Due to its size, WordPress has not only given rise to communities around the world, but has also created a completely new market in which web designers, freelancers, agencies and international companies can be found. We would like to take a closer look at this market and ask about the role that a single CMS can play in the everyday life of an international marketplace provider - Andreas from TemplateMonster in an interview.

TemplateMonster has been offering design and CMS resources since 2002, but is not limited to WordPress. Joomla, Facebook and Magento templates are also part of the American company's range. The company attracts attention above all with its bundle and discount promotions, but has recently also created a range of additional offers relating to WordPress, such as the TemplateMonster Startup Hub: an online course that, according to the company, teaches practically everything you need to know to build a successful WordPress startup. So the Americans seem to be stepping on the gas when it comes to WordPress. In this interview, we explain what exactly is behind it.

Andreas, please introduce yourself briefly: What did you learn, what were your most important career stages and how did you end up at TemplateMonster?

My name is Andreas Steiner and I've only been working at TemplateMonster for six months. I'm a content manager, so I'm mainly responsible for writing articles about WordPress and keeping an eye on the important topics in the scene. I'm actually a teacher by profession, but almost a year ago I decided to try my hand at a completely new industry.

In this interview, we would like to take a look at the potential and characteristics of the German WordPress market. Now TemplateMonster doesn't just do WordPress. What exactly are your main business areas and what role does WordPress play in them?

There is no doubt that a group of talented designers and developers can change the online world. TemplateMonster started with this credo and has been active in the web design market for over ten years. From the very beginning, we have focused on the quick and easy creation of websites using professional web templates. To this day, we provide affordable templates that are optimized for search engines and performance.

During this time, our team has become a core team of experienced specialists, and our products enable our customers to build their own website from scratch.

Our collection comprises more than 30,000 templates and is replenished with 450-500 new designs every month. Our focus is on areas such as

•       Web design and development
•       E-Commerce
•       Mobile/responsive development
•       Facebook layouts
•       Moving content
•       Experimental design and technologies

WordPress plays a special role here. This is because the CMS is an excellent solution for attractive and elegant websites. In addition, WordPress themes offer unique designs, high functionality and easy installation, which fits perfectly into our focus area, blogging. And WordPress is of course relevant in the CMS market due to its sheer size: after all, just over 60% of all CMS-powered websites runon WordPress.

In our experience, more and more customers want to implement their websites with WordPress. This is because a CMS takes a lot of work off your hands and enables even small WordPress projects to have a web presence.

The questions that are most frequently asked in this context are about maintenance costs, backup solutions and search engine optimization.

Do you use WordPress yourself and if so, where and how?

Yes, we are following the trend and also use WordPress on our site. Our blog, for example, is powered by WordPress. Here we cover many aspects of the national and international web design industry, such as the latest news, reviews of the latest development tools and stories from the scene. As an international company, the modular structure of WordPress and the flexibility that comes with it play a particularly important role for us. So when we want to improve our SEO performance, we find very easy-to-use and well-written plugins that offer us real added value.

When this figure was published, the response was huge: 25% of the entire Internet is powered by WordPress. How is this figure reflected in your day-to-day business?

As far as I am familiar with the global statistics, the figure of 25% was mentioned a few years ago. In the meantime, the CMS has grown even more.

WordPress is one of our most popular products. For business reasons, I am not allowed to give more precise figures here. What I can say, however, is that WordPress plays an even greater role in our day-to-day business than the figure of 25% would suggest.

And what does it look like on a strategic level? Do you think the WordPress market will continue to grow? And how do you think the user base will change in the coming years?

Since 2005, WordPress has really become a worldwide trend. People are becoming more and more interested in this CMS and we believe that the WordPress market will continue to grow. This also applies to Germany. The reasons for this popularity are no secret: WordPress is easy to access, install and control. You don't necessarily need any prior knowledge of web design to work with WordPress either.

As far as our strategic plans are concerned, we intend to focus not only on theme creation, but also to give plugin development a boost.

A whole range of our plugins should be coming onto the market soon. We can't reveal which products these will be at the moment, but we promise to keep you up to date.

We will also be focusing on blogging and in particular on WordPress themes with a GPL license. In the near future, we will have an entire product range exclusively for bloggers.

With this in mind, where do you think the greatest potential for companies lies in the WordPress market?

I think the importance of mobile devices in particular is currently being systematically underestimated. The way today's trends can be interpreted, it is conceivable that desktop computers will be dispensed with in a few years' time - at least in certain areas.

Instead, users will probably use their mobile devices to surf the Internet and make purchases. Not all websites are ready for this today. But with a WordPress site and a responsive theme, you can be a few steps ahead of your competitors. I therefore predict that in the course of this changeover, be it gradual or sudden, more and more companies will push towards WordPress.

What do you think is the biggest problem in the German WordPress market and how could it be solved?

One thing that worries me a little in this context is the implementation of large projects with WordPress. There are already examples of highly sophisticated and very large sites that have been successfully implemented with WordPress. However, as far as I know, the acid test for Germany is still pending.

What advice would you give WordPress beginners and blogging newbies in connection with WordPress?

All beginnings are difficult. When you start your first blog or other project with WordPress, you will inevitably encounter obstacles. These are usually typical beginner mistakes and you are not the first person to be confronted with them. So my most important tips are: ask questions, visit forums and listen to the experts and advanced users.

There are no stupid questions. In the beginning, it can be very difficult to get to grips with the subject matter and deal with criticism from experienced WordPress users. But don't hide your light under a bushel and don't see the problem, see the solution. Always stay focused and positive. Follow through and you won't have to wait long for results.

And if the community can't help you - which is probably because you haven't searched long enough - or you don't feel like doing the time-consuming research, there is also the option of using push resources or getting professional support. The former primarily includes online and email courses on the topic - we also offer such a course and corresponding support.