You’ve probably heard these statements such as “I can’t update my website!” or “My website is broken and if I get my web designer to fix it, it’s going to cost me a fortune!” This is a dilemma that many people come across on a regular basis, and in particular business owners who need to have information on hand at a moment’s notice. If they’re “technically challenged” they may find themselves losing business because they don’t know how to fix it.
WordPress is the Answer!
We all know that WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms available, but what many don’t know is that it can also be used to build a powerful website. It has a great Content Management System (CMS) which allows you to use it for more than just blogging. This makes it the best choice for small business owners as it’s easy to install and able to be configured how you want for your business needs.
Using WordPress as a Website
Even though WordPress was designed as a blogging platform, it can easily be configured to build an amazing website using the many WordPress themes to choose from.
You can also tweak it and add a “blog” if you wish. There are many places to obtain step-by-step instructions about setting it up and you will also find many YouTube videos. Once you’ve set it up you will find that it is built in a way that it makes it easy to change the content, because even an update to your website will improve your SEO.
You also have the freedom to add articles or a newsletter to your site as often as you like without the help of a webmaster.
So why is WordPress a good choice?
Top Five Reasons to Use WordPress for Your Small Business Website
Easy to Configure – You have the ability to change everything from the color to the font without having any prior knowledge using HTML. Using detailed instructions from the WordPress Support system will ensure that you do not change or post code in the wrong places.
SEO – WordPress provides good search engine optimization (SEO) and it’s absolutely free. You will need to tweak it to suit your needs, but this is just one of the many SEO benefits that WordPress provides. Google’s own Matt Cutts has said that WordPress is “made to do SEO well” in this video: Matt Cutts gives tips to small business owners.
Content – it is easy to update and add content on your website without knowing HTML. Having to learn to use a complex HTML editor tool such as Dreamweaver is not an option for most business owners. Do you have to “ask” your webmaster every time you want to make a small change to your website? Once WordPress is set up for you, you can easily create and add new pages and posts, or edit existing pages using a simple rich text editor.
Plugins – Plugins give you the ability to extend the use of your website without having to pay developers huge amounts to do it for you. You can use plugins to add contact forms, polls, ratings, calendars, clocks to name just a few.
Support – The support you receive from WordPress is unparalleled. If you have an issue or you want to change some of the features of your website, support can be found in many different places on the Internet, from WordPress Developers, forums and many people who write about it. You only have to do a Google search and chances are you’ll find your answers without having to pay for the information.
Using a WordPress theme and all the elements that come with it, is the perfect choice for any small business. Being in charge of how your website should look and what content should be added when and how you want it, is the main advantage to using WordPress.