Did you know that an estimated 20% of all websites live today are built on WordPress? That is a staggering statistic when you think about it. From its humble beginnings back in 2003, WordPress has grown to become more than just a means for bloggers to attractively share news and stories. Many individuals and multinational firms alike now rely on the platform for a variety of purposes. WordPress’ “plugin” architecture is extremely powerful and flexible, giving developers and modders the ability to shape a WordPress site to deliver almost any kind of user experience imaginable.
To date there are over 40,000 plugins available, with some more popular and well known than others. Many have made a very happy living from creating services tailored to WordPress users. We specialise in the development of bespoke LearnDash LMS platforms. LearnDash itself is an example of a premium WordPress plugin that can transform a website into a feature-rich and visually stunning learning management platform. Since its launch in 2012, LearnDash has paved the way in demonstrating the added value of developing and hosting a modular learning platform tailored specifically to a course’s or target audience’s own requirements.
The platform makers themselves continue to pump time and resources into the further development of LearnDash, and have done a very good job of fostering an online community based on the special interests of WordPress mixed with educational use.
Many of the clients that I speak to are often unaware of what exactly WordPress is – which can be a shock to those who have become used to licence-based programmes and expensive, complex platforms. The fact that the open source market is creating very reliable and affordable solutions gaining market traction right now is a lucrative and exciting opportunity for many of the people that I speak to.
Often when it comes to speaking about WordPress, there are at least three things which I like to mention that really sets the tone for the value added proposition that a LearnDash LMS solution can offer.
1 – The community behind WordPress is massive
It is this scale of community that has helped turn the platform into the reliable framework for websites that it is today. There are security and maintenance updates published for free at various times of the year, and development of the base platform and its most popular plugins shows no signs of stopping for a very long time – making it the most sustainable choice of web publishing platform out there today.
2 – The scalability of WordPress means it can provide all kinds of experiences to the end user
Of course there is only so much that WordPress on its own is built to do, and this is where developers like ourselves come in to utilise existing plugins and bespoke coding to turn WordPress into a powerful LMS platform.
The scalability of LearnDash on top of WordPress means that you can host as many courses and users that you wish to manage. Then, it’s a matter of choosing the extra features you need. If you want to sell course licences or provide 12 month membership access, it can all be arranged within LearnDash.
3 – WordPress is free, and LearnDash is a plugin that costs less than £100
The fact that WordPress on its own is completely free to download is incredible. Also, for those interested in creating a bespoke LMS platform there is no greater value for money product on the market right now than LearnDash. Our job is to take these ingredients and provide the creative and artistic know-how to produce your platform with the look and feeling that you envisage, and the user experience that you want to deliver.