It has never been easier to build a website that is not only beautiful, but is also search engine friendly.
WordPress.org, which is a free open source website content management system can be installed on most web hosting servers with several clicks of a mouse. Originally, WordPress was created as a blogging platform. However, over the last several years more and more people have begun to use WordPress to power various types of websites.
This means that your website does not have to look like a blog at all. The various free and paid WordPress templates come in all shapes and sizes. You can build a corporate site, an e-commerce website, a travel website, a question-and-answer forum type of site, or – of course – a blog site.
WordPress has changed the way we create websites today. It makes website creation process easy and affordable. The time when WordPress was used strictly as a blog platform is long gone. WordPress has evolved into a mature CMS (Content Management Software) that gives everyone – professionals and beginners; bloggers, designers, developers, and business owners themselves – the tools to create amazing non-blog websites for themselves and their clients.
Forget site builders, and social sites (Blogger, WordPress.com, Squidoo, Hub Pages, etc.), – build YOUR business and your brand on sites you control, i.e., WordPress installed on your own hosting account with YOUR own domain name.
10 Reasons to Build a WordPress Website
1. WordPress is Affordable
Free Software – Compared to the cost of typical website design, and a WordPress site with custom theme and plugins is extremely affordable. WordPress itself is FREE and is being constantly developed and improved. There are hundreds of free themes and plugins that extend its functionality available for download from the WordPress.org site (do not confuse it with WordPress.com, which is a hosting site for WordPress blogs).
One of the best functions of WordPress is that anyone with the proper login permission can update and edit the site including adding pages, text, video, and images without any knowledge of HTML or web design software such as Dreamweaver.
Inexpensive design – WordPress has thousands of FREE themes to choose from and you can switch between themes without the need to change the site itself! You can easily upload themes and try them out on your site – trying a different looks for your site, without the need for programming.
Even though there are so many free themes available, I do recommend you spend the $60-$80 for a paid theme simply because these themes designers can afford to offer support if you have problems. Plus they usually offer upgrades – so when new features become available, you will get them for free.
No Maintenance Fees or Upgrade Fees – WordPress doesn’t require any special design or html skills. If you have ever wanted to change something on your website or had a problem of some sort then you already know how frustrating — and expensive– this can be! You can make your own changes to WordPress! (Or hire me to help you with the changes for a small fee.) For comparison, website designers typically charge anywhere from $50 – $300 per hour to make the simplest of changes.
2. Content is Separated From Design
You can completely change the look and feel of the site with just a few clicks – – there is no programming or HTML coding involved whatsoever!
That’s because WordPress is a CMS a content management system. All your pages and blog entries are actually stored in a database. That’s why they can appear as pages, excerpts or archives depending on your users selection. So when you change templates all you are doing is changing the look and feel of the site – not the content.
So for example, let’s say you choose to have the one theme installed on your site, and then you find some other theme that you fall in love with – there is no need for programming or editing the individual pages of the site. All you need to do is download the theme and activate it.
3. Flexible and expandable without the need for programming
There is a WordPress plugin for just about anything you want …
Programmers around the world are constantly working on new plugins and widgets – small pieces of software – that can be used with any WordPress site to extend its functions. There are some plugins that you should always install for any kind of website, for example, in addition to WordPress already being search engine friendly out-of-the-box, there are loads of excellent plugins that will greatly improve on your site optimization.
4. Google and Other Search Engines Love WordPress
WordPress is search engine friendly right out-of-the-box!
A lot more so than any traditional static website. Most static websites are designed and coded for aesthetics while WordPress is designed and coded for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This means that customers searching for information are much more likely to end up on your site than the competitor’s.
5. Capitalize on local search
Because of WordPress’s ability to get your blog/site indexed quickly, you can focus on funneling those local search inquiries straight to your site.
6. WordPress has become a universal language
WordPress is by far the new standard when it comes to blogging. It is also used for business web sites that don’t look like blogs at all.
This means that people across the world are developing new applications/plugins to work with WordPress, ultimately improving your user experience.
7. Easy to Use and Post Content
WordPress is extremely easy to use and update, so you can be in complete control of your content.
Writing new posts/pages is as easy as writing an email or a document in any text editor – there is no programming or HTML coding involved whatsoever!
8. Easy to aggregate / automate content via RSS onto a single WordPress blog page
It is easy to aggregate / automate content via RSS onto a single WordPress blog page. This is important because you can display content from your local newspaper or even The Wall Street Journal right on your site.
9. Easy Social Media Integration
WordPress blogs easily integrate with all of your social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc…
10. Set up multiple sites aimed at different market segments
Ultimately you may want to have several sites aimed at different market segments. Once you become familiar with WordPress and have the learning curve down, setting up a new site to attract a different consumer is easy – you already have the hosting and if you use the same theme the cost is virtually nothing.
