9 Common WordPress Myths Debunked

Used by over one-third of all websites, WordPress is the most popular content management (CMS) on the internet. It’s used to create dynamic websites that automatically fetch content from a corresponding database. However, because of its unparalleled popularity, as well as its ever-evolving nature, there’s a lot of misinformation out there pertaining to WordPress.

1) It’s Only for Blogs

Although it was originally intended for blogs, WordPress supports all types of websites. You can use it to build a small business website, an e-commerce store, a forum or pretty much any other type of website. Just disable all the blog-related features, such as displaying a post feed on your homepage, after which you can build your desired website. WordPress might be recognized as a blog-building tool, but it’s a versatile CMS that supports all types of websites.

2) You Must Use the Gutenberg Editor

In December 2018, WordPress 5.0 launched with a new editor known as Gutenberg. Named after German blacksmith and publisher Johannes Gutenberg, who was responsible for inventing the modern printing press, Gutenberg is a block-based editor that replaces WordPress’s long-running classic editor. While Gutenberg is now the default editor for WordPress, you can use the classic editor by installing a plugin like Disable Gutenberg or Classic Editor. Both of these plugins will allow you to revert your website back to the classic plugin.

3) It’s Difficult to Customize

Contrary to popular belief, WordPress is relatively easy to customize. It supports templates, known as themes, that you can swap out in just a few clicks. If you want a specific layout for your website, just download a theme featuring your desired layout. Once activated, all your website’s pages will feature the new theme’s layout. Furthermore, most themes offer their own customization options, allowing you to easily change your website’s background color, header
image, font types and more.

4) It Costs Money to Download and Use

Being open source, WordPress is completely free to download and use. Some third-party themes and plugins cost money, but WordPress itself is free. With that said, many webmasters mistakenly believe WordPress is a premium CMS because it’s sold in several plans at wordpress.com. The Personal plan, for example, costs $4 per month, whereas the Business plan costs $25 per month. All plans sold through wordpress.com include the hosted version of
WordPress. You can download the self-hosted version for free at wordpress.org. Aside from being free, the self-hosted version offers greater freedom when customizing your website.

5) It Isn’t Scalable

Choosing a scalable CMS is important if you’re planning to build a large website that attracts a lot of traffic. If a CMS isn’t scalable, it will restrict your website’s growth and, therefore, its success. The good news is WordPress is completely scalable. You can continue adding new posts and pages through the admin dashboard, and you can easily rearrange these posts and pages through the same admin dashboard. From TechCrunch and the Ford Motor Company to BBC America and The New Yorker, some of the most popular websites on the internet use WordPress, attesting to its scalability.

6) Trackbacks and Pingbacks Are Useful for SEO

WordPress supports trackbacks and pingbacks that, when enabled, create backlinks when you link to another website in a post or page. While this feature may sound useful for search engine optimization (SEO), you should consider disabling it. The backlinks created from trackbacks and pingbacks are typically nofollow, so they are largely ignored by search engines. More importantly, research shows up to 99 percent of all trackbacks and pingbacks are spam. You may get a few legitimate trackbacks and pingbacks, but most of them will involve links to spammy
websites. Therefore, it’s recommended that you disable trackbacks and pingbacks to protect against spam.

7) It Will Slow Down Your Website

Some webmasters are reluctant to use WordPress, fearing it will slow down their website. After all, each time a visitor accesses a page, WordPress must fetch that page from the database. But don’t let that fool you into thinking WordPress will slow down your website. As long as you have a good web hosting service and don’t install too many plugins, visitors should be able to quickly load your website. You can even accelerate your website by downloading and using a caching plugin. Caching plugins are designed to create and serve static pages of content, thereby
reducing the number of database queries processed by your website.

8) There’s No Customer Support for It

Another common WordPress myth is that there’s no customer support for it. While it’s true that there’s no official customer service offered by WordPress developers, you can still get answers to all your questions; you just need to use the right channel. There are several support forums available at wordpress.org/support/forums. If you encounter trouble when installing WordPress, for instance, you can seek help in the installation forum. If you encounter a technical error after installing WordPress, on the other hand, you can seek help in the troubleshooting forum.
Alternatively, if you have a question about your website’s theme, you can try contacting the theme’s developers for an answer. Most premium themes, as well as many free themes, offer customer support. The developers will help you resolve your problem so that it doesn’t interfere with your ability to create and run a successful website.

9) It’s Not Secure

Websites built with WordPress can be vulnerable to hacking, but there are ways to safeguard it against intrusion. When installing WordPress, choose a strong password. If your password is short or otherwise weak, a motivated hacker may crack it. To protect against intrusion, choose a 10- to 20-character password that includes uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. In addition to a strong password, you should change your username to something other than the default “admin.” WordPress isn’t alone in the CMS market. There are over a dozen others from which you can choose, including Drupal, Joomla, Magento, Blogger, Shopify and more. None of these CMSs, however, offer the same flexibility and versatility as WordPress.