If you’re like most business owners, you fall into one of two groups:
- A) You know you need a website, but you just haven’t had the time or money to make it happen, or
- B) You have a website, but you know it’s not what it should be and you’re constantly making excuses for it.
If you’re in either one of these groups WordPress is the solution to your perennial website problem.
Here are ten reasons why you should use WordPress to run your business website.
- WordPress is easy to setup, manage, and update.You don’t need to be an Internet expert or an HTML coder to use WordPress. All you need is an internet connection and a web browser to create your website.
If you’re reading this article you already have everything you need to get started. Head over to WordPress.com and signup for a free account. You’ll have your website up and run in about two minutes. For a small additional fee, you can even host your domain name there.
WordPress.com is the perfect starting point for any small business. When you’re ready to customize your website further it’s easy to migrate your starter website to a web hosting account.
- WordPress is good for both your blog and your website.It’s true that WordPress started out as a blogging system, but that was ages ago. Over the years WordPress has evolved into a full-featured web content management system. That means you can use WordPress to manage your whole website, not just your blog. Of course, if you just want to blog, you can use WordPress that way too.
- Thousands of professionally designed themes — many of them available for free.WordPress themes allow you to have a professionally designed website without the pain or expense of hiring a professional web designer.
There are over two thousand free themes available in the official WordPress Theme Directory and even more available for a fee at commercial sites like Theme Forest, StudioPress, and WooThemes.
- WordPress plugins add complex business features to your website without having to hire a coder.Need some additional functionality on your website?There’s a plugin for that!
WordPress was designed to be extended and that’s exactly what programmers around the world have done. There are thousands of WordPress plugins available that add functionality to the core system. So whether you need a simple contact form a full-featured e-commerce system, there’s a plugin to meet your business needs.
- WordPress is search engine friendly. As Google Engineer Matt Cutts says, “WordPress automatically solves a ton of SEO issues.” And with the free Yoast SEO plugin, your site will be even more search engine friendly.
- WordPress is popular. Given the ease of use and availability of thousands of professional quality themes and plugins, it’s not surprising that WordPress is the most popular web publishing system on the planet. At last count over 23% of all websites were powered by WordPress.
- The WordPress community. With so many users it’s only natural that a huge, active, and generous community has sprung up to provide support, exchange ideas, and make WordPress better for everyone. You can connect with the community on the official WordPress forum or in person at Word Camp events around the world.
- WordPress is ready for the mobile web. If you assume your customers are visiting your website from a full-sized computer, think again. Mobile website usage is exploding. If your website doesn’t look great and work well on a smartphone or tablet your customers will skip your site and go somewhere else.
Many WordPress themes are designed to be responsive (aka mobile-friendly), meaning your customers won’t be challenged to use your website on their smartphones. And the WordPress dashboard is designed to work on smartphones as well as full-sized PCs — so you can easily manage your website from anywhere.
- WordPress is mature.WordPress is over ten years old. During the past decade, WordPress has been refined, tested, and enhanced. In the process, it has evolved into a world-class web publishing system.
- WordPress is open source.Unlike another website building tools WordPress is open source and free from commercial restrictions and limitations. That means you can use the software any way you choose and host your website anywhere you choose. All without fear that changes in someone else’s business model will have an adverse impact one of your most important business assets.
When you choose WordPress you have complete control over your website. As a business owner, that may be the ultimate reason to use WordPress.