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Small Business Embrace WordPress

More and more small business websites are jumping on the WordPress bandwagon. We’re hear to explain why.

WordPress is becoming a behemoth of a platform. Of all the content management systems. WordPress accounts for 68% of the market share. To break it down, two out of three websites are using WordPress software. For a platform that is criticized for being insecure. The statistic is telling a different story. We’ll explain why small business owners are choosing WordPress for their website.

So Why WordPress?

WordPress accounts for nearly 25% of all websites on the internet. Yes you read that statistic correctly. The platform started out mostly for blogging. Over the years, WordPress has built a powerful content management system. Oh and the system itself is open source. Meaning the system is free for anybody to use. Let’s discuss why WordPress has become the website platform choice for small business.

Besides the fact that WordPress is a free platform, why are small business owners using WordPress? One of the main reasons is the simplicity of the website’s back end. WordPress provides website owners the ability to control content on the website. The owner can edit text, add imagery, or publish a blog post in a matter of clicks. Empowering small business owners with the ability to control specific aspects of the website is an invaluable feature. The platform is scalable for any size business. WordPress sites range from mom and pop shops to corporate sites like the Walt Disney company. If a conglomerate the size of the Walt Disney company is using WordPress, we’d say it is more than acceptable for small businesses.

There are numerous features that can help a WordPress website grow. Features like plugins add enhancements to the existing website. Plugins range from contact forms, security, website backups, and so much more. We discussed WordPress plugins in another blog post. Highly recommend reading the blog post to obtain a better understanding of how WordPress plugins work.

WordPress is undeniably one of the top website platforms. We highly recommend the system for any size business. Small business can enhance the company’s digital footprint by being on WordPress.

Search Engine Friendliness

Search engine optimization (SEO) is important for any business. Being found on the first page of any search engine results page provides a competitive advantage. We won’t dive too deep into SEO, but the short version goes like this. The WordPress platform comes optimized for search engines right out of the box. All links, the platforms code, and website URLs are optimized for search engines. If you really want to take the website to the next level. You can find a plugin that can help enhance the website’s search optimization. One of the most famous plugins for optimizing a WordPress website is Yoast SEO. The plugin can be configured to optimize numerous aspects of the site. For starters, a web page can be targeted with a specified keyword. The keyword is then scored with a specific color. The color red indicates the page is not optimized, while green translates to being perfectly optimized. The plugin is robust with numerous features. Even with the plugin not being installed, WordPress itself is optimized for the initial stages.

A lot of the SEO technical aspects of the website are already taken care of. The source code on the back end is optimized. WordPress themes are programmed to be search friendly. Good plugins are programmed to integrate nicely with WordPress and search engines. The point we are communicating is WordPress itself is a search friendly platform. The platform allows a small business to enhance the current website.

The WordPress Community

The community that powers WordPress is absolutely amazing. Most, if not all, members of the community are always willing to help. The WordPress community comprise of individuals who are passionate about the WordPress product. If you’ve ever come across the WordPress support forum on WordPress.org. You’ll see there are lots of individuals who try to help one another. No matter how big or small the issue, the community is willing to sacrifice their free time. We’ve adopted customers in the past and have converted customers over to WordPress. Why is this relevant? All WordPress developers, managers, and content coordinators are able to pick up where another company has left off. There are no shortage of individuals, entities, and organizations who work within WordPress.

The community extends beyond the forums. WordPress camps or WordCamps are organized throughout the world for WordPress community members to meet. These WordCamps consist of meetups discussing the future of WordPress. Discussions can consist of new features being implemented. What the future of WordPress holds. Simply a meet and greet with other WordPress advocates. The events take place throughout the year. The community is that large. If a WordPress developer were to leave you. There’s a good chance someone local to the business will be able to assist. Small business owners do not need to worry about finding a replacement.

Conclusion

We discussed why WordPress is such an awesome platform small businesses. How a WordPress website comes equipped with SEO best practices. The WordPress community are a loyal bunch of individuals. If you are not convinced by the article of why WordPress isn’t right for you. Let’s chat in the comments section to discuss your concerns. We have a strong feeling we can turn you into a WordPress advocate like us!

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Is WordPress Right For You?

You may have heard of WordPress and all of the recent issues the platform has experienced over the last several weeks. We are here to tell you that WordPress is right for you and will explain why this platform is still one of the best platforms a website owner can use. Let’s begin with the obvious – WordPress is not a perfect platform, heck what platform is perfect. WordPress suffered some recent hacks from nefarious individuals looking to collect sensitive data. WordPress may have flaws with bugs being discovered, but the platform as a whole is one of the most used and secure systems used within the web design industry. Yes you read that correctly, security is an aspect the WordPress community takes seriously. Without further ado let’s discuss the real reasons WordPress is the right website platform for you and your business.

WordPress System

There are two different WordPress systems that are available to the general public. WordPress.com is the free platform that hosts blogs and websites for free. The free platform is managed by the good folks over at Automattic and is a closed ecosystem that offers limited customization. The other instance of WordPress is an open-source software which is located on WordPress.org available for download. You can download the latest version of the WordPress open-source software and install the files on a web host such as Bluehost, HostGator, and others. The open-source WordPress system is one of the most used software that powers millions of websites around the web. If the software is good enough for companies like Vouge, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art, and the New York Post it’s a safe assumption that the platform is good enough for any business.

Manage WordPress Website

This section was actually covered in depth in another blog post, but the importance of proper WordPress management is so critical we thought we would reiterate the importance of WordPress management. Before we continue, we will be discussing the open source software version of WordPress going forward. WordPress itself is famous for its many aspects the system comes with. Everything from themes, plugins, and custom post types, the platform comes equipped with additional components to enhance the website. Once the open-source software is installed, you now have the access to the dashboard where you will be doing all of your content updates, design modifications, and adding plugins to enhance the functionality of the website. All these little nuances provide enhancements to the site and are aspects you must manage. Plugins, themes, and WordPress itself are constantly being updated which help keep the open-source software secure. Making sure all of these components are up-to-date and functioning properly is key to having a website secure and performing at an optimal level.

WordPress Dashboard
WordPress Dashboard

Why WordPress Is Right For You!

If we were unable to convince you of how secure and safe the platform is, lets discuss the security in more detail. The recent activity that caused a stir in the WordPress community was a vulnerability that left the WordPress instance open to attack. The discrepancy was found in the default twenty fifteen theme inside the genericons package. Once the vulnerability became public, the WordPress team got together and within a respectable amount of time delivered a patch to resolve the vulnerability. Here is a great example of how fast the community got together, put in place a solution, and was able to push out the update within a week. If this were to happen to a non WordPress site, chances are the website would have remained exposed without the webmaster or customer knowing. The community within WordPress are friendly and helpful individuals who assist when possible. You can visit the forum were lots of questions are answered about multiple issues. Security has and will get better over time.

Conclusion

There is no bullet proof firewall that will block intruders from accessing data on your website. However, there are ways to help slow down such attacks and having a proactive management approach is one of them. When working with customers, we ensure the WordPress instance is locked down with difficult passwords to guess, security protocols to prevent brute force entry, and other secure methods. Let’s chat in the comments section below about WordPress and perhaps you disagree with what has been proposed in the blog post. We’d love to hear from you!

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