5 different ways you can use WordPress

Most of you know that if you need a blogging platform, you can’t find anything better than WordPress. The excellent coding, the huge developer base and selection of plugins and themes (both free and paid) make it the practically unrivaled champion in the blogging software niche.

But that is not all there is to it! The last few years, WordPress has headed towards becoming a full-fledged and very powerful CMS (Content Management System). Now you can use it to power almost anything from an online shop or auction to a forum or membership site.

The fact that it is open-source makes it very flexible and easily customizable (you can edit any code, whether in the core, plugins or theme) and many companies have switched from proprietary and expensive solutions to WordPress.

Blogs are by far not the only thing you can use WordPress for. Below are 5 of the best examples of what you can build using WordPress and the right plugins and themes (many of which are free):

1. Review sites. Building really good review sites with user testimonials, star ratings, editor picks and all other nice features has never been easier. With WordPress it’s only a matter of installing a plugin and configuring it via a beautiful, intuitive online interface. The best solutions for this are “WP Review Site” and “WP Review Engine”, two different yet similar plugins that will help you turn any WordPress installation into a review site (or just add that functionality to an already established site).
   
2. Knowledge Bases and Wiki sites. Wikis have been gaining popularity lately, mainly because of the success of Wikipedia and other similar sites. These types of sites are very good for knowledge bases, as they have a clean, easy-to-read structure and fast & easy navigation. A WordPress installation can be easily turned into a Wiki using a special theme like “WordpressWiki”. You could, of course, use the MediaWiki software (which is also free), but then you would miss on the functionality of WordPress, which is much more extendable (for example, you could have a Wiki, a blog and a review site running only on WP, which would give you a very easy way to administrate all of them from one place).
   
3. Article Directories. This one is very nice. Article directory scripts have usually limited functionality, but by building a directory on WordPress (using a plugin like “Article Directory”, you get all the features that only WP plugins can give you, so in the end you’ll get a very advanced article directory with lots of features that are not available on other sites (or are hard to implement). For example, you could easily build a directory that has free and paid submissions, very good spam protection that can’t be cracked and tracks or even processes every payment that needs to be done (to publishers and advertisers). You could even create an Associated Content clone (complete with video and image submission), fast and easy!
   
4. Social Networks. And we’re talking real, advanced networks with a lot of functionality like MySpace and Facebook. You can have all the features you need for free using BuddyPress, a free plugin/theme mix for WordPress MU – the multi-user version of WP.
   
5. Video Sites. Want to build a trailer site or Youtube clone for free? WordPress can do that, too! With a plugin like “WordTube”, which allows you to easily upload any video files and organize them in a easy way, plus a video site theme like “Video Flick”, you can have a full-fledged video site up and running in a very short amount of time. And of course, you can have all of the standard functionality like voting, rating, commenting, which come free with WP.

There are a lot more ways you can use WordPress for your online business or personal endeavors. The 5 above are just the tip of the iceberg. Think of WP as a LEGO set: you can build almost anything you want if you know what blocks to use and how to put them together.

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