WordPress. A familiar place for web developers, bloggers and business owners alike. But is it the best option for your business? With the likes of SquareSpace and Wix coming into the fray, it seems like a tricky decision if you’re ‘going it alone’ when building a website.

WordPress continues to shine as a website software and is the market-leading CMS with over 30% of the top 1,000,000 sites using it. So, whether you’re fresh out of university looking to set up a new business or a seasoned veteran of business looking to expand into the digital world, here are a few reasons why we at JC Social Media believe that WordPress is your best shout in building your small business website.

1. Easy setup

Sign up. Choose a domain. Choose a theme. Done.

Without reducing the complicated world of web design too much, creating a WordPress website for your small business can be really simple if you wish it to be. Of course, nothing is quite the same as receiving the support of expert web designers to help you along the way. However, once it’s up and running, you can feel empowered to take full ownership of your website and start getting great results.

Write a blog. Build a new landing page. Advertise your services. Go for it!

2. Customisable WordPress themes & plugins

For both expert web designers and the newest of the newbies, WordPress is the platform for everyone. It offers enough customisation for a strong developer not to feel restricted but also has a simplistic interface that doesn’t feel intimidated. With a whole host of themes to set up the bare bones of your website, or even the ability to create your own, WordPress is a clear winner for a small business.

Not only that but there are the plugins. Oh, the plugins! Those helpful tools that allow you to insert complicated code into your site without getting bogged down in all the complexities. Examples include:

• Yoast SEO – the quintessential plugin that simplifies quite a complex concept within web design.
• WooCommerce – gone are the days of pay tens of thousands on a streamlined product platform. With WooCommerce, you can be a few clicks away from setting up your own online shop. Simple!
• Lordicon – this may be a little unknown one but we love it. Throw some interactivity into your website with these dynamic icons.

3. Blogs, blogs, blogs

When it comes to online blogs, WordPress is the place to be. Its very purpose surrounds it. But how can a blog help your small business? Well beyond the typical answer of ‘it lets you organically advertise your products’ the reasons are as follows:

• It has a massive impact on the success of your small business website’s SEO.
• Blogs allow you to offer advice to your growing audience.
• It shows you as a thought leader in your industry.
• It allows you to develop a more intimate and natural relationship with prospective clients.

Plus, we know there’s not much more entertaining than reading and writing a strong blog on small business! You can read more about the benefits of blogging here.

4. No ongoing costs for your small business

If you’re willing to put in a bit of time or investment into a professional web design service, your website can be set up and require no ongoing costs. This comes in the form of creating a website through wordpress.org rather than wordpress.com. What’s the difference? Well, with .com you can quickly create your own website based on the themes created by others. With .org, you can be in total control of the overall design of your website and not feel obliged to pay WordPress on a regular basis. By designing your website through wordpress.org you can use WordPress’ software completely for free. Aside from the domain and hosting, they’ll be no further ongoing costs for your small business website.

5. Small business e-commerce made easy

As we mentioned earlier, the WooCommerce plugin is heaven sent! In a few short minutes and one or two forms to fill in, you can have your own online shop up and running. This is the real power of a WordPress website for a small business. It cuts through the complexity and empowers you to take full management of your products if you so wish.

Alternatively, if you’re looking for a more pure-form e-commerce site we would recommend Shopify. With a streamlined design, you can create your own online shop without the need for technical know-how. However, it should be noted that with this streamlined design comes less flexibility and, potentially, more cost if you choose to build out any non-e-commerce elements of your site i.e. blogs.

So, if you’re looking for more insights into making full use of WordPress to support your business or want a full website expertly built, get in touch with us today.