Aren’t Blogs

Finally to wrap up this article and further cement the fact that WordPress is not just for blogs, here is a list of a few websites that are powered by the WordPress platform and are clearly not just blogs. 

hodgebank.co.uk – A commercial lending bank.

expohouse.com- Provides event and interior products for retail and public spaces.

thewaltdisneycompany.com – A provider of entertainment and information

www.bostonmarket.com – An American fast-casual restaurant

toyota.com.br – Toyota’s official website for their Brazilian branch 

These are just only a few of the websites that are powered by WordPress and are not blogs. You can find an extensive list of these websites on WordPress Website Showcase

WordPress Website Showcase
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