The other day, the web manager at a company in Kakegawa City, one of our clients, asked us this question...

"Someone told me, 'WordPress, the CMS used on your website, has low security, so it isn't suited to corporate websites.' Is that true? Is it really okay to use WordPress?"

I see—when people around you say that, it does make you uneasy, doesn't it? Information and know-how about web marketing is everywhere, and its quality varies wildly.
In such an environment, in-house web managers are probably always carrying a sense of anxiety. On top of that, when negative opinions about your current approach come up, it's no wonder you become even more uneasy.
So this time, I'd like to address the question: what about WordPress, the go-to CMS tool for building websites?

What is a CMS in the first place?

WordPress is the CMS with the most users in the world. A CMS is a Content Management System, and in a word, it's a tool that lets you build websites easily.

Before CMSs became widespread, knowledge of HTML/CSS and the like was essential to build a website. On top of that, you had to create the header, footer and side menu for each and every page, which took a lot of time and effort. A CMS solves those problems.
By using a CMS, you don't need very deep knowledge, and because you can use templates, you can carry out production and updates efficiently. You could say that the spread of CMSs made website building accessible to everyone.

WordPress boasts an overwhelming share among CMSs

There are many kinds of CMSs, which have made website building dramatically more accessible. I looked into it a bit and couldn't find out exactly how many there are, but in any case there must be a huge number (ha ha).

Incidentally, I found some data showing CMS market share in Japan.

(Referenced from w3techs.com, 15 February 2017 / Percentages of websites using various content management systems among the sites that use Japanese)

As you can see, WordPress boasts an overwhelming share. Incidentally, when we're asked to build a website, we use WordPress in nearly every case.

What are the pros and cons of WordPress?

Why does WordPress boast such an overwhelming share? The biggest reason is that it's open source. That allows developers around the world to modify WordPress and create new features. And those can be used for free or at low cost.

The same goes for design. Designers all over the world can freely create and share templates for WordPress, so you can easily implement a template you like on your own website. In other words, with WordPress you can have a beautiful, feature-rich website easily and cheaply (or even for free).

So what are the downsides? At the beginning I mentioned someone saying "WordPress has low security," but is that really true? I don't think so. WordPress receives frequent security updates, and I think its security is very high even compared with other CMS tools.
That said, it's a fact that WordPress is exposed to many attacks. Why? Because WordPress has an overwhelming share and a huge number of users... which makes it attractive from an attacker's point of view as well.

Rather than attacking a CMS with few users, targeting one with many users lets attackers have an "effective" impact. In addition, among the add-on programs called plugins created by many developers, there certainly are some that are no longer updated and pose security problems. Attackers target WordPress installations that use such problematic programs.
Therefore, when using WordPress you need to keep the core program constantly updated, and at the same time choose trustworthy plugins (add-on features).

Conversely, CMSs with a low market share are less likely to be targeted by attackers. In that sense, they may indeed be safer (though that doesn't mean their security itself is stronger). Even so, CMSs with a low share often have less variety in terms of features (because developer resources are limited), and the cost of using them tends to be high (naturally, since development costs must be recouped from a small user base). There's also a possibility that the company providing the CMS could disappear, leaving you unable to use it at all—a risk that can't be ruled out.

Taking all this into account, I believe that at least for small and medium-sized businesses that can't spend a lot on website creation, using WordPress offers greater benefits. On the other hand, if you're willing to spend the money and want a CMS that feels custom-made for your company, choosing an enterprise-oriented CMS is also a valid option.

Even the head of Google Search acknowledged WordPress

The main reason WordPress spread around the world is as I described above, but I also think a big factor was that Matt Cutts, the head of Google Search, publicly stated at a talk in San Francisco in 2009 that WordPress is effective for SEO.

If you can use an excellent CMS acknowledged even by the head of Google almost entirely for free, it's easy to see why it becomes the first choice, isn't it?
That said, it doesn't mean your search rankings will rise "merely" by using WordPress. Matt Cutts didn't intend it that way either.
(I'm saying this deliberately, because apparently there are website production companies out there pitching clients who don't use WordPress with lines like, "Your rankings aren't improving because you're not using WordPress.")

PS: To rank at the top of search results, using WordPress plus building and operating your site with correct SEO knowledge is essential.
If you're struggling because your website's search rankings won't improve, please get in touch with us.