When I discovered WordPress, I finally jumped for joy (literally!)
I’m super passionate about sharing my own digital journey with other business owners.
Furthermore, if you REALLY know me, you’ll know that I’ve built and managed my own website businesses since having my hands burnt hiring a website developer for thousands back in 2006. That experience cost me more than I could afford and the final product was not user friendly so all in all it was a waste of money and time!
I then went onto to using website builders from Wix to Volusion. These are great little solutions if you need a basic site with little functionality but as soon as you start adding on features like email pop ups and other lead generation features and SEO plugins (both essential) these website builders became way too expensive.
I was sure there was a better solution. I hunted around for something that fitted my needs. I wanted a platform that was solid, looked professional and had the potential to look beautiful. It had to be affordable and give me full control over customisation. I wanted something I could develop as my business developed.
Then back in 2014, I discovered WordPress.org! (The Self Hosted WordPress platform – not to be confused with the Free Blogging Platform) Hallelujah, my prayers had been answered.
WordPress was and still is my favourite content production platform for small and medium sized business owners like you and me.
WordPress offer so many advantages to business owners who want to grow to their full potential.
Here are my 10 reasons, why I believe every business owner (who wants to grow) should be on WordPress!
PLEASE NOTE :
- I am in not affiliated to WordPress. This is based on my 10 years experience as an online business owner, who has learnt everything herself about running a biz online.
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1. Complete Control Over Your Brand & Content
Unlike many website builders like Wix, Weebly and others, WordPress gives you complete control over features, functionality and importantly, branding.
One of the challenges I discovered with builder sites is the limitations you have with things like positioning the logo exactly where you want it. Choosing the exact font you want. Backing up your data whenever you want. Adding lead magnets exactly where you want them. Selling digital courses / adding an e-commerce store. All these bespoke additions will add to your monthly cost.
You are effectively building your website on someone else’s platform and not yours. This comes with limitations and for if you want to scale your business, costs will spiral as you begin to add additional features.
With WordPress, you can design, edit, add, update whenever you want and for a lot less.
You have complete control over the customisation. You can upload your own brand colours, fonts and logos. This means that you can fully customise your site without adding additional costs.
2. Access 24/7 For Editing
If you hire a developer or web designer to manage your site, there’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to jump on and DIY!
Being able to add that important post, update a landing page, or switch on a promotion whenever you want will save you time and make you money.
Being at the mercy of someone else, when it’s your business you’re trying to move forward is frustrating.
3. Intuitive & User Friendly
I mentioned in the last point how intuitive the Dashboard is within WordPress! You don’t need technical skills. You can’t really break anything, unless you hit a delete button, overwrite content or even forget to save, but it’s pretty tough to do!
Navigate through the left hand menu to reach the part of the site you wish to edit and then scroll through it sub menu.
4. Cost Effective – The perfect Solution for Small Biz Owners
I used to pay around $24 a month for my website when I was with a builder company. On top of that I was paying way over the odds for add ons such as my SSL Certificate because said company added there mark up on top!
The cost of my website, was escalating. At one point I was paying over $600 a year. I was being sent a continuous stream of emails from developers asking me for their business and almost fell for their sales patter!
When you’re developing your online platform, you want to minimise your costs right? With WordPress you’ll be able to achieve this.
5. Scaleability
Begin with a free themed site and host it for only $3.95 a month with Siteground. This will be a total initial outlay of $47.94! This enables you to have a WordPress website up and running for less than $50 a year.
Then once you have added content, you can begin to think about what kind of theme to upgrade to. A theme is essentially the layout of your website. You can purchase a theme on marketplaces such as www.envato.com however, you can also check out some comparison sites to find the best fit for you. Have a look at Theme Junkie and IsitWP. If you are selling product then look for woo-commerce themes.
My favourite theme for all types of businesses is Divi. It costs around £50. With Divi Theme you’ll get a professional look straight out the blocks.
6. No Contract Tie Ins
There are no contract tie ins unlike many builder sites. You can easily and painlessly cancel your Host Provider account and they’ll give you a refund, no questions asked for anything you may have paid up front ( your contract is usually paid annually up front).
7. Monetisation
There are many ways you can monetise your site with very little or no investment, from affiliate marketing, selling digital courses and sponsorship.
If you want to start selling digital courses, you simply upload a plugin. If you want to start selling physical products, you simply upload a plugin. The great news is, some plugins like Woocomerce are free!
8. SEO & Mobile Ready
Two separate points here but I’ve tagged them together to illustrate that WordPress is super simple and pretty much ready to bring you business.
SEO stand for Search Engine Optimisation and you can read more about it in my post here, but once again, WP makes it’s super simple to optimise your site for the search engines, which means you can do some work in the backend to improve your rankings in searches on Google and Bing.
Whether you believe you’re technically minded or not, you can install a FREE and easy to use plugin such as Yoast and away you go.
Making your website “responsive” in other words it looks good on mobile devices is critical today as so many people access the web via a mobile device.
With WordPress, it’s pretty simple to get your site to be responsive. Select a premium or free theme that is “responsive” and your site will appear neat and aligned on any mobile device from tablets to phones.
9. Security
WordPress comes with a host of security add-on features for you to choose from. Many are free or you can pay as little as $3 a month (the price I pay) for added security against hackers and spammers.
Talk to your host provider for advice on getting the best security for your site, but again, beware if you have a builder site or, of anyone who wishes to charge you hundreds of dollars for added security. It’s simply a con! Certainly, in the first instance you don’t want to be spending that kind of money.
If you are accepting payments for products and / or services, you need to invest in an SSL certificate which protects customer’s card data (and improves your search rankings to a point). Again this should not cost more than $100 a year and your Host Provider can help with this.
If you host with Siteground they offer a free Wildcard SSL as part of their annual plan.
Furthermore, this is something you can add to your site as you develop your offer, so once again you’re not investing up front.
10. Tech Support
With WordPress powering over 50% of the worlds websites, there is so much technical and FREE support out there. In the 4 years that I’ve been accessing this support and I’ve never had to pay for any support – even my Theme support is free.
There are WordPress.org forums which you can register on for free.
Let me know if you have anything to add in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!
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