Not Just a Blogging Platform
WordPress is a powerful content management system
WordPress started as a blogging platform. But what many small businesses don’t realize is that WordPress, as a powerful and versatile content management system, can be used to build and manage not just a blog, but an entire website.
Many top brands use WordPress as their website of choice including Beyonce, Vogue, the New York Post, Fortune, Time, Google Ventures, TechCrunch, and Izod. In fact, 23.3% of all websites online use WordPress, according to a recent survey by W3 Techs.
WordPress is Free
You can’t beat free.
One of the most important reasons to use WordPress is the fact that it’s free. It’s available for download at WordPress.org and any company or individual can use it, free of charge.
WordPress is also available from some web hosts as a one click installation, where you don’t even need to download it. One click and you’re ready to get started.
Other Features That Make WordPress a Small Business Winner
Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it’s not loaded with features and awesome functionality.
Responsive Design
Another important reason to use WordPress is responsive design. Responsive web design aims at providing an optimal viewing and interaction experience, regardless of what type of device you’re using to browse the web. From a desktop to a laptop to a tablet to a smartphone, a responsive design website will retract to fit on a smaller screen, allowing the user to get the same web browsing experience.
With responsive design, you don’t have to worry about having different websites for a desktop vs a smartphone. And, within WordPress, all of this is done automatically, so you don’t have to do anything special to end up with a website that works for everyone.
WordPress Themes
A WordPress theme is a collection of files that work together to display your website in a particular manner. Themes provide the page layouts that make your website look unique to your company. WordPress themes are designed to make it easy for you to change the colors,upload your images and your logo, add your content, and choose what elements appear in different positions on your pages.
There are over 2,000 free themes available in the official WordPress Theme Directory, and even more available for less than $75 from commercial sites like Theme Forest, StudioPress, and WooThemes. Each theme has different functionality out of the box, that allows your company to customize it into exactly what you need.
WordPress Plugins
A plugin is a bit of software code that can be uploaded to your website, that allows you to expand the functionality of WordPress, quickly and easily. There are virtually an endless array of additional functions and features you can add to your website through plugins, from e-commerce to lead generation forms to subscriptions to social media. Plugins can be installed in virtually seconds, by anyone. Think of plugins as the website building tools in your online toolbox.
There are over 33,000 plugins that are listed in the official WordPress plugin directory. Many are available for free and some are available for a flat fee or a subscription.
WordPress & SEO
What is WordPress SEO? Well, once you’ve gone to all the trouble to build a website for your business, you want people to actually find it. Your organization’s ability to show up in the first page of Google organic search results (the listing you don’t have to pay for), is sEll one of the best ways to reach your audience online.
WordPress is search engine optimization (SEO) friendly. One of the easiest ways to optimize your site is with the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast. This plugin gives you guidance in how to write the best title tags and meta descriptions for your pages, plus it has an easy to follow page rating system to let you know when your page is optimized fully.