“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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See my disclosure about advertising and affiliate links
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definitely is is very SEO friendly.
WordPress makes it easier for small businesses to get a professional looking site up without having to spend tons of money paying a web developer.
Hey…! nice tutorial or say informative article.I agree to your all points that why Wordpress…
Nice …!Very simple and short article on why Wordpress.It is very useful to beginner in this field…
Don,
What’s your opinion on how “deep” to make a website using WP.
I’m building a review type site with a home page, between 4-6 silo’s, sub categories under each silo and then individual product reviews. All told it will be 4 levels deep.
Some people say you shouldn’t go more than 3 level deep (incl homepage) but with the niche I chose, it doesn’t work with 3 levels.
What are your thoughts, please.
I helped a local fitness center convert their website to Wordpress and it’s been a very positive experience for them. They’ve seen their website traffic increase and more people coming in to become members because of the website. And updating is a lot easier for them.
I chose wix to create a website with, it is a flash site and at first I was real excited about using it, however there is something wrong with flash as it does not always show itself towards SEO. I have learned that the hard way. I always work on the site thinking maybe if I did a tweek here and a tweek there it would work, but no such luck it is very hard to get in a top search ranking with flash. For my blog I went with wordpress and I enjoy it a lot, although it took some time to get to know. It took me about a week or two to really understand the power of wordpress but I am glad I did. I am now going to transfer my site to the wordpress. I hope it works
How does Wordpress copmpare to Joomla in terms of both ease of use and available depth? We have a site that is four levels deep and, at the moment, tries to provide information for two distinct audiences. We are planning to separate one of the audiences off with the use of a microsite linked to the current site and are in the midst of reviewing / redesigning our brand identity. Therefore, we are considering moving to a new system if it will handle the depth we need and improve our ability to manage it. Any comments or opinions about Wordpress VS Joomla would be appreciated!
Thanks
Sue
Great article! I’ve been searching for a platform to build and maintain my website for ages!
For any small business owners who don’t have any html skills, one of the best things about using WordPress to power your small business website is that if ever you need to create code for something you can simply create whatever you need in a draft post using the simple rich text editor, then click on the source button to copy and paste the code to wherever you need it to be – like in a widget text box for example. Too easy!
I want to add a blog on this site,how its possible with wordpress
i have uploaded wordpress on
/blog/wordpress
please send the proper instruction to to do this.
thanks
Hi,
WordPress is just fantastic for blogging and small business. Easy to learn and totally free. Adding a little CSS style can make your blog entirely personalized. I just love WP.
Merci, J’ai trouvé cet article très intéressant, les article sont très bien rédigé ! Bonne continuation. I like this
We recommend Wordpress for small business websites
Really powerful web content management tool for increase your brand equity without technical knowledge.
Impressive article, insightful
respect to Don Campbell
You cannot use adsense, yahoo ads. You cannot promote your business, it is prohibited.
“In addition to AdSense-type ads, please do not use the following services on your blog: sponsored / paid posts including PayPerPost, ReviewMe, and Smorty; affiliate / referral links to the following domains: usercash, clickbank, clickhop, cashrocks, payingcash; clicktrackers (and any similar) and any promotion of the “I made a million on the internet and so can you” type of advertising (i.e. MLM, network marketing, cash gifting, etc.). Paid or sponsored post content is also prohibited. Please check our page on types of blogs for more information about what content is and isn’t welcome on WordPress.com.”
I believe those limitations are just for Wordpress.com, and not for a self-hosted “Wordpress.org” blog/site.
Well, that was quite insightful. I m already creating a Wordpress account. Thanks
dear David Jones,
Yes, unfortunately, wordpress.com prohibits business promotion. The good news is wordpress.org is completely open for any kind of use you like. It is free to use too but without restrictions. Dont confuse the two. It is offered if you buy some hosting.You can get free wordpress installation from godaddy or hostgator etc, after you buy hosting. .. Most good host companies offer this service. If your lost, just ask for help from customer service. No problem.Or just Use fantastico to do it-takes a few minutes -Theres tutorials to learn how, real easy. Good luck.
Hope you get set up.
good article
Great information and being a non tech – really like how l can actually understand.
hi may i asked you which plugin are you using for the social network like you one page “Facebook twitter and Email” If you don’t mind can you with me well thanks
Regard
Ganesh
Hi Ganesh,
I’m using some custom code for that, but the ShareThis plugin is a great way to go and easier to set up.
Hmmm just found your website and yes I just love wordpress. Starting off as a novice 2 years ago, learning wordpress has really made the journey to website building for small businesses tenfold easier. Great articles on wordpress you have here, so I’m pretty pleased I found your site.
Thank you Karen!
Hi, great article. I have been on the fence but I think you may have helped me make my decision.
My website is a blogspot based site that I tweaked to the point it was not to good for a blog. So i started a separate blog that is somewhat seamlessly linked. However Google does not allow FTP any longer so I am unable to make the blog a subfolder. From what I have learned a subdomain is not such a great idea in terms of SEO. So …..
So I want to build my own site that has a blog included on Go-Daddy.
I really like the look of what I have now, will I beable to emulate that with Word press? any suggestions on where to start as far as template choices etc?
thanks for any advice.
you got a very excellent website, Gladiola I observed it through yahoo.
Wordpress is what I recommend to all small business owners I work with. From a designer perspective it causes you to lose money since customers can change the content themselves, but I think their satisfaction draw a lot more referrals than the opposite situation.
Fantastic article. So often it’s hard to convince people about using WordPress because they think it’s just for blogs. I try to explain to my clients that WordPress is the way to go, and that major companies such as Ford and the Wall Street Journal use WP for their content management system. With all the plugins for extra functionality, support, and large selection of customizable themes, I don’t see why business owners should use anything but WordPress.
Does anyone know if you can use word press if your website sells products online??
Thankyou
There’s a plugin called FoxyShop that appears to do everything – add to cart, discount codes, featured products, tracking inventory, etc. Unbelievable how much they put into it. Almost makes me wish I sold things.
My story: I bought web hosting from GoDaddy to put up a website for my counseling practice; it came with Joomla and WordPress. Among other things, I wanted to have a PayPal button so clients could use a credit card for copayments without my having to pay a monthly fee to a credit card service.
I tried to figure out Joomla, but got nowhere, and so threw up an index page that was all text (edited with Word), and tried to get my son to find time to work on a site using HTML. I couldn’t even get a photo of me to load correctly using GoDaddy’s aggravating file manager (which they seem to hide in a different place every week). My son never got time; he has a demanding job.
Meanwhile I had put up a rudimentary blog just to try out WordPress, thinking I’d eventually have a blog as well as a static site. After a few months (okay, a year…) I started playing around with WordPress and discovered I could do a lot with it. I figured out how to redirect from my main domain name to the /wordpress directory (after I solved an amusing endless loop because I had a link back to my domain from the blog!) Then I found out I could have a static home page instead of having the posts page come up first. So I realized I could make the blog my whole website, and let my son off the hook!
Then I discovered plugins! So now I have a contact form, Google maps to my offices, forms for clients to fill out for their first appointment, and of course the magic PayPal button. I also found I had become pretty skilled at using WordPress in the process, and was able to throw in cool little touches like those New York Times style fly-in “Next Story” buttons.
So my point is that starting with WordPress is a great idea for a non-HTML expert to build a website, because it gives you a visible decent-looking page – one that works out of the box – as a starting point; and then you learn by doing as you customize it and slowly turn it into a content management system.
I still think the blogging part is great, because it lets me sound like an expert, and gives potential clients (and colleagues who might refer to me) some useful stuff as sort of a psychological “loss leader,” while I also seem to be improving my search engine visibility as I add posts and links (judging by all the Yahoo crawlers and ping-backs I’m seeing in my “who’s been here” plug-in).
The big danger is that I’ve gotten addicted to tweaking my site on an almost daily basis, and it could be a real time waster. Then again, it beats watching “American Idol.”
By the way, since I could put a PayPal button in a WordPress page, I would assume that you can add forms and sell things online. There’s probably even a plug-in for that!
Wordpress is good choice for every type of business not only the small. I highly recommend it! You may like this post: http://www.internetgurublog.com/2011/03/13/10-reasons-of-using-wordpress/
I just started my own virtual office assistant business in January 2011; and I started out using a Wordpress site. Although I’ve been encouraged to purchase a theme, I am still using the standard wordpress themes, and so far, I’ve been VERY pleased! I am new to the whole blog/web thing and Wordpress has made it EXTREMELY simple!! I Love it! Thanks.
Thank you Tina – I just took a look at your website and I’m super impressed! Great work!
I must say, I too am super impressed with your free theme site. My company is currently in the process of creating a new website, going from html to wordpress. I am heading up this project however, I am concerned they are going to think it is a step in the wrong direction because of the fact it does not support flash.
Hi Don,
I wish to develop a website using wordpress for a small business startup firm. Please guide me how to go about?
1) Also, let me know about the security concerns about my website? will the content can be changed by anyone?
2) How to buy the host name?
3) Will the site look like a mere blog?
As a beginner, you can sense hundreds of questions are in mind, it will be great if you can help me out. I have started using wordpress and i am loving it.
Thanks ..
@Prateek
You can’t seriously expect the guy to answer that right ? GOOGLE ! lol … You get a domain name from an ICANN accredited domain registrar. Public service announcement(s). DO NOT fall for the “free domain” or “free domain for life”, register your own domain folks. So there’s no confusion about who it belongs to.
Anyway, thanks for the info author.
Just about to give wordpress a shot i have been using xsitepro2 but have stumbled at adding decent galleries, lets hope wordpress have relevant plug-ins, will soon find out and share views.
There’s a saying among the WP community. “There’s a plug-in for that”, lol. Sure you’ll have no problem finding one Manchester. Has to be a reason WP is taking the world by storm. Think it’s the most popular CMS going now.
I have successfully used WordPress as a small business website for a client. It is so quick to set up and doesn’t have to be updated all the time, if you are just using it as a traditional web site. My client’s website, in fact, only costs them when they renew their domain registrations. I host it for them for free on my WordPress Mu site.
yes ,wordpress is great!
I now use WordPress for all of my client’s sites, even when a blog isn’t necessary.
I’ve also written a small guide for building and maintaining a business site with WordPress.
But can it handle the need for a pretty hefty depth? We are currently using Joomla and would like to have a somewhat easier time with understanding additions. Our site has over 200 pages and we are planning to split it in two (we have two very different types of users on the site.) Any advice?
Sue,
I’ve got sites in WordPress with hundreds of pages and posts. We’ve also built sites for larger companies with a lot of content. When you say hefty depth, is that what you mean – amount of content?
Yes – We have content three levels deep and are trying to add documents and more sections. The person who set up the site for us is no longer available. We know how to edit content, add documents and delete content but building anything new or adding plug-ins is outside of our knowledge at the moment. Eventually, we would like to split the site in two but that will probably be after we rebrand (in the next year or so).
The huge Wordpress development community also makes it very well supported, both in plugins and advice for those making more than the standard modifications.
Word press is great I have a few sites up , use the free SEO plugins they work well , You can opomize real easy for Titles , tags , keywords etc, no nee d to pay for expensive SEO .
Wordpress is a great budget alternative cms for the beginner.
A friend set this site up over a year ago, after a while he was unable to upgrade to the newer verison of WP and he could not get the site to back up. The site created error message after error message. I hire someone thru O-Desk and after a lot of work, they updated WP and were able to get the auto back ups. Our host is GoDaddy, we are still having slow load times and this sometimes causes an error message. My IT guys says it’s GoDaddy and GoDaddy says it’s the site – the theme, image sizes and the fact that we have a check-out function via PayPal. WP is running through windows and not Linux.
Don,
Yes, GoDaddy is not very good for WordPress hosting. I know many people who have had trouble there. I highly recommend a hosting provider that has really thought through their WordPress hosting offering. BlueHost is my recommendation – I’ve used them for a lot of sites, and know many other people who have too.
I’m going to admit that I’m completely blind in this whole thing. A friend of mine has a wordpress site without having it hosted, but I can’t figure out how to do that. I purchased the wordpress hosting from godaddy.com and I’m just completely confused now. I’m new to this whole thing I’ve searched blog after blog and watched video after video. It doesn’t make sense to me and I’m ready to give up. I feel like I need “The Complete Idiots Guide To Building A Website With Wordpress”. What advice do you have for me?
If you think having a self-hosted wordpress.org is too complicated, you could start out with an upgraded wordpress.com (that has it’s own domain name). A lot of people do this, and not just with wordpress.com (weebly.com is another example).
I know you’ve already spent money on your current website, so I’m not sure if this is feasible. In either case, it’s something to consider. If you do go that route, I recommend using Weebly.com.
This is exactly what I needed. Thanks!
Their is no doubt that Wordpress is the best site to use for SEO, it has been proven over and over and over again. Of all the database programs created, over 70% are for Wordpress, that should tell you something. However just as important as using Wordpress for your Blog platform, is what theme you are using. One of the best for the price that is made for online marketing and advertising for any niche is FlexSqueeze.
It is not only the best theme for creating sales pages, it also is an excellent theme for creating niche sites for affiliate marketing or AdSense profits. Check it out!
Oh how I do love Wordpress, you should use it to build every website to be honest, well I do
Hi guys
I built my small bus site in wordpress.com but as I’ve included a
few affiliate text links in there too (nothing dodgy!) I’m worried I’ve built it in the wrong place and should have used wordpress,org to avoid getting shut down.
Does anyone know an easy way of transferring across? Or do I need to build the whole thing again from scratch..page by page?
Hi Em,
Here’s a post called Moving Your Content from WordPress.com to WordPress.org that walks you through how to do the move.
WordPress.com also offers a Guided Transfer option where they will do the whole thing for you for $119.
I have an online art gallery where I promote/sell my paintings.
I would like to add WP to my website. Is it possible to keep the same (similar) look?
Hi Nebojsa,
You could add the WP blog to the /blog/ directory underneath the top level of your website. Then you could find a theme similar to the current look of your website and with a little bit of CSS work tweak it to look similar.
Thank you Don.
I am doing a major renovation of my website in order to connect my online art gallery with a database and provide online payment. I am getting familiar with CSS of my website thus it will help me to modify WP to look similar.
When I finish I may ask great people here to comment, especially from SEO point of view.
Don, I happened to stumble upon your website this morning while looking for small business WP templates. Great blog and great product…
I think that it will make the transition into the formal SEO services and Small Business website design, much easier…
I greatly appreciate all the work you have put into this product to make other’s job easier…
Regards,
Johnny Rogers
www. JohnzSEOGuide.com
Thank you for the kind words Johnny!
Hello Don,
I own an online editing and proofreading business and my website is currently hosted by Register.com. Unfortunately, Register.com does not support an upload button, but this would dramatically simplify the customer’s interaction with my business (they wouldn’t have to attach their Word document to an email). Does WordPress allow a visitor to upload a Word document?
I’d appreciate any info you can provide me with.
Thanks for the great article.
Matt
I have had small websites through a number of deployment methods. Recently I decided to kind of re-start a website and decided to give Wordpress a chance. I can say that inside of 2 weeks I went from never having published a site with Wordpress to having a site with over 10 pages on it.
Myself, I use Hostgator and the CPanel allows for Wordpress to be installed in like 1 and a half minutes. If you have the money I still think a more advanced site is the right way to go, but if you are just trying out a new thing then why not see if you can make it work on the cheap first and then invest in a more professional site.
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