Over 40% of all websites on the Internet use WordPress. While you may have heard of other platforms like Wix and Squarespace for your website, business owners love the flexibility of WordPress.
Plus, while these other options have complicated payment plans, WordPress is free to use and modify, no matter what type of website you have.
Whether you’re creating a blog or an e-commerce store, it is one of the most flexible and user-friendly systems out there. And once you get used to it, you can spend more time on growing your business.
Read on to learn about why you should consider WordPress for your website.
What Is WordPress?
Many people say that it is the simplest way to create your website or blog.
The platform is an open-source content management system. This means that anyone can use the software for free. A content management system refers to a tool that helps you manage the content of your website without needing to have programming knowledge.
When most people sign up for WordPress, they get either a free or paid theme. This is a group of files that creates your website’s appearance, from colours to layout.
If you want a more custom look, you can also get a professional WordPress developer to design your website.
Now that we’ve explained what it is, let’s dive into some of the top benefits of WordPress.
The Software Is Free
Both WordPress.com and WordPress.org are free to use and modify. If you’re not sure of the difference, WordPress.com is for people who want to make a hobby blog, but it doesn’t have as much flexibility, nor can you make money from it.
For business owners, you want to use WordPress.org so you can customize your website and monetize it if that’s your plan. Either way, the software is still free to use, which is great for cutting start-up costs.
Of course, when you get a WordPress.org website, you still need to pay for website hosting, but there are many options out there that often have a great discount for new members.
Still, it can help you keep your costs down. While other software like SquareSpace does come with hosting included in its monthly plan, the cost still tends to be higher than using WordPress and only paying for hosting.
Adapts To Different Types of Websites
While you can use it for blogs, this isn’t the only type of website you can use WordPress for. The reason why it’s such a good idea to use WordPress for websites is that it’s adaptable to almost any type of website you need to make.
Here are some examples of the types of websites you can make:
- Your business website
- A blog
- A portfolio
- A membership site
- A forum
As you can see, you can build pretty much any type of website on WordPress depending on your business needs. Always keep in mind the kind of website you want to make, as this will influence what theme you get.
For example, if you are an artist and you want to use your WordPress website primarily to showcase your portfolio, then you would make sure to get a WordPress theme that has portfolio capabilities.
Integrates Third-Party Tools
Adding to the flexibility of WordPress is that you can add all sorts of third-party tools like WordPress plugins to customize your website even more.
A WordPress plugin is software that you can add to your website. The plugin can add new features to your website or extend the current functionality of your website. Many plugins are either free or have a free version that’s more than enough to cover your business needs.
Here’s a video we did that will show you how easy it is to add a WordPress plugin.
For example, let’s say you were expanding business operations to include an online store. By installing the WooCommerce plugin, for example, you could give your website e-commerce capabilities.
SEO Priority
Another great benefit is that it prioritizes SEO. SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to optimizing your content so that it can rank on search engines.
SEO is an integral part of your marketing strategy because users are already searching for your product or service when they type it into the search engine.
And one of the best things about WordPress is that its code is written in such a way that Google and other search engines tend to rank these websites higher.
You can also install SEO plugins like Yoast for your website to improve your SEO even further. The free version should be more than enough to start with, which cuts down your start-up costs even more.
Content Creation Made Easy
Just as with any new system or technology, it might take you a little bit of time to get used to using WordPress and to set up your website. But once you do, all you need to manage is new content.
This would usually be the “posts” category, where you’d add new blog posts. And even if you’re not a blogger, creating blog posts for your website is essential to build trust with your audience and improve your SEO rankings.
If you’ve used WordPress before and noticed that the text editor looks a bit different for posts, that’s because it released a new version called Gutenberg in 2018.
If you find this new text editor difficult to work with, you can always disable Gutenberg and use the Classic Editor instead.
Ready to Create a WordPress Website?
WordPress is one of the most versatile, easy-to-use, and affordable platforms out there.
Whether you run an e-commerce store or just need somewhere to showcase your business services, it is a fantastic option.
At TFG Media, our web design services help small businesses like yours succeed. We focus on building you a quality website without compromising affordability.
If you still have questions about starting a WordPress website, then don’t hesitate to contact us for a free consultation today.
