Content management systems are one of the most crucial technological tools company owners utilize to build an online business. Not only do content management systems allow you to build, modify and manage a website without having to understand or implement a coding language, but it also allows you to digitize your company without having to understand how websites actually work.
Seeing as there are so many content management systems to choose from, it can be hard to know which one shows the most promise in terms of short and long-term growth and how it fares against competing platforms. In this article, we will elaborate on the usage statistics and market share value of WordPress, what it means and why WordPress is currently the most popular content management system.
What is Market Share?
Market share can be defined as the portion of a market controlled by a particular company or product. By understanding how market share works, a company can tweak its marketing strategies to cater to a desired demographic. However, market share also reveals how many people are using a product in relation to its competitors.
This provides valuable insight into the profitability and popularity of a product. By looking at market share values, business owners will have all the information they need to decide on a content management system that will sustain their business needs. In the context of content management systems, market share is determined by the percentages of websites utilizing each of the various CMS platforms.
Dominating the Market
WordPress is currently dominating market share when it comes to content management systems. By accounting for more than 60% of the total market share value and by powering over 24 million live sites, WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems to date.
The top three countries when it comes to WordPress usage are Russia, the UK and the United States. Currently, more than 33% of all online websites make use of WordPress with about half of them being hosted on WordPress.com. WordPress’ self-hosted solution at WordPress.org has been downloaded more than 46 million times.
When compared with other content management systems, none are growing as fast or gaining as much popularity as WordPress. Joomla and Drupal come in at second and third place respectively regarding market share at 6,7% and 4,7%. Both of these platforms’ popularity has shrunk over the years, whilst WordPress’ increased.
In fact, a lot of the open-source content management systems competing with WordPress, that were established either before or at the same time that WordPress was getting its footing, are now losing ground. This can be seen in the reduction in the market share of both Drupal and Joomla and is also the overarching trend across other various competing content management systems.
Why is WordPress so Popular?
Accessibility
WordPress is an open-source software, which means it is available to anyone and doesn’t cost a dime to download and install from the WordPress.org website. In essence, the only thing that new business owners would spend money on is hosting costs and optional extras, like customized coding or web designs.
The availability and accessibility of this platform have translated into WordPress’ dominance in market share value, which makes it the prefered CMS for most new and established business owners.
Learning Curve
Another big advantage of WordPress is its learning curve, or rather, lack thereof. Its intuitive design and interface make it one of the most simplistic platforms available, which is perfect for newcomers. WordPress’ humble beginnings as a blogging platform have evolved into a robust online solution which manages to satisfy most web-building requirements.
Whether you need blog or webpage content, contact forms, intuitive page builders or landing pages, WordPress truly offers it all. Building aesthetically pleasing websites has become a less arduous process with WordPress, which enables this content management system to truly outshine its competition.
Keeping Up With the Times
Seeing as WordPress is an open-source software, it is constantly being updated and modified by tons of web developers dedicated to improving the platform. This keeps WordPress in touch with the times, enabling users to have access to new plugins, themes and interfaces.
What the Future Holds
It is believed that WordPress will continue to rise in market share within the foreseeable future and that other popular content management systems like Joomla, Drupal and Magento will continue to decline. Smaller, specialized content management systems show the most promise in eventually taking up more market share.
When it comes to market share, WordPress outshines all the rest by offering its users an easy, updated, affordable and accessible solution when it comes to providing businesses with a digital footprint.