You may have been told or currently believe that WordPress is “just for blogs”. Or maybe you’ve never even heard of WordPress. Although the platform started as a blogging tool, its ease of use and fanatic community of software developers, web designers and users has turned it into one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) used on millions of websites (around 60 million at the time of this writing).

WordPress is a powerful, Open Source CMS platform used by Fortune 500 companies like Sony and UPS, celebrities like Katy Perry, Zooey Deschanel and Charles Barkley, sports franchises like the Chicago Bulls, and other organizations like Harvard University, the Toledo Museum of Art, the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission and Centegra Health System. You’ve probably encountered WordPress (and didn’t know it) as a tool to help power small businesses, job boards, online magazines, portfolios, events & conferences, educational institutions, political causes, government agencies, charitable organizations, musicians & bands, and, of course, blogs all over the web.

What makes WordPress so beneficial is the huge community surrounding it. The lead development team is constantly improving the platform while the developer community is always creating new ways to extend its core functionality.

What does this mean to startup entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses, non-profit organizations and large enterprises?
1. Greater speed to market for business websites, microsites and promotional sites.
2. Cost-effective alternative to building a similar CMS from the ground up.
3. Empowerment to make updates to content (with little technical knowledge).
4. Ability to completely customize the system to suit a particular business’ needs.
5. Stable software without licensing fees.
6. Provides a great head start for search engine optimization (SEO) with built-in and add-on features and functions.

I hope this provides a little clarification. 60 million plus users can’t be wrong…can they?