Your website is the central part of your online presence. For small businesses looking to build a website affordably, WordPress can be the right choice for site builders. So, let me first explain what is WordPress and then get into details as to why it is ideally suited for small business.
9 great reasons to use WordPress
Originally designed for blogging, WordPress now powers 30 percent of all the websites on the internet. Here are 9 terrific reasons to use it to create your website or blog.
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It comes with ‘free’dom.
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Low cost for ownership.
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WordPress is scalable.
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It’s highly customisable.
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Mobile responsiveness is high.
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It’s search engine-friendly.
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Help is close at hand.
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A safe and secure CMS.
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It accommodates various media.
Before we list our reasons you should join the large and growing family of WordPress users, let’s answer the question “What is WordPress?”
What is WordPress?
For those of you not familiar with WordPress as such, it is a content management system (CMS) that allows you to build and alter the appearance of a blog or website without having to use code.
From blog builder to site builder
Even though WordPress was once seen as just a platform for blogging, businesses found it to be a robust, accessible tool they could use to build and manage their websites without bothering designers or webmasters for minor changes.
WordPress powers the websites of some of the world’s biggest brands, from TechCrunch and MTV to Facebook News and Vogue.
Small businesses today can launch new websites where they can edit the content, add images and maintain the sites themselves.
The popular CMS has attracted serious attention from the hosting industry in recent times, with several big names including GoDaddy offering exclusive WordPress hosting to small businesses at a very moderate price point.
In this article, we list out nine reasons why you should use WordPress for your business website.
1. It comes with ‘free’dom
WordPress is an open source CMS that comes with a high degree of freedom.
The WordPress theme you choose is the toolkit to build your website (see a sample here). Many WordPress themes come with easy-to-use page builders, plug-ins and demos that make it easy to customise a website.
WordPress is known for its customisation options.
WordPress itself is also free, although you will need to pay for a domain name and hosting.
Those with technical skills have the freedom to use, modify and build upon the themes and frameworks the way they like. Unlike most closed content management systems in the market, where you have limited control over what you can edit and access, this one allows you to edit and access everything!
2. Low cost for ownership
Developing a quality website can be a big investment for small businesses. However, maintaining a WordPress website can be simple and quite inexpensive. According to Brian Pereira, a journalist who uses WordPress for his blog, “The annual recurring cost is about Rs 4,000 ($55) for the domain name and hosting.”
All you need to pay for is your domain and hosting.
A single platform for both website and blog also make WordPress a cost-effective option. You can get the same level of customisation from WordPress that you might get from a custom website coded by handed. When you think of the long-term business gains, WordPress can offer huge value.
3. WordPress is scalable
There is no doubt that WordPress is scalable. It can grow from a simple blog to a full-featured eCommerce website without requiring you to start over. You simply add on or unlock new functionality via WordPress plug-ins as you need them.
You can start out with inexpensive hosting for a few dollars per month.
As your business grows and traffic to your website or blog increases, you can move to a higher-capacity hosting plan with ease.
4. It’s highly customizable
WordPress plug-ins are bits of software that can be added to a WordPress site or blog. For example, there are plug-ins that:
- Add contact forms.
- Connect your website to Google Analytics.
- Collect email signups.
- Enhance website security.
- Back up your website and much more.
WordPress has a plug-in to meet almost any situation, and businesses across industries and verticals can use them to customise their sites. Some hosting providers offer custom plug-ins that will allow you to create stand-alone applications without even touching the core software’s source code.
With thousands of WordPress plug-ins and themes available, you can customize your business website to appear and function as you would like.
5. Mobile responsiveness is high
The ability to view your website on any device is not just important to website visitors, it is also very important to search engines like Google.
If your business is going to succeed, your website must work on all devices, from smartphones to desktops.
With WordPress, one needn’t be worried about that, thanks to the many WordPress mobile themes. Be sure to check that the theme you want is responsive before downloading it. Not all themes are mobile-friendly.
6. It’s search engine-friendly
The WordPress framework is easy for popular search engines such as Google and Bing to crawl or “read.” WordPress expert Tom Dupuis explains in his blog that WordPress does this by organizing content into pages, blog posts, categories and tags.
In order for customers to find your website, search engines must find it first.
When setting up a WordPress site, be sure to choose a theme or template that is SEO-friendly. Further, WordPress plug-ins such as Yoast can help you ensure you are using good SEO techniques for maximum attention from search engines.
7. Help is close at hand
A big advantage of WordPress is that there is an active WordPress developer community that can help you troubleshoot any queries or concern through the WordPress forums.
The global WordPress community offers great support for landing page creation, conversion forms, blogging and social media integration, among numerous other topics.
There are also a number of tutorials, guides, videos and eBooks that are dedicated to helping businesses and individuals build and manage their WordPress websites.
Editor’s note: Managed WordPress from GoDaddy includes round-the-clock help in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi from WordPress experts.
8. A safe and secure CMS
WordPress, like any other CMS, is a target for hackers. However, WordPress takes its users’ security very seriously. It is equipped with a built-in updater and constantly updates its software to prevent attacks.
WordPress has an extensive set of plug-ins to improve website security.
Small businesses can further reduce their security risk by choosing a reputable hosting provider for their WordPress website.
9. It accommodates various media
The addition of photos, video or audio files enhances the experience of your users and WordPress makes it easy for you to insert multimedia files into a page or post. You can also edit image files while in the Media Library screen.
Wrapping up
While WordPress earned its reputation as the premiere blogging platform, it can also be used to create a website that is reliable, user-friendly and affordable. This makes it an ideal CMS for small businesses.
So, now that you know what is WordPress, and how it can be the perfect starting point for any small business, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and explore the amazing world of WordPress to build your brand!
