If you’ve looked into getting a website for your small business it’s likely that you’ve come across WordPress. But what is WordPress and why should you choose to use it for your business website?
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
You know that you need a website for your business. Since the global pandemic so much more business has moved online out of necessity, so without an online presence you’re losing ground to your competitors.
You’ve heard about it but you’re not 100% sure why you should use WordPress for your website. What exactly is it, what does it actually do and what could it mean for your business.
Did you know that WordPress powers 39.6% percent of all websites?
Hosting Tribunal
Why you should use WordPress for your website
Widely used
So what is WordPress? It’s THE most popular content management system around right now.
A content management system is software that allows you to manage content on the internet.
In 2021 we found out that WordPress powers almost half of the entire internet. I mean just wow! That’s around 64 million websites!
Choosing such a popular platform to build your website gives you 2 advantages.
- It’s easy to find online resources and tutorials
YouTube alone has thousands of WordPress tutorials sat there waiting to be watched.
If you have a problem or need to work out how to do something with your WordPress website, I’m gonna assume that at least a handful of other people have had the same problem or question. Therefore it’s very likely that they’ve asked it in a forum somewhere and someone else has solved the problem for them. - It’s easy to find other people who have WordPress experience to hire
As your business grows and scales you’ll likely need to hire people to help you. Whether they’re a permanent new team member or a freelancer, finding someone with WordPress experience to help with your website would be very handy. Whether it’s a VA to help keep your site up to date or a copywriter who you’d like to create and publish regular blog posts, finding them shouldn’t be a problem.
Easy to use
When thinking about whether or not to choose WordPress for your business website, ease of use definitely has to be a factor.
For me it’s one of the easiest platforms to use to build your own website. Especially since they introduced the block editor.
Yes, I am a tech professional however, I think that those 64 million websites built using it proves my point. A lot of those sites will have been built by professionals but I reckon a lot more will have been DIY-ed by small business owners just like you.
It’s a powerful tool that lets ANYONE build a website or a blog. It lets you do some really cool things to your website through the use of smaller apps called plugins, and you can make your site look really professional with minimal effort using a WordPress theme.
And you can do all of this with minimal technical knowledge. You don’t have to write a single line of code, unless you really want to, that is.
If for no other reason, I think ease of use is why you should use WordPress for your website.
Themes
WordPress has a library of themes to choose from. You can get them for free or buy premium ones with more features.
A theme is basically a layout template for a WordPress website. You’ll be able to change the colours to suit your brand and most themes will let you upload a logo and a header.
You can get free themes and paid for themes. Some popular paid for theme creators are Elegant themes and Themify. So if you’re thinking about going down the premium themes route, these are good places to start.
Paid for themes tend to let you customise them more than free themes. But more customisable doesn’t mean that you need to write code.
Plugins
Plugins are the jewel in the WordPress crown.
Plugins are little apps that you can download to new features to your WordPress site.
You name it, chances are there’s a WordPress plugin for it. From helping you with keywords for SEO to plugins that let you sell your products direct from your own website. There are literally plugins for EVERY occasion.
Not all plugins do something that you can see either. There are some really important plugins that work behind the scenes like security plugins and plugins that backup your site.
At the time of writing there are over 50,000 plugins available to download from the WordPress plugin library.
In a few weeks I’ll be showing you around some of my essential plugins for bloggers and small business, so keep your eyes peeled for that one.
Just a word of caution when it comes to plugins. Just because you can have all the plugins, doesn’t mean you should. With great power comes great responsibility and all that jazz.
If you’re interested in reading more about plugins check out these blog posts:
The 5 best WordPress plugins for SEO
9 tremendous WordPress plugins for business you need right now
3 powerful WordPress plugins for security
Why choose WordPress for business?
Search Engine Optimisation
As I said earlier, no matter what kind of business you run having an online presence is crucial.
And making sure that site it optimised for search engines is just as important. Traffic from search engines is the cheapest, most reliable way of getting people to your site.
I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty of SEO in this post but suffice to say that to get the best out of it, you need total control over your content. WordPress gives you that control.
There are also plugins to help you get your SEO right and WordPress provides the options for you to get the best out of it too.
Want to know more about SEO, checkout my SEO: Simplified Workshop.
Cheap to start
You can buy a domain name for as little as £3 and a host from as little as £5 a month. And that’s literally all you need to get started.
Read more about hosting in this blog post:
Best WordPress hosting for beginners
E-Commerce solutions
There’s a whole host of e-commerce solutions available when it comes to WordPress, depending on the type products or services you want to sell.
The most popular solution is WooCommerce which lets you sell physical or digital products from your website.
If you’re looking to sell digital products only then there’s Easy Digital Downloads or if you want to set up an online course or membership then there are plugins like MemberPress and Learndash.
Check out this post if you want to find out more about WordPress membership plugins:
3 remarkable free membership plugins for WordPress
What is WordPress? The verdict
In a nutshell, WordPress is the most popular content management system around. It powers almost 50% of all websites because of how easy it is to use and how easy it is to make a professional looking site.
Through the use of plugins you can add features that matter most to your website and business. Whether it be a shop or creating a members only part of your site.
Finally, it’s easy to upload all kinds of files including pictures, graphics, videos and PDFs.
With all these points considered, it’s no wonder just how popular and successful WordPress has been as a platform to build websites.
Need help with your website? Or do you just need a website full stop?
If this sounds like you then I’m here to help.
Book a call with me and let’s chat about what you want from your website, whether you have one already or not. I know that tech can feel really overwhelming to some women and I want to make sure that it doesn’t hold you back from your mission.
My mission, is to make sure you feel at ease throughout your time working with me. This is a tech-stress-free zone my friend (if it wasn’t then I wouldn’t have done my job properly).
If you’d like to chat with me about your options, book a discovery call here.
You may also enjoy:
Best WordPress Hosting for Beginners
How to launch a WordPress website in 3 surprisingly simple steps
11 wonderful WordPress tips for beginners
