WordPress is an open framework that enables you to customize the CMS to your business instead of customizing your business to the CMS, as you would with closed, proprietary systems.
When web is water on the earth, WordPress(from here I call it “WP”) is an ocean, Yes it powers around 30%-35% of the websites across the globe from single lading pages to big corporate blogs to news agencies.
30%
of all websites on the internet are built with WordPress.
27%
of the top 10k sites by traffic use WordPress.
60%
of all sites built with a CMS use WordPress.
100K+
WordPress developers to help you build experiences.
One of the main reasons why WP is so popular is because of its robust ecosystem from free solutions to premium solutions in the two primary categories called Themes and Plugins (and then their addons).
On the other side of the above advantage, it has some challenges like choosing readymade solutions for your requirement. Especially if you are a WP beginner it is really confusing and challenging to decide on the Themes and Plugins.
The biggest and best source is WordPress(.org repository) for free plugins.
Find and try the plugins there, when you hit the limitations then you can search for paid/premium plugins on various websites like Codecanyon, TemplateMonster, ThemeForest etc.
Points to note while researching about plugins and themes.
- Number of installations
- Ratings/Reviews
- Pricing (If premium / pro / paid)
- Update frequency
- Experience of the developer
One way to get started is following influencer’s favourite list.
Here you can check or use my favourite of list of themes and plugins from the WP repository.
https://profiles.wordpress.org/vijayatech/
How to see and our favourite list of themes in WP dashboard
Appearance –> Themes –> Add New –> favorites –> Enter “vijayatech” in the box.
How to see and our favourite list of plugins in WP dashboard
Plugins –> Add New –> favorites –> Enter “vijayatech” in the box.
Few of the developers I recommend
- Brainstorm Force – The team behind the most popular theme Astra and plugins like Utimate Addons for elementor, Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder, Convert Pro, Schema Pro, WP Portfolio and so many others.
- MyThemeShop – The team behind the best free SEO plugin Rank Math and other high quality themes and plugins developed for specific requirements.
- StudioPress – This team is well known for high quality WordPress themes designed for specific requirements.
- OceanWP – Another popular team with strong presence in the WordPress theme development and comes with lot experience. They offer Free theme and paid extensions/addons to boost the free themes.
- WP Manage Ninja – This team is well known for WP Fluent forms Ninja Tables. But they did not stop there, they have been adding more and more soild themes and plugins into their arsenal.
Bonus
Hosting plays very important role in website performance. Hence I would you to check Hosting providers we recommend.
- Siteground
- Hostinger
- MilesWeb
- Cloudways
- WP Engine