As a web developer I often hear peoples opinion on certain platforms even if I didn’t ask. Personally I love the WordPress platform purely because it is easy to use and it is open source.
For those of you who do not know what open source means let me explain it to you. Open source means the code is available to be improved on by any developer who wishes to add their own improvements or to fix bugs within the WordPress CMS. Now most people would read this and think how is that safe? Simple two heads are better than one. For every hacker trying to hack WordPress there are multiple developers fixing its bugs and any security flaws their may be.
Using plugins can often lead to vulnerability within a WordPress installation and most hacks we have seen have been as a result of a badly sourced plugins.You should never install a plugin from an unverified source. In fact if there is a way around using a plugin I would advise doing it and steering clear of plugins all together.
Now not saying we don’t use plugins from time to time ourselves, but the plugins we do use are from reputable and trusted sources such as Yoast for example the seo plugin for WordPress. Often when something that is costing money on one site but free on another should be a red flag as the free version could have been tampered with to help install vulnerability into your WordPress installation.
Your server plays a big part in this process also, choosing the right server can mean the difference between a site going live and staying live or been accessed externally by a third party simply because they can. Most decent hosting companies will implement brute force attack protection for WordPress installations such as spiral hosting. This will give your site an increased level of security and greatly reduce your risks of having your site hacked.
All these things aside the reason I personally love WordPress is due to the fact that it is an open source platform and it can and does be regularly improved by like minded developers to ensure its stability and security. It is also one of the most powerful blogging tools on the internet today and can have a positive effect on any seo or content marketing you may be working on.
My advice with WordPress would be try not to use pre-bought or free themes if possible as this is where most the problems with WordPress arise from, spend that extra bit of money or take that extra bit of time and either hire a professional developer or learn how to do some basic coding. If you choose the latter your site may not look the prettiest but it will be less vulnerable to outside attacks.
So choose wisely and enjoy WordPress.