Summary
I Was Building Business Websites Before Google Had Ads
In the 90’s, I was hand-coding HTML and creating graphics in CorelDraw. We were uploading files via FTP, praying they didn’t break on dial-up. (I can still hear the sound of it connecting.) There was no CMS. No SEO plugins. No responsive design. We built websites kind of like we built brochures—only taller and more of them. Then came Microsoft FrontPage, which felt like magic at the time. A GUI! Drag-and-drop! Of course, it came with a whole slew of new issues. Back to hand coding in a text file it we went. Then, Dreamweaver provided an elegant way to code and preview your files. It seemed so perfect. But in 2003, something new caught my eye: WordPress. It was originally pitched as a blogging tool, but I thought it had potential written all over it.
WordPress Wasn’t Just Software. It Was a Mindset Shift.
It became my playground for pushing boundaries and testing out theories by developing all kinds of sites. I started out with small test sites, then quickly moved into business sites. By 2012, I had converted an entire enterprise website from legacy ASP to WordPress.
That move gave the marketing team something they’d never really had before:
- Control without chaos
- Creativity without dev dependence
- Speed without compromise
- And most importantly—independence.
For the first time, they could update content in minutes. Build landing pages. Add new core pages. Publish articles. Run campaigns. All without begging IT for a deploy slot.
Marketing became agile. Empowered. Strategic.
And that’s when I knew—WordPress wasn’t a trend. It was a shift that would permanent change how things were done and sites were built.
What I’ve Seen WordPress Do—That Other Platforms Still Don’t
Over the last 20+ years, I’ve used WordPress to help:
- A small regional firm scale nationally without switching platforms
- A complex B2B company integrate gated resources, lead gen, and CRM—without hiring a dev team
- A solo entrepreneur launch a multi-product business with membership, email capture, and e-commerce—under one roof
- A startup go from SaaS concept to MVP launch in under 6 weeks (including testing)
- Marketing teams reduce launch timelines from 8 weeks to 5 days
- Custom employee and client portals be developed in weeks, not months.
- MVPs of custom solutions be developed, tested, and launched in weeks without developers
- Designers and copywriters bring their vision to life without waiting for code pushes
And unlike other CMS tools that get bloated, locked down, or priced out—WordPress stays open, flexible, and fiercely community-driven.
Why I Still Love WordPress in 2025
Here’s what hasn’t changed—and what still makes it my first choice for nearly every business site I touch:
Freedom Without Friction
No vendor lock-in. No massive SaaS contracts. Hosting options are virtually endless. You own your site, your stack, your future.
Power That Matches Your Growth
From simple brochure sites to full-blown membership platforms and e-commerce sites, WordPress scales—gracefully. Some very large popular sites like The White House, The National Archives, TED, Vogue, TechCrunch, Microsoft, Wired, The New Yorker, TIME, Harvard University, Stanford University, Van Heusen, UPS, Mercedes Benz, Sony Music, AMV, Pluto TV, Oglivy, NASA, Prime Minister of India, The Walt Disney Company, Rolling Stone, T-Mobile, Fortune, Healthline, Playstation Blog, Spotify Newsroom, The Obama Foundation, Hodge Bank, Hypebeast, META Newsroom, and many others.
A Plugin Ecosystem That Works Harder Than Most Dev Teams
Need a learning hub? Booking system? Online shop? Custom field logic? Seriously complex forms?
There’s a plugin (and likely 3 backups) for that. From free to paid, there are reliable, secure options for pretty much anything you can dream up.
Marketing-First, User-First, Not Developer-Gated
Marketers can edit, test, build, and optimize—without submitting a ticket. That’s not just convenient. That’s revenue speed. The learning ramp is minor for the majority of use cases. The integrations with popular marketing stack tools are plentiful and easy from HubSpot to Mailchimp, Marketo, Clearbit, Calendly, Zendesk, and so many more.
It’s Still Yours
You can design your backend. Customize your workflows. Control your stack. Go headless with a custom front end. Most anything you can imagine.
No surprise updates. No invisible guardrails. Just pure, modular ownership.
What I Tell Clients in 2025
Every year, I hear:
“Isn’t WordPress old?”
“Shouldn’t we be on Webflow / Squarespace / [insert trend]?”
Here’s my answer:
“WordPress is like Lego. The beauty is in the build. If you know what you’re doing, there’s nothing you can’t create.”
The reason it’s lasted is simple: It grows with you. It doesn’t box you in. And in a world of tech churn, that’s not just rare—it’s revolutionary.
Is it the perfect answer for everything? No, but nothing is.
Final Word: This Isn’t Just Nostalgia. It’s Proof.
I’ve built websites for nearly three decades. I’ve watched platforms rise, pivot, rebrand, die. And through it all, WordPress hasn’t just survived. It’s empowered marketers and entrepreneurs, leveled the playing field, and kept the web in “website.”
So yes, I still recommend it. I still use it.
And after all this time? It’s still one of the smartest business decisions a brand can make.
