According to the W3Techs 2023 web usage survey, 43.1% of all websites on the internet that use a Content Management System (CMS) are built by using WordPress.
This popular framework is a very powerful Web Development tool that has a very modest learning curve and yet offers all kinds of advanced features and potential solutions. The core platform is free to install, and there are literally hundreds of (free and paid) Themes and Plugins that allow you to extend your site’s functionalities and visual style according to your specific goals and needs.
It’s easy to install for Developers, and you can have a nice-looking, very basic website up and running in just a few hours (if not minutes).
However, for advanced Developers, this simple-looking framework provides a ton of integrated functionalities and tools that allow for an astonishing degree of customization and scalable automations. The downside of this is that it’s easy to get lost in the rabbit-hole that represents the massive offer of solutions and extensions available out there; whatever you want your site to do, there’s probably a (Pro) Theme or Plugin that offers you just that… as well as a ton of other options and configurations that you’ll probably never tap at all.
And that’s where a professional Dev team can help you find, implement, and maintain the best combination of solutions, specifically tailored to what you’ll actually need and use. As a starting point, let us tell you about one of the most impacting yet underused features WordPress provides from the get-go.
The WordPress REST API
Starting at the end of 2016, WordPress included among its core features a REST API. That is, an Application Programming Interface that uses HTTP calls to directly request information or excecute operations, in a standarized yet secure way. But what does that mean in practice?
When this API is correctly configured and calling your WP site, you can use certain simple methods to communicate directly with your WP database, either to consult specific data (such as your blog entries, registered users, leads database or any custom post type your theme may have enabled) or to register new entries with the specific details that you (or even your users) are providing in that context.
The key is that this interface gives websites an easily accesible way to interact with the information in your server, in a way you get to have full control of which part of your database you want to expose or open for them to send data to. And this communication doesn’t have to be internal. (You can make your calls from an external website or application.) At the same time, this interaction doesn’t have to affect how you decide to generate and manage that internal information.
How can you capitalise on the REST API possibilities?
Ok. So that’s the theory. But how can you use that to your bussiness advantage?
Internally, the WP REST API is widely used by its backend Gutenberg blocks editor, and many modern themes and plugins that leverage it to update or present the information. But it doesn’t have to stop there…
Here are some ideas of the kind of uses and tools that may be developed for your website with it.
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Use other programming languages
Maybe your Dev team doesn’t want to stick to PHP (the main language WordPress is build with). Maybe you want to make use of modern JS frameworks and libraries (such as Node.JS, React, Angular and the like). Maybe you need your website to be adapted into a native Mobile App.
Whatever the case, this API gives you reliable ways to build or refresh your site’s public face without loosing the ease of use and customization that WordPress provides you.
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Send information to a different site
Maybe you want to use one site as your local CRM, but you need to capture your leads at a contact form in a different website (or even more than one at the same time) your company owns. Or maybe you want to update in your WP dashboard only certain specific details for a separate sister (or child) site.
Whatever the case, with the REST API you are not limited to the information sent from a visitor (or logged user) at the website they are currently navigating. You may send the data to a different website, or even to a different server.
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Capture information comming from somewhere else
Similar to the previous idea, but in the opposite direction. Maybe you want to keep a record in your website of information gathered at another one, or even obtained through a third-party service, API provider or even a completely separate web or mobile application. And you want to be able to check that information without having to log in and out each time you need to switch platforms.
And you can even have a (filtered) showcase of that obtained data somewhere (publicly or even behind a paywall) in your site.
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Develop an asynchronous we application as your front page
Modern technologies allow us to have websites that make use of what’s called asynchronous programming, that basically allows you to have a site where the different processes involved (including loading pictures, text, videos and information in general) in a parallel and independent way. That is, the user does not need to wait until the entire page has fully loaded before starting to consume its content. And while interacting with it, you are only displaying the relevant information at any given moment, which saves you a considerable amount of loading time and resources.
That also means that the data can be updated in real time, without requiring the users to keep reloading their browser window, which is always an inconvenience that may loose you many visitors that would otherwise be positively interested in your products or services.
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Maintain a central hub for a content network
What about content generation? Maybe you hired a team of experts (hint, hint) to create valuable blog articles for your main site. But you also need some content for a second (or third, or seventh…). You could always require your authors to log in to the different sites as needed… Or you may give them access to one central place where they can write, edit and classify the content, and serve it automatically and in real time all across your different websites, each one with their specific subjects, domains and look and feel…
And this doesn’t have to be limited to blog posts. Think of content such as recipes, events and even e-commerce products!
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Develop an independent custom backend
The WordPress platform provides a backend interface that grows with your site in complexity and customization options. And that’s probably just fine for your site’s Admin. But what happens when your company needs a backend with different options, ease of use for specific use cases and access to sensitive information? (Think of stuff such as a ticketing system, real time data monitoring or even inter-company interactions.)
The REST API allows you to have a separate custom application platform where you have full control of the interface and the way your users perform their different work cycles and tasks from day to day. It also allows you to work in tandem and be consistent with your basic WordPress ecosystem.
Conclusions
One of the most exciting things about working with WordPress is the potential for virtually limitless development possibilities. However, some of the most challenging aspects are that your imagination, budget, and technical skills can impose significant limitations on realizing those possibilities.
The platform provides you with a lot of tools and possible applications, but they are mostly hidden behind hundreds of pages of jargon or an endless supply of “pay us and we’ll let you use our oddly specific toolbox” solutions. Unless your tech savviness is considerable, you are better off having a trusted Web Dev team as your ally to guide you through the Realm of Endless Possibilities that this framework represents.
Do you think your bussiness may benefit from any of the ideas we presented to you in here? Do you have something else in mind that you want a group of experts to help you assess and develop? Are you doubtful your current website is actually making the most of the tools and resources available to you at the moment? Remember that Mauka Digital is your Full Service Digital Marketing and Technology Agency, so you can always contact one of our experts and tell us about your specific requirements and demands, and we’ll help you bring down to earth a project that is adequate to your budget and timeframe.
Conntent Management Systems, REST API, Web Dev, Web Development, WordPress