Hi, I’m Christen and this year I started a small graphic and web design company. I still love the way that sounds, and I’m incredibly excited to continue helping other small businesses build websites that proudly represent their professional and unique style. I’ve always wanted to jump out on my own, and while I’ve gained plenty of experience along the way I didn’t start as a tech whiz. At first I was actually intimidated by the technical-sounding jargon in every WordPress related blog post I read, and I wondered if I was “tech-y” enough to figure it out. But as I’ve studied, practiced and refined my web design and development skills I continue to be amazed at what becomes digitally possible with the flexibility and power of WordPress. In an effort to make the technical sound simple, I thought it was appropriate to make my very first blog post a conversation about the reasons I’m Team WordPress and why you should be too.
1. WordPress is huge
First let me blow your mind with the fact that 40% of all websites are built using WordPress. Yes, WordPress has a whole FORTY percent of the market to date. This means most developers you run into likely have experience working with WordPress, and there is an abundance of information and support out there to help solve any problem you might face. It’s a truly versatile CMS, which stands for content management system, offering an easy-to-use interface with no technical knowledge or coding skills required. All maintenance and content can be managed with ease by even the most technically challenged. Once a site has been built, you can easily create a new page, blog post, format text, upload and edit images, upload documents and so much more. Even better, my website packages include a recorded live training to walk you through all things WordPress, so you can walk away feeling confident about updating your web content.
2. WordPress is flexible to your unique needs
Now, let’s talk plugins. What’s a plugin? It’s a cool little piece of software that you install into your WordPress site to give it some kind of added functionality. Want to enhance SEO? Run analysis on your site? Make it rain confetti when someone visits your site? There’s a plugin for that. Well don’t quote me on the confetti one… WordPress offers over 45,000 plugins, many of them completely free, giving you nearly limitless functionality. As if that weren’t already enough, search engines naturally LOVE WordPress sites. The code is simple, making it effortless for them to read and index content. Each page, image and post will contain its own meta tag keywords and descriptions, allowing for extremely accurate SEO. And if you want to blog, WordPress was originally created just for that purpose. It’s easy to set up, and can substantially help extend your site’s reach to create instant inspiration and collaboration for visitors.
3. WordPress lets you choose your own hosting provider
Rounding out my favorite WordPress features is choosing your own hosting, which is KEY for your site speed, performance and security. The options are extensive, and most are extremely affordable. Some hosting providers are specifically tailored to run WordPress sites such as WP Engine or Flywheel. With either of these options, you can feel confident that your site will likely load faster, have better uptime, and see less interruptions. Also, I think we can all agree that security is important to everyone, no matter the type of business or following. And while I hate to tell you there is no fool-proof way to protect your site, you’ll absolutely gain the benefits of the built-in security enhancements WordPress hosting provides such as backups, malware scans and firewall features.
User-friendly and inexpensive features were extremely important to me when I was deciding what platform to use for my business, which is where WordPress absolutely shines. Like you, I wear many hats so I love creating easy solutions for businesses who are just starting out as well – we all know time is of the essence!
If you have a small business and are looking to build a comprehensive, easily-managed website to handle multiple capabilities, I’d love to chat! Schedule your free consultation here.
