Should you use WordPress for your business website? This question has been asked by many business owners. The short answer is yes, WordPress is a great platform for a business website. Despite what you may have heard, there are many businesses who use this very powerful and effective Content Management System (CMS). Whether your business is in Albany, Guilderland, or anywhere else in the country, WordPress can help you leverage the technology of the web to grow your internet presence and get more people to your website. Here are my 5 top reasons why you might want to consider basing your business website on WordPress.

Despite what you may have heard, there are many businesses who use this very powerful and effective Content Management System (CMS). Whether your business is in Albany, Guilderland, or anywhere else in the country, WordPress can help you leverage the technology of the web to grow your internet presence and get more people to your website. Here are my 5 top reasons why you might want to consider basing your business website on WordPress.

5 Reasons to Use WordPress for Your Business Website

5. It is Flexible – There is a very robust and user-friendly plugin system. Through plugins you can add complex business features to your website without having to hire a developer. Need to use an Event’s Management System? There are several great plugins that can help you find a solution that works. There are thousands of developers who create plugins, many of them free, that can make your site more powerful. Some examples include contact forms, e-commerce solutions, calendars, and much, much more.

NOTE: Plugin use, while effective and powerful, should be done with careful consideration. There are many plugins, but not all of them are a great addition to your website. Some can even be dangerous or break your site. Be sure to make sure the plugin is well supported by the developer, get’s good reviews, and is updated regularly. You should also keep in mind that too many plugins can slow your site down.

4. It is Not Likely to Disappear Anytime Soon  – It has been around for over 10 years and is continuing to grow. There are thousands and thousands of people using it. This means a lot of support and continuous updates. This also means better security and leading technology.

3. It’s Scalable – It can grow as your business grows. If you need to add pages or posts, just go to the dashboard and click the “Add New” button. There are many big names out there who use WordPress for their sites. Best Buy, Fortune, Variety, and Sony Music all us it. So if it works for these massive companies with huge amounts of daily traffic, it can work for your law firm or lawn care business.

2. It is Great for SEO –  There are many features of WordPress that make it easier (not necessarily easy) to optimize your site for web search. It provides easy access to many of the attributes you want to optimize that will help you get better rankings in the search engines. While the specifics are beyond the scope of this article, Title Tags, Meta Tags, Alt Attributes, and more are all easy to edit and optimize. Finally, Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Spam Team endorses it for SEO. He even states that WordPress accounts for 80-90% of the mechanics of SEO. If Google likes it, then you should too.

And the number one reason to use WordPress for your business website…

1. It is Simple to Use – Getting started is very easy and user-friendly. It is easy to set up, manage, and update. This saves you money upfront with the design and development and makes it very convenient for you to add a new page or blog post. You don’t need to be a Techy, or know how to code to use WordPress, and you won’t have to call your web designer or tech person every time you want to make a change.

If you are interested in getting started on a very small budget, all you really need is an internet connection and a web browser to create your website. In fact, you can get started for free. Just head over to WordPress.com, sign up for a free account, and choose a theme. You will have your website up and running in about two minutes. Then you can add content through a very efficient content editing system. If you can use Microsoft Word, or write an email, you can figure out how to use WordPress. You can even get a domain name, for a small fee, to make your website look more professional.

If you get going and decide you want more customization or need more help, feel free to contact me. I can help you leverage WordPress by providing consulting on how to use the CMS, expanding its functionality to fit your needs, or creating a custom web design.