WordPress
If you don't believe the hype, according to W3Techs, WordPress accounts for 43% of all websites on the world wide web. Amazingly that figure increases to 64% when talking about sites with a known integrated CMS.
Either way WordPress cannot be ignored when exploring the options for your next web project.
Amongst it's many pros, WordPress has a wealth of available free plugins to further enhance your sites features, making it easier to get up and running more cost effectively. Although I should point out that due to it's popularity, security is definitely it's achilles heel, so that has to be seriously considered before starting any new/existing development.
When working with WordPress I would always recommend creating a custom theme rather than using a theme builder or purchased theme. My personal opinion is that those themes always try to cater for every type of element or eventuality, making it very resource hungry and slower to load in most circumstances.
In developing a custom WordPress theme, I can control how many plugins are used and how keep load times to a minimum, all the while still providing you with the means to edit your website going forward. I use a combination of Advanced Custom Fields, Custom Post Types and other plugins (when necessary) to provide an easier way to manage the website.
WooCommerce
When it comes to e-commerce my current method is to use WooCommerce with WordPress, it provides a very good cost effective way to get an online shop up and running. Again it would be in conjusction with a custom theme, then adding the required features that it can provide to suit your requirements. As with WordPress itself, WooCommerce has hundreds of different plugins and extras we can use to help build the correct specification for your project.
We can create customer account areas, shipping rules for different countries, a number of different payment gateways and much more. There are too many options to list here but if you can think of it, chances are there is a way to achieve it.
Security
When it comes to WordPress I have to mention security, while it's a great platform to use with unrivalled flexibility, but we have to be serious when it comes to maintaining it's core code as well as any plugins used. I would always recommend a form of regular checks/updates, even if it's once a quarter, just to make sure it's as up to date as possible. Only then can we be sure we have done all we can to help combat any hackers out there.
