WordPress powers over a quarter of the world’s websites and is the site builder of choice for leading enterprises including CNN, Sony Corp., TIME, and Disney.
Created as an easy to use platform for bloggers, WordPress has become the most popular content management system in the world, with features and functions that make it ideal for building business websites of all kinds.
[source: BlueHost] WordPress was designed in 2003 to make online publishing available to everyone—website designers and non-designers alike. It’s a set of free and open source code files that make up the core structure of a website, and although experienced designers can work with its source code to customize a WordPress site, non-techie users can also work with its other two core elements, themes, and plugins, to design fully functioning sites without needing a single line of code.
WordPress can be used to set up sites ranging from a small personal blog to a large corporate business website with complex functions and multiple users. A self-hosted WordPress site is completely under the site owner’s control. Versatile, flexible, and always scalable, a WordPress site can grow and change along with your business. Here’s a look at some of the key benefits of using WordPress for business websites.
Open Source & Always Free
For budget-conscious business owners of small and large companies, WordPress makes it possible to set up and run a website using all free WordPress themes and plugins aside from purchasing a domain name and a hosting account. Anyone can download and install WordPress from WordPress.org on any hosting platform or install it directly from site building options that come with a hosting account.
To customize a site and add needed niche-specific functions, users have access to thousands of free themes and plugins from the WordPress directories that come with the software. But those with more complex business needs can also buy premium WordPress themes and plugin options or turn the site design and management over to a dedicated development team.
Easy to Install & Use
Once you’ve downloaded WordPress, it doesn’t take long to set it up and begin adding content. Because WordPress was designed for bloggers and publishers who weren’t likely to have much coding experience, it can be installed in “one-click” and quickly customized in basic ways to get a site up and running fast.
Once installed, WordPress settings and content can be managed easily from a new site’s administrative dashboard. And while users with development experience can work directly with the site’s core WordPress files or hire developers to do so, it’s also possible to manage a WordPress site without editing the core code at all.
Always Accessible for Authorized Users
A WordPress website can be managed by multiple users, from any device. Since a WordPress site is “self-hosted” with a hosting provider of your choice, it can be accessed from any computer or mobile device by anyone who has been granted the appropriate permissions. That makes it easy for users to work on the site remotely and collaborate with others whenever necessary,
Mobile-Friendly with Responsive Themes
More searches and online transactions are now done from mobile devices than from the traditional desktop. That means that in order to be competitive, a business site needs to be mobile-friendly with easy viewing and access on any kind of screen with a fully responsive design. A WordPress business website can be built with mobile-responsive themes that automatically adapt pages and posts for mobile devices, or with a variety of free and premium WordPress plugins that add responsive design features to a non-responsive theme.
Versatile & Scalable for the Life of Your Business
Although WordPress was originally designed specifically for blogging, it can be used to create just about any other kind of site as well. WordPress business themes and plugins can be mixed and matched to create all kinds of unique sites to meet a company’s specific needs.
WordPress themes are sets of code that can be overlaid on the core WordPress code to set the appearance and layout of a WordPress site. There are thousands of free and premium theme options to choose from in the WordPress theme directory, and many more can be purchased from third-party developers and installed on any WordPress site.
Along with the different free and premium theme options, WordPress business plugins can add specific key features and functions to a WordPress site. These small pieces of code can be installed and activated on any compatible WordPress site to extend its functionality in ways that support a site owner’s particular needs. Plugins can be used to create an entire online storefront, add payment portals, manage mailing lists, and much more. Over 50,000 plugins are available from the WordPress plugin directory, and, like WordPress themes, others can be purchased from third-party developers around the world.
Complete Customization & Control
Hosted websites are limited by the parameters of the hosting provider, and if the host closes down, sites can be left without an online home. But the WordPress core code is a self-contained entity that offers all the key features of a fully functional content management system so that users can control all aspects of the site’s appearance, functions, and accessibility.
Because WordPress affords users complete control over their site, WordPress sites offer full customization options to suit a particular company’s needs and goals, right from within WordPress itself. Business owners can handle all those aspects of the site on their own or decide to call in developers and IT specialists to do the job, but they have the option to choose which approach works best at any time.
A Built-In Business Blog
Having an active, content-rich blog can be a powerful tool when starting a content marketing plan for your business. Because WordPress was originally designed for blogging, the platform contains all the elements for creating and managing a blog that supports the company’s vision and showcases its offerings. The WordPress Post and Page text editor has all the tools for creating and styling text, adding images or multimedia content, and sharing it on social media.
These tools make it easy for multiple users to add and edit content, optimize the site for searches, and cross-post it among other networks. Some WordPress business themes are designed with blogging specifically in mind, and numerous blogging related plugins can add additional specialized functions to make a WordPress business blog easy to update and manage on a regular basis.
SEO Friendly Features for Higher Rankings
WordPress sites are clean and accessible for search engines like Google to crawl and index, which can lead to higher rankings and more visibility for the company. Features like mobile responsive themes and plugins that add search engine optimization (SEO) tools for every page and post make it easy to optimize all the sections of a WordPress site.
WordPress powers millions of business websites around the world. It’s the most widely used content management system on the web—and this free and open source platform comes with the support of a widespread WordPress user community and all the tools for building a site that can grow along with your business.