Traditionally, posts on the pros and cons of WordPress usage start with the statistics of WordPress website development, including the awe-inspiring fact that now the share of websites built with WordPress is 43%. A quick googling shows that almost 810 million WordPress pages are viewed by over 400 million people every month. Over 500 websites are made with this CMS daily. This makes WordPress not a Lego constructor in web design but a trendsetter.
In the tapestry of posts on sites built with WordPress, we’d like to define general trends facing each other: hardcore only is true (WordPress is too easy, and a true site should be hand-written), and plenty of wow-sites are built with WordPress (BBC, Disney, TED, etc.). Internet rambling showed that WordPress is used not only in entertainment or blogging, but governmental sites (i.e., The White House) pay tribute to it.
This way, WordPress has already become a standard. It simplified site-building and modification for specific requests and target groups. Now WordPress sets the tone in web design.
If you still have doubts about using it, look at the following list of websites built with WordPress to break the WordPress myths and specify why you should use WordPress.
Table of Contents
- Government & News Websites
- Business Sites
- Entertainment
- Personal Blogs and Celebrity Sites
- FAQ
- Final Thoughts
The WordPress site proudly and appreciatively posts the best designs of popular websites developed by WordPress. They belong to the group of most viewed websites, but these WordPress website examples do not cover all platform possibilities.
Here we picked the most illustrative of them. Firstly, we categorized them, referred to their purpose, and presented the top trending websites and best blog sites.
Government & News Websites
#1 The White House
This is the official website of the White House, owned by the United States government.
This WordPress site is so popular that Wikipedia listed it. Every month more than 14 million visitors (and 9.5 million unique ones among them) browse here approximately two pages for 1.5 minutes. These figures mean good structure and navigation, which is impossible without WordPress plugins.
The elegant simplicity of this famous site stems from the wide range of WordPress tools used, and their cumulative effect is a delight to the eyes. Well, we, as plugin developers, cannot fail to note the appropriateness of the tools used here:
- plugins for header designs (header stays at the top of the page within scrolling, the hamburger menu, graphics, and custom fonts in the header);
- prevailing of texts in the content entails the necessity to use tools breaking text into blocks, move or format blocks, lists, embedded buttons, etc.;
- plugins for dynamic content and photos to make them unobtrusive, with optimal resolution and without loss of quality when zoomed in;
- plugins for optimizing navigation and search;
- the contact form is presented in the website footer;
- social network icons are placed on the side and do not change their position when scrolling.
You can replicate some elements of the White House website with Crocoblock plugins. For example, create a news section with JetEngine’s Listing Grid or add a hamburger menu with JetMenu.
#2 The Obama Foundation
This site is #2 on our list of best websites. It is not a governmental site, and it was created to support civil society and civic activism around the world. Statistics show almost 200,000 monthly unique visitors who browse an average of two pages for 1.5 minutes.
Dynamic content, multimedia, and widgets engage new visitors; that’s why dynamic content and widgets are woven into the site. WordPress plugins maintain a multilanguage version and create dynamic content based on demographics, geography, behavior, etc. Besides, they quickly adapt content to different screen sizes.
#3 Observer
This is a news site with more than 3 million monthly visitors, who averagely scroll only 1.5 pages. The site’s promotional strategy aims at attracting new visitors. This fact directly affects the content of the site and the tools used.
News quickly becomes obsolete, and the WordPress platform promptly changes the content (both for texts and photos). Since the website uses images, WordPress photo gallery plugins quickly present them attractively.
Plugins can do the following to make impressive images:
- options to add contrast and brightness to images;
- options to modify sizes, borders, and add filters;
- add black and white tone, sepia tone, make dark, opacity, and fix the red-eye and blur.
#4 TIME
This news site uses the same WordPress tools referring to images and photos. One can look through and notice it.
But developers paid attention to the header and footer and made these elements the red thread running throughout the site. The footer shows the end of the page but not the end of the story. This comparison is well deserved because the header includes text (with custom fonts), a hamburger menu, and a search bar. At the same time, the footer showcases social media icons, a contact form, a sitemap, etc.
Perhaps, this explains the high performance of the site – 26.5 million visitors and 20.5 million monthly unique visitors, which browse approximately 1.5 pages per visit.
When viewing the site, visitors see a subscription form. If you want to replicate something like this, you can use JetFormBuilder.
Words aside, the given WordPress site is not political in the conventional sense but defines politics in its field. It employs creative visuals and effects and does it smartly.
#5 Vogue
The statistics are impressive. Every month 10.6 million people visit (7.1 million unique visits) and view six pages for two minutes. Bravo Vogue! But it is challenging to achieve such results without WordPress plugins.
At the top of the site, you can find a login form for regular readers. If you are looking for a way to create something similar on your site, try JetBlocks. It allows you to create a convenient Login form and completely customize it.
#6 TheNextWeb
This site popularizes science, tech, and research. It presents current technologies and start-ups but rather seeds them. More than 1 million people visit the site every month to be at the cutting edge of technology. Someone calls TNW the heart of tech because the scope of site content is extensive – from music to IoT.
Nevertheless, the site is very colorful, and there are a lot of highlighted individual blocks. They may have used plugins for processing widgets, photos, and dynamic content. The site focuses on images, and the plugins are necessary here for the following:
- filters;
- preparing images for different display formats;
- tagging people on images;
- creative processing of images using frames and stylistic tricks;
- sliders building;
- adding icons and text blocks, etc.
At the top, you see a navigation menu that takes you to different website sections. If your site is also content-heavy, you can use this handy tool. Create a nav bar easily with JetBlocks’ Navigation Menu widget.
Business Sites
Business sites look solid and stable, but this gives a misleading impression. For instance, every element contributes to the promotion of the business. And here, WordPress is also beyond praise. Did you know that WordPress templates are SEO-friendly? Well, not only that.
Let’s start with the IT business sites. They are listed below.
#7 Microsoft News
This company does not need to be introduced. They could have developed their website from scratch but used WordPress instead. Apparently, they know some secret that induces almost 2 million users (including 1 million unique ones) to visit this site every month and browse nearly two pages.
#8 WIRED
It is a legendary site in the IT sphere. The site presents so much information that it’s something unique. Much effort and promotional strategy don’t let the site get lost in the abyss, so now 18.83 million people worldwide visit it every month (including 14.5 unique ones) and spend 2.5 minutes here. Visitors browse an average of two pages, which means they can target-find the site.
#9 TED Blog
This site does not need additional advertising. There are popular public lectures of specific formats. The topics of the lectures are so diverse that they satisfy any interest. It’s not surprising that 10.7 million unique users visit the site every month. They browse 3.7 pages for 6 minutes.
#10 The Mozilla Blog
This site is among the leaders, too. It has a lot of fans not only because Mozilla Firefox is a fast and colorful browser. The blog provides monthly more than 1 million visitors (including 600 thousand unique ones) with information on open, innovative technologies to make the Internet faster and safer for all. On average, they spend 36 seconds here and browse 1.5 pages.
#11 Crocoblock
It is the site of WordPress plugin developers. We dare to include our site in this list of WordPress site examples.
We are proud that more than 600K people (about 200K unique ones) visit our site monthly to get more information on our attempts to make the WordPress world better by plugins. They spend an average of 5 minutes here and browse more than four pages. These results encourage us.
One can think we focus on IT sites, and it is easy for IT sites to be top-rated because IT companies feel quite at home on the Internet. We hasten to dispel these misconceptions because sites of industrial companies can be successful, too.
By the way, we’ve recently updated the Knowledge Base, and now we have a real content-rich Help Center offering even more handy tutorials to our customers. When building the Help Center, we used different JetPlugins, and you can read all about the process in the use case.
#12 Renault Group
One can say that these facts are pertinent to the IT business only. But the official site serves as a confirmation of our words. Every day it presents news, statistics, financial results, models, etc. More than 421 thousand people visit the site monthly and spend more than 2 minutes scrolling approximately 2.14 pages per visit.
What do these sites have in common? Why are they top-rated? The product first – all leaders develop a high-quality product. Besides, all these sites are well structured. And WordPress templates and plugins make possible simple, predictable, intuitive pages and the site as a whole. Rephrasing the well-known idiom, we’d like to say keep the structure, and the structure will save you.
The next step is promotion. As mentioned above, WordPress plugins propose many tricks here. They are:
- keeping detailed web page descriptions, including ratings, user reviews, and prices when they appear on Google;
- collecting comments from users and accepting user feedback;
- importing product information directly from Amazon;
- accessing advanced meta tags and schema markup for general SEO, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more.
As competitive as any modern market can be, SEO plugins for WordPress are a must-have.
Entertainment
This name is arbitrary since the entertainment industry is about perseverance, hard work, and accurate calculations of human perceptions. It means that visual effects are the issue at stake for such sites.
#13 The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is a pillar of Hollywood – it’s a fact. The company’s site is as beautiful and colorful as Disney movies. It is very informative and attractive. Every month, more than 2 million users (including 1.6 million unique ones) visit the site, spend approximately 1 minute there, and browse, on average, two pages. Visual effects rule!
#14 Rolling Stone
The performance indicators speak for themselves – 23.2 million monthly visitors (16.6 million unique ones) who spend 1.5 minutes here and browse more than four pages.
#15 Star Wars News | StarWars.com
Other sites also keep up to date. Since the first episode aired in 1977, the saga has spawned games, fanfiction, and the like. Now, the site successfully considers the interest of all lovers and successors. The monthly traffic is almost 3 million visitors (including 1.8 unique ones). Each of them spends approximately 1 minute browsing one page.
On this website, you can see the news grid, which can be replicated with JetEngine.
#16 PlayStation.Blog
Many people have grown up on their games, but what could be cooler than the PlayStation? The blog presents a massive database of games, articles, releases, and reviews. It’s a venue for 3.2 million visitors (including 1.8 unique ones) with an average visit duration of 1 minute and two scrolled pages.
The following four WordPress sites close the list in this category.
#17 Angry Birds
We consider Angry Birds one of the best mobile games. Of course, now it seems outdated, but remember the time of its first release. The game plot is simple; warlike birds try to get rid of stupid-looking pigs. Oh, many people love it! Even now, the game immediately grabs all your attention (and time). Later there were plenty of different add-ons, parts, and crossovers. But this very first part is still worthy of high praise, as it brought mobile gaming to a new level.
After all, nostalgia seldom attracts people to the blog. Monthly, there are almost 500 thousand visitors (including 278 thousand unique ones) who spend an average of 1 minute here browsing 1.6 pages.
As soon as the page loads, you can see the animation slider. You can create one using JetElements.
#18 Spotify — For the Record
This startup has come a long way and now boasts impressive results.
Every month almost 1 million visitors (including 565 thousand unique ones) browse 1.5 pages for 30 seconds.
#19 Flickr Blog
This resource derives from the well-known Flickr photo hosting.
Both amateurs and pros with different devices post their creations here. We are amazed at the splendor and beauty of the pictures! Developers use picturesque images on this blog and tell users about the news about WordPress plugins.
It is not so promoted, which stipulates the traffic: almost 200 thousand monthly visitors (including 127 thousand unique ones) who spend 32 seconds and browse 1.35 pages.
What makes these sites top-rated? Emphasis on video and images.
They use WordPress plugins to:
- add texture to the video;
- provide 30+ playback options like autoplay, setting specific sizes and colors, cycling, and random video display;
- integrate videos from other services;
- create video galleries, videos, and parallax for HTML5, iPad, iPhone, and cross-browser for different devices, playlists, and YouTube channels;
- specify the title, description, and other information for each video before creating the gallery;
- support various gallery views such as video wall, widescreen, playlist on the right, minimal, and a widget in the sidebar.
#20 Sony Music
Everyone knows Sony devices for listening to music. But the similarly-named service for listening to music is less well-known than, for example, Apple Music. And yet, it deserves attention.
You can find various music tracks by artists on Sony Music. Every month the resource is visited by 33 million visitors. Users love the ease of navigating the site and the ability to create their playlists.
Personal Blogs and Celebrity Sites
Finally, we’re ready to finalize our list of the best WordPress websites. We selected only two sites in this category, but there are far more famous websites out there.
#21 Katy Perry
She pays significant attention to interaction with fans, and every month more than 61 thousand people visit the site (34 thousand unique visitors) and spend an average of 1 minute browsing 2.5 pages. The site greets us with a contact form. Let’s check it out.
The contact form was made bright and noticeable to fit the website’s general color scheme. In terms of contact forms, WordPress plugins are unmatched, providing checkboxes, radio buttons, file uploads, anti-spam, and CAPTCHA features, and special fields to input phone numbers, postal addresses, dates, etc. Plugins allow placing the form inside post templates, pages, etc., using widgets and shortcodes. Moreover, they help to create different form types such as subscription, survey, and questionnaire.
#22 Jason Mraz
The artist is known for his exciting and soulful music. He has released many best-selling gold and platinum albums.
Every month 12.5 thousand people (and 7.5 thousand new ones) visit the site and spend 33 seconds browsing here 1.3 pages on average. The site focuses on concert announcements and has a lot of dynamic content.
As mentioned above, dynamic content helps the website stay up-to-date and more functional. Dynamic websites secure a much better user experience than static websites.
To sum it up, the following makes these sites so cool:
- usability;
- targeting for a specific target audience;
- possibility to respond quickly to changes.
FAQ
There are a lot of such sites. Among them are the websites of government organizations, such as the White House. There are websites for artists like Katy Perry and Jason Mraz and many websites for various media and educational platforms.
No. Many sites have been made on WordPress because this platform helps you quickly create a usable web resource. But websites can be made on other CMSs without using the WordPress builder.
Because it is very convenient for creating any website – from an online store to a blog. Plugins help expand WordPress’s functionality and bring all your ideas to life.
WordPress was created for blogging. But now, you can use it to build any website type.
Final Thoughts
WordPress is a massive tool to pave the way to Google’s top. Needless to say, the visual appeal of the websites built with WordPress is key to promotion and top-indexing.
Thousands of plugins, templates, and scripts expanded the boundaries of what is possible, and now sites built with WordPress contain:
- parallax;
- dynamic content;
- custom fonts;
- widgets and interactive effects;
- advanced filters;
- forms (contact, appointment, etc.);
- pop-ups;
- menus (including hamburger);
- WooCommerce galleries;
- enriched headers and footers;
- tabs, blogs, reviews;
- breadcrumbs.
Paving the way to the top of Google, you need safe pointers to create a masterpiece from scratch. However, the first step is choosing the appropriate WordPress hosting provider, improving domain authority for better performance, reading general tips to increase productivity, choosing the right WordPress plugins, etc.
So, WordPress is the same tool as canvas, palette, and brushes for artists. This way, the point is the practicality of using specific means and imagination to create a functional and visually compelling website.
