Blog Post

Wordpress is the Orange Juice of Content Management Systems

Liza Rodrigues • April 30, 2020

What does the most common Content Management System (CMS) have to do with the most common breakfast beverage? Let me explain…

Did You Ever Wonder Why Orange Juice is the Breakfast Drink?

I heard a great podcast from ad-man Terry O’Reilly some time ago that stuck with me. It was all about how North America’s favourite breakfast drink became our favourite breakfast drink, all because of an ad campaign.

The largest advertising company in North America in 1908 was Lord & Thomas, who had a client California Fruit Growers Exchange. They had a large surplus of oranges which was causing prices to plummet. They needed to sell oranges, quickly, and to a much larger market than they had.

At the time oranges were only eaten as a fruit, by peeling and enjoying it in segments. It was not a fruit with which you could bake, which was how other fruits were marketed. So what other options were there? Well, Lord & Thomas put their best creative minds together and came up with a revolutionary campaign, with the headline “Drink an Orange”. This gave the market a brand new beverage, which was ideal for breakfast. The messaging for the campaign convinced the audience that not only was the juice delicious but it was recommended by physicians for its health benefits.

“ As an added incentive, [Lord & Thomas] actually hired a man to invent a juice extractor, and the print ads offered those glass juice extractors for just 10 cents a piece. It was an ingenious marketing idea. [Lord & Thomas] sold 3 million of them almost overnight.” - CBC.ca

women in 1900s working in factory to box oranges

What Does This Have To Do With Wordpress?

Wordpress is one of many Content Management Systems. It is not the most secure. It is not the most scalable. It is not the cheapest. It is not the fastest. It is not the most intuitive to use. It is not the most flexible.

So why is Wordpress the CMS of choice for more that 35% of all websites in the world?

In 2020, over 455 million websites use WordPress.com. That means that the WordPress market share is 35% of all websites in the world! This is an increase of 2% compared to 2019 and a 4% rise from the previous year. Also, over 20% of all self-hosted websites are currently using WordPress. - Creative Minds

(update 3 November 2021: WordPress now powers almost 43% of the web, with a total of 708 million websites. Source: Manaferra)

Because Wordpress was the first to offer tools to create websites with little to no programming knowledge, and for free, it exploded into the market. It soon became the CMS of choice because everyone’s friend’s brother’s child could “develop” a website for a few hundred dollars.

Here comes the orange juice…

Wordpress ambassadors (1) have marketed the platform as the best CMS with the following messaging:

It is relatively inexpensive to get developed
Wordpress developers (2) are readily available
It has a large online support community
Any feature or functionality is possible (3)
It is easy to manage content (4)
It is inexpensive to host a Wordpress Website

So, if you were asked: Which beverage is the best for breakfast?

Your likely response: Orange Juice.

Why?: That’s just how it is.

So, if you were asked: Which CMS is the best for your website?

Your likely response: Wordpress.

Why? That’s just how it is.

Is it though?

A CMS is a vital decision for your business and online presence. Each business is unique - in the way that you engage your customers, in your brand identity and messaging, in their culture, etc. This means that your technical and functional needs will also be unique.

In our experience, we have had many clients requesting a quote for a Wordpress website. After assessing their needs, we used a platform that was less expensive to develop and much easier for them to manage their own content and pages. We have also had situations where after assessing the client’s needs, it was clear that their business would outgrow a well-performing Wordpress website in a year or two, and would have had to reinvest in a more robust platform. And then of course there were clients that were perfectly suited for a Wordpress website.

My only conclusion here is: Don’t drink orange juice with your breakfast out of habit - find out what other options are available to you so that you can get the best out of your meal!

Annotations:

I use the term “ambassadors” for the many digital agencies, web development companies, and developers that have not really looked beyond Wordpress as CMS options. It is a choice often based on the development skills available to them rather than what is best for the requirements.
Wordpress offers tools to develop websites without programming knowledge. Therefore, it is an important step to vet a developer as an actual programmer or coder before hiring them to develop your Wordpress website.
Wordpress was initially created as a blogging platform. Therefore its core functionality includes “pages” and “posts”. Anything beyond that, including sliding banners, is an additional piece of software that is added to the Wordpress core software, known as “plugins”. This creates some risk to the website, as plugins are developed by different developers, and have version updates that are not coordinated. In addition, having many plugins can negatively impact the performance of the website.
This is a misconception. After having vetted many CMS platforms, I can confidently say that Wordpress is not near the top of the list when we sort based on ease-of-use. Wordpress is for those that are already familiar with it. Additionally, developers have different approaches to how they make content editable within Wordpress, so that can also make it challenging for editors.

< Older Post Newer Post >

Do you have any questions on the above, or would you like to share your experience? Just email ideas@mawazo.ca or call +1 (833) 503-0807.

At Mawazo Marketing we work with owners of B2B companies who want to accelerate their business. We help them with a concrete digital growth plan, a website that saves operational cost, and a digital marketing system that generates leads. For qualifying clients we offer a 5x ROI guarantee: if we don't reach the objective, then we pay back the difference. Book a Free Strategy Session to find out more.

A bar graph showing the number of people in each industry.

How much content does your website need to be found online?

By Thomas Hess • May 27, 2024

For your website to be found online you need the right type of content on your website, and you’ll need to have enough of it. So how much is enough? This blog explores how much content your website needs to stand out online.

A diagram showing the process of Digital Marketing that builds trust.

Digital Marketing is a System

By Thomas Hess • May 22, 2024

This article will show you how to streamline your marketing efforts and create a cohesive system that works for your business. It describes a comprehensive digital marketing system that covers all the elements you need for your B2B business. It's a 360-degree system where all elements work together to generate leads for your business and convert them to clients.

A person is typing on a laptop computer with envelope icons coming out of the screen.

Ensuring Delivery of Email to Google and Yahoo Mailboxes

By Tom Sweeney • March 27, 2024

Hardly a day seems to go by without hearing about a new email scam. Even worse, bad actors are using generative AI tools to create ever more convincing emails to trick us into revealing some personal information. Fortunately, technology is also being used to preserve the integrity of email as a means of business communication. New standards and techniques are constantly being developed and implemented to combat the vulnerabilities most often used by hackers.

a person is writing the word ranking on a whiteboard with a marker .

What Is Domain Authority and Why Is It Important for My Website?

By Thomas Hess • March 19, 2024

Domain authority measures the credibility and trustworthiness of your website, indicating how likely it is to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). It is important for a website's SEO performance because it indicates its overall ranking strength.

illustration of things to keep in mind for email marketing campaigns

Email Marketing Strategies for a More Successful Outreach Campaign

By Liza Rodrigues • December 22, 2023

Email marketing is a great way to nurture your client list. Read the do’s and don’ts of email marketing campaigns.

A person is looking at a google page on a computer screen

Google Search Engine Results Page Explained

By Thomas Hess • December 19, 2023

The Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) has different sections, which are produced from different data.

Local SEO with Google Business Profile

By Thomas Hess • December 19, 2023

Google My Business is a free service offered by Google which allows you to present business information on the Google Search Engine Results Pages.

Group of people discussing about digital transformation

How to Drive Digital Transformation in Your B2B Business

By Mawazo Marketing • November 14, 2023

Digital transformation is not just a buzzword. It's a necessity for B2B businesses to stay competitive in today's digital age. But how do you drive digital transformation in your B2B business? This blog post will explore strategies and tips to help you successfully navigate the complex digital transformation process.