Since its inception in 2003, WordPress has gone from a very simple blog tool written in PHP to a fully-fledged content platform that runs tens of millions of self-hosted websites around the world. Do you have an idea for a website? Well, here are some types of WordPress websites you can build – maybe it’s the solution for you?

11 types of WordPress websites:

1. Personal/business blog

Most people think of blogs when someone says WordPress websites. So it goes without saying that WordPress is one of the best blogging platforms around. It’s great for either a business or personal blog with a large range of plugins and themes to choose from to enhance the readability and user-friendliness of the blog. Once you’ve got it up and running, there are lots of ways you can get traffic to your blog.

2. Business WordPress websites

The first evolution WordPress made was to become more of a content management system (CMS) that allows for pages of content to be managed instead of just a blog. This meant that businesses could now make use of WordPress for their main website. What set WordPress apart from other CMSes was the user experience. This allowed staff and employees to make changes to content quickly and easily.

3. Online store

As ecommerce has grown, there have been multiple attempts to integrate an ecommerce solution into WordPress and other CMS solutions. Lately, however, WooCommerce has taken the ecommerce world by storm and is currently the most popular ecommerce technology. This means that you can use WordPress to build an online store using the plugin that is leading the pack when it comes to ecommerce.

4. Event website

Whether it is just events for your company or if you’re wanting to host an event listing website, WordPress has a large range of plugins that allow you to do that easily. The Events Calendar is a good example of a plugin that allows you to list events, sell tickets and even manage event check-ins – all from one platform.

5. Portfolio website

For photographers, artists and creatives, WordPress is an easy way for you to get your portfolio out there. With a visually focussed theme, you can have your work displayed to prospective customers in no time. It’s also a great way to get input from your peers with comments and shares. WordPress also automatically resizes images so you don’t have to share the original piece of work publicly.

6. Podcast site

Podcasting is a popular way to gain and share knowledge, especially via iTunes (not the only way, but definitely the most popular). iTunes requires that you feed it with information from a central place (via an RSS feed) and gives you no way to upload a podcast episode directly into iTunes. WordPress has RSS feeds built-in and with a plugin like Castos you can get a platform set up in a matter of minutes.

7. Community site

Let’s be honest, WordPress can’t build the next Facebook but there is still a massive opportunity to build communities around a specific niche. BuddyPress is a long-standing project that has been around for years (the whole WordPress.org platform is run off BuddyPress). It has all the needed social mechanics built-in to start a community site quickly and easily.

8. Online forum

Forums are not as popular as they used to be, but there is still a need for them here and there. The biggest use for forums is a community-driven support channel where your community can solve problems that are being experienced. bbPress is another free solution that has been around for ages and is also used by WordPress.org.

9. Job board

This is another option where it could just be for you or as a listing site. Almost everyone needs to hire and so listing jobs on your site is a massive plus to get people to apply for available positions. If you want to build a listing site, you can then have people pay to have jobs listed to a community of workers that are looking for jobs. WP Job Manager is a quality plugin that is extendable to meet almost every need.

10. Directory site

I’ll be honest, I’m not a massive fan of directory websites (mostly because a lot of them don’t actually add value to me and just steal SEO value for a short period). However, there are some great directories out there and if they are providing value (such as ratings, reviews or price comparisons) then there is definitely a place for them.

11. API data source

A project that has been a focus is integrating an API into WordPress. As of WordPress 4.7, there is an API reference built into WordPress core, which means you’re not just limited to a WordPress install and its themes. You can now use WordPress to power the content behind a JavaScript front-end framework, the content for a mobile app or even to be used in other systems. To me, this is the most exciting thing about WordPress.

Conclusion

This list could probably go on, but I think these are the most relevant types of WordPress websites that you can build at the moment. WordPress is no longer “just a blogging platform” and now powers a large portion of the web. Sure, as a developer, WordPress needs a lot of work, but as an end-user and business owner, the great user experience and content of WordPress puts it way above any other content platform. In conclusion, you can build anything on top of WordPress – it just comes down to budget, time and technical knowledge. Give us a shout if you would like to discuss these WordPress websites further.