When researching website platforms, you probably need to look no further than WordPress. Nearly 2 million new pages of content are created using WordPress every day. The people and companies generating this content have each discovered how using WordPress for their website can grow their business and you can too! Here are 5 ways you can use WordPress to grow your business…
1. WordPress is no longer just for bloggers.
Today, more than 1 in 4 websites are using WordPress (including nearly one third of the world’s top 1 million websites). These include the New York Post, Spotify, TED, and Sony Music.
WordPress is perfect for small- and medium-sized businesses. For some examples, check out these recent Denver website designs by Webolutions:
Swingle Lawn, Tree & Landscape Care
Tony’s Market
Edumarking Playground Designs
FunTreks Off-Highway Adventures
But like any good platform, it scales. That’s why big name brands use it. These include Best Buy, Xerox, the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, and Beyoncé. And as we all know, there’s nothing small about Beyoncé. So whether you are a national big box electronics retailer, a neighborhood grocer, or a regional power equipment company, your best option is probably to put a ring on WordPress.
2. Select and use the right plugins.
Custom development is SO yesterday. WordPress functions on “plugins.” A plugin is a piece of software providing a specific feature. Currently, there are about 50,000 WordPress plugins. These include live chat, ecommerce, real estate calculators…if you can throw a stick at it, and even if you can’t, there’s likely a WordPress plugin for it. Getting a plugin going is simple. Research, evaluate, select, purchase (if necessary), install, customize, test, deploy. The process is much easier than learning to write code. However, it still may be more than a small business owner has time for (more on that later).
3. Generate awareness.
Webolutions builds ecommerce websites. We get asked about shopping cart-based platforms. If you are like Amazon or Walmart, and people already know about you, user experience and purchase functionality may be your only concerns. However, if your site needs to build awareness to get sales, then consider WordPress as it’s built to leverage content. However, content alone on your website won’t lift sales, so…
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization refers to efforts structured around gaining higher ranks on search engines like Google and Bing. Can you ascertain the keyword this article is designed to score for? It’s probably obvious to SEO experts, but if I’ve been successful, it’s seamless to the rest of us. Using WordPress gives your website the ability to structure every single page, every image, every piece of content to achieve goals for top-of-funnel awareness and on-site conversion. One of our favorite plugins is SEO Yoast, because it helps scoring at a page level and a website level.
5. Partner with web development experts.
With some training, using WordPress is easy to use. But, there are differences between being able to put paint on a canvas, and being an artist. Writing content that gets your website scoring on page 1 of a Google search result is possible if you are expert in SEO. WordPress website themes get software updates, primarily for security reasons. Each plugin needs also to be updated to work with updated versions of WordPress. Willl an update impact your site? There are almost always multiple plugins to achieve any single goal. None are equal. Which is right for your website? Is this really a need? If so, is a plugin necessary? Would your website convert better with a different call to action? Should you run an A/B test? How do you do that?
These are among the questions a professional marketing agency poses to provide or guide you to the right decision, whether it is about using WordPress, advertising choices, or other website questions. Is it time for you to have these conversations? If so, contact Webolutions today.
