As a small business owner, you are probably aware of how important it is to have a blog or website. Nonetheless, your choice of a platform for your website can make a big difference in your results. However, if you have already done this, you still have many choices. These choices include building a static website or using a CMS such as WordPress or Joomla.
Also, WordPress is the most popular blogging platform in the world for many good reasons. In particular, let’s look at some of the benefits of WordPress for small business owners.
Introduction to WordPress
When building your website, start by deciding if you will use your own domain or use a third-party site. Examples of third-party sites are Blogger, Wix, or Squarespace. Also, WordPress offers third-party blogging service option at WordPress.com. Nonetheless, there are definite branding advantages to using your own domain. We are going to focus on WordPress.org, where you build your own site and use your own domain.
WordPress is an open source application which is a CMS (Content Management System). Also, it is a blogging platform. Open source means it is free, and developers are constantly adding helpful updates. These includes bug fixes, themes and plugins (though not all are free). Additionally, there is plenty of support if you have any questions or issues. WordPress powers millions of sites around the world. These include personal blogs, small business sites and websites for large companies and organizations.
Why use WordPress?
Here are some of the advantages small businesses enjoy with WordPress:
- Easy to install : All major web hosting companies provides easy WordPress installation using a script installer. Besides, the installation does not need any coding knowledge. Instead, you need to press a few buttons, and you get sorted. You can find this information at your web host cPanel. But, if the process is not clear, contact your host support.
- Easier customization : It is obvious You do not want your website to look exactly like anyone’s site. Thus, you should customize your site as you desire. Actually, WordPress has many themes and templates for easier customization. Most of these are free.Otherwise, if you want a premium theme, you can get it at a reasonable cost, which in most cases is around $20. Moreover, WordPress settings allows easier customization of elements like layouts, fonts, and colors.
- Plugins : One of the best features of WordPress is the availability of many plugins. These plugins help you to make your site more powerful. Besides, these are applications that you can install and activate with ease. Even though you have to pay for some, most of these are free. Likewise, there are plugins for SEO, security, graphics, analytics, and e-commerce among others. Most plugins are useful for small businesses, such as the one for setting up contact forms or opt-in pages.
- Makes SEO simple : As noted earlier, some plugins help you supercharge your SEO (search engine optimization). Hence, your website gets a better search engine ranking. But, even without plugins, it you can optimize your posts and pages for the search engines. For example, when creating a post, ensure you have typed in keywords and tags at the space provided. Also, you can create SEO- friendly permalinks for all your posts and pages.
- It’s an efficient blogging platform : WordPress is more than a blogging site, although that is one of its fundamental uses. Similarly, a blog is one of the best tools for small businesses. Reason being, it gives you a means to reach a targeted audience and to get recognized by the search engines.Moreover, WordPress interface is user-friendly for blogging. It allows you to schedule your posts. Besides, you can set-up preferences for commenting, RSS feeds, and subscriptions.
- Flexible and scalable : WordPress provides a highly flexible platform for any type of business. You can start with a few simple pages and, as your business grows, you can build hundreds of pages. If you change directions of your business, you can change your WordPress site accordingly by using a new theme or adding the appropriate plugins.
WordPress is a great choice if you have a small business, whether you’re ready to start a website for the first time or you want to move your existing site to a more user-friendly platform. WordPress is easy to customize for any purpose and is the perfect vehicle to help you build your business.
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