“I can’t update my website!”
“I’ve got to get my webmaster to do that, but it’s going to cost me…”
“Nooooo, I just hosed my website!”
If you talk to enough small business owners, or friends that want to have a website but don’t spend evenings and weekends tinkering around on the web, you’ll hear frustrations like this a lot.
And that’s from the ones who have figured out how to get a website up and running in the first place. There are many who are still trying to figure out where to start. But wait, there is hope!
WordPress to the Rescue
WordPress is one of the most popular blogging tools available. But what many people don’t know is that it is a powerful Content Management System (CMS) that can be used for more than just blogging. With WordPress you can build a blog, a website, or both. This is the first article in a series where we’ll explore why WordPress is a good choice for small business websites, and how to install, configure and use it for your small business.
Web Content Management Systems
A content management system is a tool that helps you manage the creation and updates to web pages on your web site. In 1998 I was one of the early members of a Silicon Valley start-up called Interwoven. Interwoven provided Web Content Management solutions for large enterprises like Ford Motor, FedEx, Cisco and eventually thousands of others large and small companies. I learned a lot about web content management by meeting with hundreds of companies – ranging from the Fortune 100 to smaller companies - and digging into their web site architectures. The web was exploding at that time, and there was a tremendous demand for managing the ever expanding amount and types of content. During that period, our software sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Using WordPress as a Website
Fast forward to today, and now we have WordPress – an amazingly powerful content management system that is FREE. And it has a lot of power under the hood for a small or medium business looking for an easy way to manage their web site.
WordPress was designed as a platform for blogging, but you don’t have to use it as a blogging tool. With a few tweaks it can be used to run your website, with or without a “blog.” The fact that WordPress was designed as a blogging platform gives it some compelling advantages.
It is optimized for easily publishing and changing content. And getting good search engine rankings requires fresh, unique content. You need a system that does not get in your way when you want to update your website with a new article or newsletter.
So why is WordPress a good choice?
Top Five Reasons to Use WordPress for Your Small Business Website
- SEO – WordPress provides good search engine optimization (SEO) right out of the box. There are a few tweaks you need to make, but there are many seo benefits that WordPress provides for free. In fact Google’s own Matt Cutts says WordPress is “made to do SEO well” in this video: Matt Cutts gives tips to small business owners.
- Content – it is easy to update content on your website without knowing HTML. Do you hate the idea of having to learn to use a complex HTML editor tool like Dreamweaver? Do you have to “ask” your webmaster every time you want to make a small change to your website? Well no longer – once WordPress is set up for you, you can easily create new pages or edit existing pages using a simple rich text editor.
- Extensions – There is a thriving ecosystem of developers creating themes and plug-ins – imagine free design themes, or the ability to extend your website with polls, contact forms, ratings or hundreds of other cool features without having to hire a web developer.
- Support – If you do have problems, or want to add very custom features, it is easy to find support and developers who can help you. There are literally thousands of WordPress developers out there. And there are so many people writing about WordPress that help is only a Google search away!
- One-click-installation – Quick installs are provided by many hosting providers, including Bluehost, 1and1 and GoDaddy.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing tips and tricks we’ve learned by using WordPress for a bunch of small business websites.
More WordPress Articles:
See my WordPress for Small Business Series websites for links to more WordPress articles on topics like: How to install WordPress, should I use WordPress.org or WordPress.com, How to make WordPress look like a Website, and more.
Need a website? The Expand2Web SmallBiz Theme is a complete small business website theme for WordPress. Click here to watch the video!
Are you using WordPress for your Website, or stuck with something that isn’t working for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
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Great article, and I couldn’t agree with you more. We now use Wordpress for our small business website, and it has greatly improved our search engine rankings. We went from page 15 to page 2 within a week of going online with our new site in Wordpress. And now my content is SO much easier to maintain.
I would recommend Wordpress to most small businesses!
Thanks for sharing your experiences Brian!
Great article, not many people realise the capabilities of Wordpress as a Content Management System. It’s easy for the end-user (typically a small business owner in the case of our clients) and doesn’t take much time to manage and get to grips with.
Very useful and helpful information. Bookmarked for future reference as I have created my personal blog/website w/ WordPress and now am researching the best method to updated my business website (www.LECME.com) to WordPress.
Even though WordPress is easy to use I find that many customers still get confused by simple tasks. In order to help the clients I have written a small tutorial showing what is WordPress and how to use it.
@Jon – hey nice tutorial! Thanks for including here for my readers.
Hi there, Thank for sharing your experience!
An interesting article.
You’ve certainly got me interested.
I’ll start reading the rest of your series.
Thanks
Zafar
Interesting article. Here are a few more reasons to use Wordpress for a site as well.
http://www.delphicsage.com/home/blog.aspx/d=476/title=Reasons_to_Consider_Wordpress_as_a_CMS_for_Simple_Sitesjump
I’ve been looking ar Wordpress for some time…
Your articles might just persuade me to set up a site using Worpress.
Thanks
Hillers 54
Good article. We use wordpress too and managed to integrate a shopping cart into it. Its flexibility makes it a no-brainer for any new website, regardless of business size. With a little tinkering, you’ve got a customized CMS with limitless options.
Great info! I agree that transitioning from blogger to wordpress is hard but it’s so worth it!
In business there are many ways to make wordpress work for you. It is possible to make it ecommerce and to attach aforum to it.
I am very impressed with your site. The quality of the design and content makes it a real winner! Thanks again for a great site and a great resource.
Thank you Sam!
Hi Don
Looking at some of your early posts about using Wordpress for a standard website, and not a blog, was what got me started looking at Wordpress.
Your videos in particular were very professional and you have a great voice for easy listening.
You appear to have anticipated that Wordpress would move closer to providing CMS features with the introduction of static page definitions etc. Version 2.8 looks fantastic with themes being accessible via the dashboard… I notice that you have already got a video out showing this.
I’m now in the process of setting up my first CMS wordpress site… and I would like to say thanks for getting me interested and providing me with the technical info to move forward.
I will of course keep visiting your site for useful info.
Hi Keith,
Thanks for your comment!
I spent several years as a product manager for a high-end CMS system called Interwoven TeamSite and got to explore many leading website architectures like eBay, Amazon, FedEx, Ford, Cisco and others.
So I’ve spent a lot of time learning and thinking about this problem. That’s one of the things I think is so appealing about WordPress – Here’s this FREE tool that has the key features you need to manage a website and publish content easily.
Good luck with your website, and let me know how it goes!
Great article. Very concise and insightful.
I’ve been using WordPress a lot lately, and pushing my clients to do the same. Since converting a few Web sites that I did in HTML and CSS to WordPress, my days have been a lot more productive.
I don’t have to field as many calls for Web site updates because my clients are able to do them themselves (at least the minor things). This gives me time and freedom to work on my Web projects and what ever else I want to do.
I feel WordPress makes me and my business 10x more efficient because everything is streamlined for the most part.
Bottom line: WordPress is a “win-win” for both Web consultant/developer/designer and client!
I highly recommend any one sitting on the fence to jump on over to WordPress, regardless of the size of your business or organization. WordPress can handle it all.
This is a fantastic resource to refer to and get started with!
Thanks Don for using Web 2.0 to spread your years of knowledge about CMS and thanks for the dynamic blog (ran on WordPress of course)!
My two cent…
To your success,
Dhane Crowley
@Dhane just out of interest, which themes do you use for your clients sites?
Do you produce your own, use free themes or buy premium themes.
Thank you Dhane!
WordPress does solve that classic problem of clients not being able to update their website. I’m glad to hear it is working for you and your clients too.
Great Article, Wordpress is excellent.
Hi,
This is random but I noticed you’re using Aweber’s blog broadcast…have you seen http://feedmailpro.com? You might like it.
Hope it helps,
Brian
Great post and I coudn’t agree more how technically easy and accessible creating blogs and traditional websites are using Wordpress, amd this is from a technically inexperienced person.
I now have a range of niche blogs and sites which I am able to get up and running very quickly. Wordpress has moved forward the ability of individuals and businesses to have a great looking site for a very low cost.
This book and techniques save my life.
Now my site is running in a seamlessly way that I can afford.
Thank You so much Don.
Thank You so much Don.
Awesome article! I have been mostly using Joomla for my web clients, but I’ve been wanting to offer an easier CMS for them to update content on their own. I love the flexiblity, and I’m sure I’ll reference your article when I’m in client meetings!
Thanks!
Berkshire County Web Design
I’m a big Wordpress Evangelist myself. I built my cooking site, screamingsaucepan.com, entirely in Wordpress. I try to refrain from telling anyone how long it actually took me to build and launch the site. My skillzdesign.com site has a static front page, a tag cloud to access articles, and a Wiki powered by Mediawiki. After a few years, you can now Google my name. Guess my rankings… or try it yourself.
I recommend WordPress to all of my clients. Thank you for these excellent tips!
Tom Troughton
Hi Don
Dropped by to say that this is where my working with Wordpress as a CMS started.
Your title “Why Use WordPress to Power Your Small Business Website?” caught my attention and today… I finally uploaded my theme and configured it.
Feels like a real high on my journey with Wordpress.
Many thanks for getting me started.
Hey, thanks Keith! Your comment just made my day! Let me know how your journey goes and how I can help.
-Don
No problem Don.
I can’t really thank you enough.
I’m a big believer that if something seems way too difficult to understand… just start reading and doing bits and pieces and before you know where you are… it’s become easy.
I watched your video on creating a wordpress site using Cpanel and it was way beyond me.
Today… I’m pretty good on Cpanel and would recommend any beginner to make sure that ther hosting service uses it.
I would also say that you were way ahead of everyone with your series on using Wordpress for small business sites… way ahead.
This site is where it started for me and I will certainly keep in touch.
Have a great Christmas.
Interesting take on wordpress. I’ve recently converted and love it. I think I’ll be converting some of my clients over in the very near future so they deal with their own content.
Totally recommend WordPress. The learning curve can be quite steep for internet newbies, and some functions, inspite of it being a CMS, require a little HTML knowledge to get them right. But overall, it’s the perfect solution.
Far simpler than Joomla, for example.
Wordpress is very good. I have been telling so many people to switch over. Also, when I tell people that I emphasize how important it is to network. Once you start networking and get your name out there you will see a vast improvement in your business.
Our nonprofit has been trying/failing to get our website up and running. We have researched A LOT of options and have sought help from those with web design experience without success. I happened upon Word Press and its seeming ease of use got my attention. Then I read this article: Don, you’ve not only convinced me, you’ve also got me excited again about our website!
Thank you SO MUCH for this article!
Peter R.
President
Historical Relic Preservation Society, Inc.
Toujours de tres bonne info , merci
Thank you Peter – and let me know if you need any tips along the way. I’m always looking for new things to blog about and create video tutorials for. Also, please share your experiences on your new website here. I’d love to see it!
WordPress is the greatest platform ever for constructing websites for your business. They are so effective and flexible and easy to use, I don’t think I’ll ever use another platform.
thank you for small business wordpress theams, please post about ecommerce wordpress theams or joomla ecommerce theams please.
Oh my God! That was some awesome tutorial on WP for business. I love WP because the customization and functionality and for some reason Google ranks me pretty good for all my WP sites. If you are among those people who needs great looking web presence, free traffic and do not spend thousands on web development…go for Wordpress