I heard a statistic a few weeks ago – 2 in 10 sites now being developed are using the WordPress platform. And I completely understand why. After using WordPress for the past few years, we wouldn’t use anything else.
1. It’s easy to design
Have a theme for your site in mind? It’s all doable with WordPress. The WordPress directory gives you access to over 1400 free themes to choose from. And if you do a search in Google for WordPress themes, you can find hundreds more. If you are willing to pay a little for a more custom theme, there are many more options for a great looking site. There are even specialized sites that will give you Photography WordPress Themes – just be creative in what you search for. And if you want to go all the way, hire a designer to give you a complete custom look and feel. Flexibility is what makes WordPress so powerful.
2. It’s easy to customize
Once your site is developed and you have your look and feel in place, you can continue to design and customize forever. Start with a full array of WordPress plugins – I’ve also provided a review of my favorite WordPress plugins here. Then add from there. If you have any coding skills at all, you can quickly start designing your own graphics and icons, and use them to promote and sell your products and services.
3. It’s easy to make changes
What is the number one complaint of traditional website owners? Its not being able to make changes when they want. If you are thinking about business, and come up with a whole new concept on Saturday night at 10 pm, you want to get in and make the changes to your site at 10 pm on Saturday night. With traditional designers, you have to write up an email, and wait days or even weeks for the changes to be made. With WordPress, you login, make the changes, add or delete pages, and be ready to go with your new idea in minutes.
4. Website functionality
When people hear “WordPress” or “blog”, they tend to think of a simplistic journal-like site. With the new WordPress capabilities, there is little difference between a blog and a site. In fact many of today’s top websites are built on WordPress platforms – think Martha Stewart, Mashable and New York Times. If you can think it, it can be built on WordPress. You can have sophisticated navigation, signup boxes and custom designed forms. Galleries? Not a problem. With the “plug and play” concepts, it’s even easier to put into place using a WordPress platform.
5. Blogging is easy
“I don’t like to write.” “I don’t have the time.” Yep, I hear it all when it comes to blogging. But what if I told you blogging is simply the best way of driving customers to your site? If you plan on being in business five years from today, it’s my number one recommendation for marketing your business. And with WordPress, it’s easy. If you can write in Word, you have the skills to blog.
6. It’s spam-resistant
If you’ve ever worked with a generic blog, you might be nervous about receiving a ton of spam related messages into your comments section. How are you ever going to control all of that? There is a plugin for that. Its called Akismet. It automatically puts spam-looking comments into a separate section, making sure you only spend your time on what’s truly important to your business. You can always go back and review the spam-related comments when you have the time.
7. It’s easy to connect with other social sites
Are you on Twitter? Facebook? With a simple plugin, you can connect your WordPress site up with any other social site. Our Facebook Fan Page plugin on our site has allowed us to grow followers to well over 10,000 fans. You can also use simple plugins that allow you to put Like buttons on all your posts, and easily feed your content into a variety of social networking sites through RSS.
Dig Deeper: How To Use The Facebook Like Button
8. It’s SEO friendly
When you put up a site, you want to attract new potential customers from the search engines. WordPress makes it easy. When you are adding content to WordPress, it provides the tools you need to make each page and post more search engine friendly. You can add your keywords and descriptions automatically as you type. And you can connect up current posts with past posts, and allow connectivity to take place within your comments. There are several SEO plugins – choose the one that works the best for you.
9. Easy to update
When you use WordPress, you login to your dashboard, which gives you a quick rundown of everything that is happening. Right at the top of the screen, WordPress tells you when a new update is ready – and in just minutes you can have new features, new styles, and major updates that will fix bugs and threats built into your site. [Don’t forget to backup before you do any updating!]
10. Build for the future
A traditional website is stagnant, meaning once you have it up and running, it pretty much sits there unless your designer is willing to change it. With WordPress, you can change it every day. Add new content, put in a new plugin, and develop a new graphic. And with comments and RSS, you have the potential of connecting up with clients all over the world. The best part is you also have the tools ready for what is coming next. Things are developed all the time, and because WordPress is currently being used on 2 in 10 designs, you can bet that WordPress’s functionality will only be increasing. Why not use something that will help you develop a great marketing tool now and well into the future?