Since its inception, WordPress has dominated the content management system for various reasons. Currently supporting more than 43% of websites globally, web designers and development agencies prefer WordPress for its intuitive and user-friendly nature. Novice business owners and site administrators can make updates, upload blog posts, and post images without difficulty. Whether you’ve been using WordPress for your ecommerce store or regular website, here are the most important WordPress website features to leverage in 2023.

Headless WordPress

As web developers and content creators look at new ways to evolve the WordPress editor experience, they also search for options for connecting their preferred content creation and management methods with front-end frameworks. This is where headless WordPress architectures, such as WP Engine Atlas, come in. These architectures combine modern front-end frameworks with the best of WordPress.

Benefits of using a headless WordPress setup include:

• Better site performance – WordPress websites with optimized front-ends are incredibly responsive. They are smooth and load web pages in milliseconds. This improves search engine presence and user experience.
• Improved flexibility – headless setup makes it easy to integrate blog posts and other forms of content into the seemingly complicated front-end solutions.
• Enhanced security – sites that display static content to visitors don’t maintain active web servers or database connections. This reduces the surface area for potential attacks, making your site more secure.

According to a 2021 WP Engine study, more than 64% of study participants have already switched to headless technology. Based on its benefits, more websites should adopt this technology in 2023.

Block-Based Editing

The introduction of Gutenberg or block editor by WordPress in 2018 signaled a new beginning for site builders who initially relied on classic editors. While classic editors were incredible, the modern block editor offered significant improvements for WordPress site builders. It expands the low or no-code content creation approach using set code blocks that enable drag-and-drop page building and an easier posting experience.

A few years after its launch, the Gutenberg editor surpassed one hundred reusable content blocks. It has a list of ready-built custom blocks for individual and commercial use. However, Gutenberg was just the beginning of block-based WordPress editing. With the adoption of full-site editing in 2020, block-based WordPress functionality is now expanding beyond editing to facilitate full-site editing.

Recent WordPress versions, from version 5.9 onwards, allow site developers and editors to explore the functionalities of block-based controls beyond website design layout and themes. Full-site editing enables content creators to make site changes without necessarily navigating to individual web pages. This is beneficial for anyone who manages multiple sites.

WordPress for SaaS

Many people thought ecommerce would be a passing trend, but the pandemic changed that. Currently, there are endless available solutions that power ecommerce sites. However, the adoption of WordPress as an ecommerce engine is a rising trend, with many businesses looking to capitalize on WordPress’s wide customization flexibility, content, and ecommerce capabilities.

WooCommerce is the second top-rated and most-utilized ecommerce building platform on WordPress after Squarespace. More businesses are realizing the benefits of building digital stores on WordPress. WooCommerce integrates with WordPress sites seamlessly, solves the commerce elements of online stores, and allows entrepreneurs to create online stores. Store owners can update products, secure payments, subscriptions, and shipping options from the WordPress backend.

There are over 1,000 WooCommerce plugins listed in the official plugin repository for WordPress. Similarly, CodeCanyon, a leading plugin marketplace, has more than 1,300 WooCommerce plugins that developers can purchase. With the rise in digital transformation, especially after the pandemic, WordPress for ecommerce is poised to grow more, with WooCommerce leading the adoption.

The Bottom Line

Whether you are building a new brand or redesigning your WordPress website, ensure that you leverage the latest web development trends. AR and VR integrations, minimalism and mobile-friendly web development, and single-page websites are other key trends that will rule in 2023.

Written by: Troy Rumfelt