Almost everyone who has dabbled in digital marketing to any extent has used WordPress. While there is certainly some viable competition in the DIY blogging and web hosting space, WordPress maintains its tightly-held grip on the digital marketing industry.
According to Forbes, there are approximately 60 million WordPress sites in the world, and that figure continues to increase at a phenomenal rate. With a free and largely intuitive CMS and an almost limitless library of unbelievable WordPress themes to choose from, WordPress has a lot to offer everyone from start-up bloggers to Fortune 500 companies.
But wait, really? Surely the world’s biggest brands and businesses have a more sophisticated website than one built on WordPress, right? Read on as we reveal some of the world’s biggest companies whose websites are little more than a WordPress install with a premium theme. You may be surprised.
Technology Blogs and Magazines
The fact that TechCrunch itself is built on a WordPress theme should be enough for many up-and-coming tech bloggers. Not to be outdone, Mashable reaches its 6 million social media followers from its WordPress-based website every day. We mentioned some stats from Forbes above, but did you know that the Forbes website itself is also another WordPress site?
Global Newspapers and Magazines
It may surprise you to know that both The New York Times and The New Yorker are WordPress sites, as are BBC America and Variety. Even the online version of the Wall Street Journal – long heralded as the largest United States newspaper by circulation – is built on WordPress. We can only guess that these industry heavyweights choose WordPress because of the platform’s ability to manage multiple logins and allow simultaneous content creation by various people. As the number of people that contribute to online newspapers and magazines continues to increase, they would need a solution that allows user-friendly access to their worldwide reporters who can focus on their journalism without needing advanced tech skills to quickly publish new content.
Entertainment
You’d think that Star Wars might employ some kind of space age website design, but the official Star Wars Blog is none other than a WordPress website. And here’s a fact for those more easily influenced by British rock than American pop: the Rolling Stones website also operated from the WordPress platform.
Celebrity Sites
If it’s good enough for Beyoncé, it’s good enough for any celebrity. Beyoncé’s website is indeed none other than a WordPress site with a relatively simple theme. If sport is more to your liking, you may be interested to know that Usain Bolt’s website is also built on WordPress.
Social Media
You’d be forgiven in thinking that social media sites must’ve been built from the ground up. We thought so too, until we found out that LinkedIn – the social media site targeted at the business community that connects 170 industries across 200 countries – is a WordPress site.
Online Shopping
The global reach of WordPress has extended as far as some of the world’s biggest online shopping sites, with the official eBay blog yet another WordPress site.
Now you know for sure that WordPress is not solely the domain of start-up bloggers and small online stores. With some of the biggest brands, companies, newspapers and magazines powered by WordPress, there’s no reason why you can’t use a basic WordPress install with a premium theme to create and customise your own site.