I have broken this post into two parts. Watch out for Part 2 tomorrow

Is a blog a necessity?

Not if you are not interested in blogging. A blog is born every half second which means two blogs are created every second.

In the past few months, I’ve been learning so much about wordpress blogs and I have a brother that’s so good and builds his own custom themes. I also have been contacted by a few newbie bloggers to help setup a proper blog but they wonder why I advocate wordpress.

So I want to “defend” why I prefer and recommend Wordpress with “20 Reasons Why You Should Choose WordPress” instead of other blogging platforms.

First, I think you should know that my first blog was a blogger.com blog and I had it for about three and a half years. It was free and I needed to just express myself.

I love WordPress and will keep using it simply because it is easy to use. If you are still on blogspot, I hope this write-up gives you a bit of food for thought.

Here are my 20 reasons:

1. Free! Free!! Free!!!

Be it a hosted WordPress.com or a blog installed the script on your own web server, WordPress costs you nothing to use. Is There is a free lunch in this world? You Tell me J

2. Setup Ease

Installing WordPress is quick and simple – much simpler if you use Fantastico that comes pre-installed with certain hosting packages. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

3. Free Themes

Wordpress default theme is ugly. A lot of free great design themes are available for you to choose from. Research and choose the one for you that suits your person. Remember blogging is becoming personal now. If budget isn’t an issue, do yourself a favor and differentiate your blog with a premium theme.

4. Complete User-Friendliness

WordPress Admin dashboard is the easiest user-friendly interface for writing a post and managing your settings. With the version 2.9 out, navigation hasn’t been that simpler. It is better and a lot sleeker.

5. Easy Maintenance

The WordPress Automatic Upgrade plug-in makes you run the latest software in case of any upgrade. It is now so simple and automated.

6.  Easily Customizable

Being a template-based blogging platform, customization has never been easier. Typical blog structure is made up of the header, content, sidebar and footer. You can change its template conveniently from the Admin Dashboard.

7. No Programming

You can use WordPress – no matter who you are! Some HTML or PHP  knowledge is an advantage, but it is not necessary.

8. Wonder Plug-ins

A major reason I love and choose WordPress instead of other blogging platforms is the unbelievable possibilities in its functionality with the help of unlimited number of free plug-ins continually built. These make WordPress the best choice for the blogosphere.

9. Open Source

WordPress has a better software development model because it combines a lot of great brains – it is open source and that is good for users. It also means you can be certain that there will always be a continual improvement.

10. Stressless Integration

Do you have an existing static website? Consider powering your site with WordPress. Right now, there is no other Content Management System (CMS) that beats WordPress.

Do you know you can incorporate WordPress pages seamlessly into your current website? I’ve done it for quite a number of my clients.