WordPress is Not Just For Blogging

wordpress-developmentIn the Beginning WordPress Was For Bloggers

WordPress has a reputation for being blogging software based on it’s history, and the current 60 Million+ bloggers on WordPress.com.

The open-source version of [wpo] comes from WordPress.org.  The widely used blog engine is found on WordPress.com.  Confusing?  Read WordPress.org vs WordPress.com to understand the difference.  We’re discussing the open-source WordPress.org version.  This version has evolved into a flexible content management system (CMS) that is widely tested, supported, and secure.

Pages, Not Blog Posts

95% of my clients use WordPress to display static pages about their businesses or organizations.  There are no blog posts on these sites.  I encourage clients to have a business blog, showing their expertise, but blogging is not for everyone.

Read more

Why Use WordPress Shortcodes?

wordpress-shortcodeWordPress shortcodes are a way of creating code macros within WordPress post and page content.  These simple codes, surrounded by square brackets, can be dropped into text within the WordPress Dashboard editor.  Shortcodes provide 2 solutions for web developers:

  1. DRY (don’t repeat yourself), i.e. write code once and re-use it in WordPress posts and pages. Future updates are in one spot.
  2. Shield non-tecnhical clients from arcane PHP/HTML code.

Here’s a talk that was created for the [swd] that took place on April 2, 2014.

WordPress Shortcodes PowerPoint

We always like to see working, live code, so here are the examples used in the talk:

functions.php

twitter-shortcode-plugin.php

Read more

25% of all Websites Run on WordPress

Update: Now it’s 25% and rising … Did you know that WordPress is currently being used by 21.8% of all websites, by far the most commonly used content management system (CMS)? This is due to its flexibility in the hands of a good website designer or web developer, and its ease-of-use for clients, the vast … Read more

Problem: Your website is difficult to update, and your customers aren’t seeing new information. You need a content management system (CMS).

Solution Using a content management system (CMS), like WordPress, allows you to make updates to your website.  WordPress is a free, open-source system that is widely supported on the Internet.  If you can use a program like Microsoft Word, you’ll be able to update your site using WordPress, without needing to learn HTML.  It’s easy … Read more

Problem: Your customers aren’t finding you because your website needs to rank higher on search results pages. You need search engine optimization (SEO).

Solution Search engines, like Google, use equations to arrive at a page ranking score for search page results.   There are 2 basic tasks to getting better search page results.  The first is your website: the internal HTML tag fields of your website needs to reflect your content, and you need to have content containing … Read more

© 2025 Andre Gagnon.
All Rights Reserved.

ABOUT

Hi, I'm Andy. Based in Portsmouth, NH, I'm a software engineer focused on building custom WordPress websites. My 30+ years of experience across diverse industries, including defense, semiconductor manufacturing, 3D game development, organic farming, and web development provide me with a wide set of problem-solving skills.

GET IN TOUCH

Have a question? Email me at contact@andregagnon.com

Want to talk about your next project?

Get a Quote