If you care about your business, then caring about your website is essential. And, just as any parent would want the best possible for their child, business owners should always be hunting for the best ways to get ahead by giving their business the tools it needs to succeed.
While hunting, it’s (incredibly) likely you’ll come across articles about WordPress and why it should or shouldn’t be used for your website. As much as we don’t like choosing sides about most things in life, using WordPress as our go-to platform for web design and development is one thing we’ll get behind completely.
Here’s why…
WordPress comes highly recommended by the best of the best. The top experts, entrepreneurs, and developers all choose WordPress for several reasons, least of which is its incredible SEO prowess that few (if any) other platforms can compete with online.
In fact, WordPress is so good at SEO that it could have just stopped right there and still beat the competition. However, WordPress, like any good entrepreneur, sets the bar high.
Not only is it the best at SEO, but WordPress also comes with some pretty spectacular features, ones that will make you want to build your website with its help even if you are as sure about what SEO stands for as you are what SMH really means…
Feature #1: Easy-to-Add Metadata
The metadata on your website and its pages play a huge role in how well your website ranks with search engines. But, as anyone who has ever tried to manually add metadata to non-WordPress websites can attest, it’s not always as “quick and easy” as advertised.
WordPress websites are known for making this type of information incredibly easy to add, which is undoubtedly why so many businesses that use the platform have more success. WordPress also offers free SEO plugins that can boost your visibility even more.
Feature #2: Traffic-Driving Images
The images you use on your website make an instant impression on your visitors. But, even more powerfully, your images, when published on a WordPress site, actually help with SEO optimization as well.
On a WordPress website, you can modify your images’ options, adding in keywords and phrases that will help you rank.
Feature #3: Smart Permalinks
The permalinks on your website are the URLs that you assign to your pages. And, while it may not seem like a big deal, having a way to customize these page URLs, naming them and editing them as you choose, is actually huge.
For example, wouldn’t you agree that it’s much easier for someone to find your contact form on a page called MyWebsite.com/contact instead of, oh, something like, MyWebiste.com/featured-page-2-edit? Not only is this type of URL easier for your guests to remember (and prettier to look at), but it’s also part of the reason why WordPress websites are so great for SEO. (Add your keywords to your pages and watch how much better you rank for those search terms!)
Feature #4: Exceptional User Experience
Everyone knows that people are impatient, especially online. In order to keep a customer’s attention, you have to develop an experience that’s engaging and informative. WordPress sites are extremely helpful in this endeavor.
Not only are they great looking websites, but they are made for navigation and flow. If your current non-WordPress website is experiencing high bounce rates, it most likely has to do with that important first impression. Or, perhaps, it’s because the person visiting your site can’t find what they are looking for.
Regardless, WordPress can help because it offers you hundreds of different plugins and themes to choose from – all fully customizable and designed to make your visitors happy (and stay put).
Feature #5: Fast Loading
Similar to Feature #4, if your website loads slowly, then you can be sure that even the most patient of customers won’t stick around. WordPress sites load quickly thanks to their constantly evolving technology.
And, as you’re probably aware of considering the growing theme of this list, faster websites improve SEO dramatically. If a search engine like Google knows that your website loads slowly, it won’t rank it as highly simply because of it. If you do have a WordPress site and are suffering from slow load times, it’s likely because a feature or plug-in you’ve added was done incorrectly.
Feature #6: Socially Adept
If you want your website to do well in terms of SEO (and what business owner wouldn’t want that?), then you need to make sure you are engaging your followers on social media. Website performance and social media status are inextricably intertwined.
The days of being able to have a successful online business without a social media presence are officially over. WordPress websites do better than most mainly because of the huge selection of social plugins they make available to you. Want to pull your Instagram feed on your homepage? Want to feature recent mentions? Want your social media to update with new content from your website?
There are several plugins to choose from on your WordPress website – and lots of them are free.
Feature #7: Happy Mobile Users
Take a moment to look around – chances are your phone is within reach. People love their phones, which is why they’re using them more and more to go online. WordPress websites thrive on mobile devices, which is something that can’t be said of very many other website platforms.
And because WordPress understands how important it is for your website to function on a variety of devices, it has made it easy to quickly see what your website looks like while you’re revising pages.
Yes, WordPress sites look beautiful. But the best part about building your business’s website with WordPress is that you’ll actually get people to your site to appreciate it.
Want to learn more about creating a custom WordPress site for your business or brand?
