Common misconceptions about WordPress

• “WordPress is that crappy blogging thing isn’t it?”
• “Why would I pay a web designer when I can get WordPress for free?”
• “WordPress is drag and drop, I need a proper web designer who knows code.”

I’ve heard these concerns plenty of times before. Usually from first time business owners who are just starting out or old fashioned web developers who are too stubborn to change their ways. Either way it’s time to set the record straight.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

Before I go on, I just wanted to clear something up. We use WordPress.ORG to build your website and everything we talk about in this article is in reference to that. WordPress.COM is different. This is a separate product all together and is usually used as a DIY blogging tool and it tends to be very restrictive. I wouldn’t recommend it for a business website.

Below I’ve outlined 9 reasons why wordpress.org is the only platform you’ll ever need.

1. You can make changes yourself easily

First and foremost, this is why I love WordPress. You, as the client have control over the website which means you don’t have to pay your web designer for every little change. WordPress is a content management system (CMS) which means that once the site has been built you can add, edit and delete things yourself.

It comes with a basic editor that looks like this…

As you can see, it’s very similar to the formatting palette on Microsoft Word or any email provider such as Outlook or Gmail.

If you’re still worried about the learning curve then please don’t be. We send all our clients helpful training videos on how to use WordPress. We’ll teach you how to make changes and keep the site up to date. There are also plenty of resources on the web that teach you how to use it, some of which I’ve included further down the page.

2. Complete control over the design

Some people think WordPress is a basic platform and doesn’t allow for much customisation. This is simply not the case. WordPress allows us to build completely bespoke websites that are tailored around your business.

Some platforms don’t allow for advanced customisation which make it’s difficult to create truly awesome websites. They only have basic options that deliver basic results. It is important to have complete control and you might not have this option with other platforms.

We design your website using Adobe programmes such as Photoshop and Illustrator. We make it look exactly how we want it to before we touch a line of code. We then build your site on WordPress by transferring each design element over one at a time. Your business is unique and your website deserves to be too.

3. Free & paid plugins

Another huge benefit of using WordPress is that you can install extra “add ons” to your website. These are called plugins and they will make your life so much easier.

Let’s just say you want to add an image gallery to your website, this can be achieved very easily by searching the WordPress plugin library for “image gallery”. You can then browse the extensive list of free and paid plugins, most of which can be installed in less than a minute and you can start adding your images.

There are over 45,000 plugins in the WordPress library and most things can be accomplished if your know what you’re trying to do. Below I’ve added a list features you might want to have on your website. I’ve also included a link to a FREE plugin so that you can achieve it.

• An online shop facility – Woocommerce
• Social media sharing buttons – Sharaholic
• Image Gallery – Envira Gallery
• Email signup form – Email Subscribers
• Display your testimonials – Strong Testimonials

We will obviously install what you need whilst we are building your website, however you may want to add additional features once you’ve gone live and plugins are a great option.

There are great benefits to using plugins. Imagine having to build everything from scratch – gallery, calendar, contact form etc. All that costs money, and it could send your web costs spiralling. Most of the time a free plugin will give you what you need for a fraction of the cost.

4. Free and paid Templates

WordPress allows you to quickly install pre-made templates very easily. Much like plugins, there are 1000’s of free and paid themes to choose from, each with their own own style and layout.

If we are building your website, you don’t have to worry about this as everything is built from scratch. However, it’s nice to know that if you wanted to change the style of your website in the future you can do so using a 3rd party template.

WordPress have their own template library you can browse to see if anything takes your fancy.

5. Free Online help

Obviously, if we build your website we are always happy to help where possible, but most of our clients end up learning a lot themselves too.

WordPress is the most popular CMS of its kind. This means that if you get stuck along the way, chances are you’ll be able to find articles and videos online to help you.

WordPress Support

WordPress do have their own support forum which is free to join and very useful.

Google

Google is the first place most people go to if they have a problem. A simple Google search for “how to install an image gallery on WordPress” will give you more than enough information.

YouTube

Youtube is a great resource for WordPress help. If you’re like me and you’re more visual, watching a few Youtube videos will save you some time.

Udemy

Udemy is another great resource. Technically Udemy is a paid service but they do have free WordPress courses from time to time. Here’s a cheeky link from me to you.

Udemy WordPress Training (free)

6. Paid support

Sometimes, free WordPress support just doesn’t cut it. If you need more urgent assistance and advice, then there’s no shortage of companies who can help.

If you’re looking for an in-depth WordPress course that walks you through the A-Z of what you need to know, then WP101 is a great option. They also have a very helpful community where you can ask additional questions and get support from a dedicated team member. For me, the WP101 community is the real benefit of this service. It’s also very cheap with prices starting at $19 per annum.

If you are a technophobe and you need (done for you) tech support then you might want to consider something like Go WP who offer dedicated monthly support for around $79 per month. They’ll make small changes for you and will keep your site running smoothly.

You can also find an abundance of WordPress experts on Upwork who are available for you to hire on an hourly basis. You can post your job and have people reach out to you or you can simply search the Upwork database for freelancers and approach them individually based on their skills, reviews, price per hour etc.

7. WordPress works with (almost) anything

This is another reason why we love using WordPress. We never have to worry about integrating 3rd party software with your website.

Due to it’s massive popularity, companies tend to bend over backwards for WordPress. Whether it’s an email services provider like Mailchimp or industry leading payment processor like Stripe, it has to be COMPATIBLE with WordPress.

Many software companies create their own WordPress plugins because they know how important it is. They also understand that if they didn’t make it easy for people they would lose a lot of customers. It’s in everyone interest to create WordPress friendly software.

8. Search engines love WordPress

In my experience, WordPress websites ALWAYS rank better in search engines than other platforms such as Joomla, Wix and Squarespace.

Why is this?

Clean URL structure

Your page URL’s are extremely important in how Google rank your website. They look at the keywords within your URL to determine what you should rank for. WordPress is great as it allows you to create unique URL’s for each page very easily and doesn’t add any messy gibberish like so many others do.

Website Speed

Some of the other content management systems and website builders are built with a lot of unnecessary code. This extra code can cause the site to feel heavy and load slowly. WordPress on the other hand is fairly lightweight and most themes and plugins are built with this in mind. There ARE some exceptions but generally speaking WordPress websites are quicker.

SEO plugins that allow you to optimise your pages easily

Every page on your website will need to be optimised for search engines. That way you have more chance of ranking on the first page of Google.

There are hundreds of different plugins that you can use to improve your on-page SEO in different ways but perhaps the most widely used plugin is Yoast.

Yoast SEO Plugin

The Yoast SEO plugin is free and you can use it on multiple websites. It comes with an extensive number of features that you can use to make your website more search engine friendly.

9. Mobile Friendly

Having a mobile friendly website is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. And if you want to keep Google and your users happy you’ll need to make sure your website passes the mobile friendly test.

When we build your website we make it responsive. This means it looks great when viewed on a mobile device or tablet. This is nothing new and should happen anyway but with WordPress it makes the whole process so much easier.

Responsive Plugins

Most plugins are built to be responsive. This means they look great on smaller screens and we don’t have to customise them manually which saves us a lot of time.

Responsive Templates

Again, because we are building your website for you. you won’t really need a template but it’s good to know that if you did in the future it would likely be responsive.

You can make your website responsive

WordPress have a number of tools that can actually turn your website from non-responsive to responsive. That means, if Google change their guidelines in the future you can use the tools to stay inline.

All round, WordPress will make it easier for us to deliver a fully responsive website.

Summary

So there you have it, 9 reasons why we only use WordPress to build your website. As you can probably tell, I’m pretty fond of WordPress and hopefully after reading this article you now understand why. I need to be able to trust the tools I use 100% so I can continue to build the best possible websites.

Over to you

Have you tried using WordPress in the past? How did you find it? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Martin Huntbach

Web designer & marketer for small businesses. Martin is an experienced search engine and web design specialist, with over a decade of experience working with large corporations to small businesses.

jammydigital.com

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