Hopefully, I’ve gone around and around on this issue enough to fully drive home this point: It’s the 21st century, your business absolutely needs a website!
The interwebs are the Yellow Pages of the new millennium. And, simply put, having a website is how your business gets found, communicates its value, and converts interested prospects into paying customers.
Now that we’ve covered that nagging issue, the next question is: How?
As in… How do you get started building a website and what tools do you use?
Or… How do you revamp the loooooong out-of-date, “Web 2.0” monstrosity that currently functions as your business website?
(Just an FYI, updating your website is MUST every two to three years if you hope to keep pace with web trends and technological advances.)
Well, in either case, there’s one tool I recommend above all other options…
WordPress!
When it comes to a highly functional, easy to manage CMS (Content Management System — AKA a shell that fits atop the internet and makes building and managing a website easier and more efficient), WordPress is TOPS.
How come?
Truth be told, there are a zillion reasons to use WordPress. But for the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to pare it down to the Top Five Reasons You Should Use WordPress to Build + Manager Your Website (Plus one IMPORTANT caveat):
1. WordPress is Easy to Use
As with anything new, there’s bound to be a learning curve If you’re a stone-cold novice. And of course, WordPress is no different.
But if you can use Microsoft Word and manage your Gmail account, you can handle WordPress.
In other words, you don’t need to know HTML or any computer coding language to build a gorgeous, highly functional business website. The WordPress interface is a point-and-click, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) based platform that makes website construction miraculously easy!
Everything flows from the WordPress dashboard. And once you get the hang of this interface, you can quickly and easily…
- build-out + update your site
- site-add + subtract pages
- customize your design — including changing colors and fonts, in addition to easily adding text, images, and even video
- and publish new blog posts
WordPress also simplifies your website’s layout and site structure, which ensures your site is easy to navigate for both novice internet users and seasoned web-surfers!
Less than savvy internet users rely on intuitive design to navigate your website. But experienced users have also been conditioned to expect websites to follow a general flow.
Fortunately, most WordPress templates come with a basic layout structure built-in. Of course, you can add and subtract elements as needed. But the cornerstone elements are all in place to ensure your site is properly structured right out of the box.
These baked-in design elements include the site…
- Header
- Menu (site navigation) bar
- Main content area
- Sidebar (depending on the template style)
- And footer
Once your template is installed, all you need to do is create the individual pages (Home, About, Services, Testimonials, Contact, etc…), add text and images, and bing, bang, boom — you’re done!
2. WordPress Offers Countless Templates (Many of Which are Free or Very Low Cost)
The most difficult part of creating a website? Plotting out your design and building the site.
If you were to start from scratch, you’d be forced to hire a web designer to formulate the design and code the site from the ground up. This is likely to take weeks, if not longer, and cost hundreds of dollars, and in some cases, thousands of dollars.
And all this buys you is site structure. You still need to write the content and source images.
With WordPress, however, there are thousands of professionally designed and supported templates (supported means you can reach out to the template maker for assistance if you run into a technical problem) that handles the design + coding for you. Which does the heaviest lifting FOR YOU right out of the gate!
And template options range from generic to highly specialize (with many template options designed specifically for your business type). This means, whether you’re aiming for simple and austere or detailed an complex, there’s a WordPress template ideally suited your particular needs.
In terms of cost, template prices range from FREE to hundreds of dollars. But I’ve developed a bevy of gorgeous, highly functional websites using $50 templates. In other words, there’s absolutely no reason you need to break the bank to create a beautiful, user-friendly website.
3. Software “Plugins” Make Adding Functionality a Breeze
Websites today have tons of functionality. And there are probably some features you’d like to incorporate into your website. The good news is, if there’s a feature you’d like to add to your website, there’s likely a means to accomplish your aim.
That said, if you have a traditional hand-coded website, adding features and functions requires additional design adjustments. And that means hours and hours of additional coding and added costs.
But with WordPress, you just install a “plugin” that adds your desired feature. Plugins are web software specifically designed to work with WordPress websites. And there are millions of ’em. Pretty much anything you want your website to do, there’s a plugin for it!
4. WordPress is Mobile + Tablet Responsive
Well over half (nearly 70% at this point) of web-users access the internet on their phones. And increasingly, web users favor tablets, like iPads and Kindles, over desktop and laptop computers.
That means a “responsive” website is a MUST for your business. And just to clarify, “responsive” means your website’s visual display automatically adjusts to whatever platform it’s displayed on.
So, with a responsive website, if a prospect or client hops on your site from their laptop, your site displays at full size. But if they switch to view your site on their smartphone or iPad, the display size and layout automatically shrinks and rearranges to appear perfectly framed on whatever the viewer’s smartphone or tablet.
Now, if you have a traditional hand-coded website, incorporating responsive functionality adds another layer of complexity to the design process. Which, of course, means more money and time.
Most WordPress templates, however, are specifically designed to include responsive functionality. So, your website’s guaranteed to display perfectly on smartphones + tablets.
5. WordPress is SEO Friendly
WordPress doesn’t necessarily come pre-packages with SEO capabilities. But the platform does make it exceptionally easy to enhance your site’s SEO. This includes the ability to easily…
- Customize page URLs (for maximum search-ability)
- Add keyword-focused page title and meta tags to each of your website’s pages
- Install Google Analytics (to track your SEO efforts)
You can also install WordPress SEO plugins, like Yoast, that help you monitor and improve your SEO (which I HIGHLY recommend!).
One Big Fat Caveat
OK, so as noted above, there are tons of free and low-cost WordPress templates that are easy to install and manage. But that said, if you’re truly a “stone-cold WordPress novice,” it may behoove you to hire a qualified WordPress specialist to assist with the initial install.
And if you’re aiming to launch a more complicated website with advanced functionality, hiring assistance for the initial build-out is a good idea, too.
The good news here is you can find a plethora of affordable WordPress pros online to aid your efforts!
Envato (home of ThemeForest, the biggest repository of WordPress themes + templates on the web), offers $50 theme (template) installations and $125 theme (template) installation and customization through Envato Marketplace.
Upwork, an online marketplace for tech support providers, is another great resource for WordPress help. Visit Upwork.com, create an account, and post your job. Support providers will submit bids. And you can select a provider with the qualifications you need, at a price you can afford.
Need Help Launching or Updating Your Website?
Whether you’re looking to launch a new website or update your current website, moving to WordPress is a smart choice — And I can help!
I’ll help you formulate a design, write the content, and manage the WordPress build-out — all for an affordable fee.
When you ready to get rolling, let’s chat! 310.466.7893 | ryan@ryananys.com
