Why Use WordPress? 5 Reasons Why You Should Make The Switch

We are living in a world where everything is digitalised. Along with an offline presence, you need to be active online… or as the older generation would say: “on-the-line.”

If you own a small business, you need to drag it online. It’s what your customers have come to expect. The first thing people will do on hearing about your business is head to Google and tap in your company name. If you don’t appear, then you aren’t credible. It’s that clear-cut.

To build an online presence, you need a website. However, not all websites deliver the same level of success. As a modern-day business looking to increase your profits, you need a fully-fledged and working site that reflects your businesses needs.

The best and most affordable way to set up shop online is to develop a WordPress website. Before we jump into the benefits of using a WordPress content management system (CMS), please have a look at these statistics:

• WordPress powers over 32% of the entire internet.
• WordPress is the fastest growing CMS, with over 500+ sites being built every day.

37 million global searches are made for “WordPress” each month.

Let’s have a look at the five most important reasons why your business should consider WordPress:

1) It’s Free

Whether you’re a blogger or a business owner looking to set-up online, the fact is that WordPress is completely free and incredibly easy to operate. Best of all, you never have to worry about hidden charges if your site becomes popular because it will always be free to use. Because it’s an open-source platform, that means you have free rein to make edits to the code without incurring any costs.

The only cost for most people will be the purchase of a domain and hosting so that their URL can appear under their name rather than represented by a WordPress URL.

2) Thousands of plugins

There are over 50,000 plugins available to help you customise your website. Everything from contact forms to SEO visual editors (usually free!) are at your disposal. If you are looking to make key changes to your site, there’s a good chance that WordPress plugins can help you.

Of course, there are some limitations in functionality when compared to a bespoke website with hand-crafted code, but new plugins and add-ons are released all the time. It’s now easier than ever to make quick edits without paying thousands of pounds for a bespoke website.

Top tip: While plugins give you the flexibility to make aesthetic and technical changes to your website, they also come with vulnerabilities. You need to be on the ball to ensure you update all plugins or run the risk of falling victim to security threats.

3) Responsive design

Having a mobile-friendly website is not just important for your SEO. It’s a major consideration when improving user experience. With the rise of smartphones, the majority of people browse the internet using their phones. This means that your website needs to be accessible to people on-the-go.

If your website doesn’t deliver the same exceptional browsing experience on a mobile as it does on a desktop, then you will lose customers. It’s that simple.

With WordPress, however, you don’t have to take a mobile-friendly test as the majority of themes are responsive as standard.

4) Easy to use

WordPress takes the challenge out of editing your website. The basic editor allows you to input text, images, video and other elements without having to crack any coding. What’s more, the addition of themes, like Avada, make the process seamless as the drag and drop editor gives you complete flexibility of the layout on all devices. It may look a little daunting at first but play around with the theme for a while, and you’ll soon pick it up.

5) Unlimited Support

With the ever-growing popularity of WordPress, you will never be short of advice and online support. A quick Google search for ‘WordPress support’ will bring up thousands of websites all offering their assistance. The chances are, if you are having a problem with something, someone else has too and will have published a blog post on it.

But, if you’re facing a problem that is a little too advanced for you, there are thousands of developers who can help you. All it takes is a quick Google search to find website developers in your area. Most developers will be used to managing the WordPress CMS, which is a big plus point.

This article was produced by the award-winning digital marketing agency, Bigfoot Digital. They offer WordPress and ecommerce website design packages that are entirely bespoke and tailored to meet the needs of their clients.