If you are in business, you will have sat and debated the reasons for and against a website. If you are not technically savvy, or you are without access to a switched on 15-year-old who knows the latest software platforms to use, you might have approached a website design agency and been quoted an astronomical sum of money for three pages of static information on the web.
They may also have baffled you with science and technological speak about being on the first page of Google for your keywords when people use targeted search terms. To finish off the sales pitch, you may be sold the possibility to make two or three minor changes to your website a year through their design teams, and be grateful for the opportunity.
A static website has no place in the fast-moving Internet market that exists, and especially not if you are new to the market. Fledgling websites need the exposure without resorting to the more underhanded techniques to get your site up the rankings on Google (which can backfire on you and get your site deprioritised in the rankings – or banned altogether).
The reasons for switching to a blogging platform are simple for me and I am not alone. The ability to update content often and instantly gets me interested. When I surf the web now, I am acutely aware of just how many businesses that cannot afford the thousands of pounds on custom-built websites are building on WordPress with custom themes.
Old habits die-hard and the lure of the old-fashioned business static websites remains attractive, but how much good do they do you?
Any Content Management System (CMS) that a business uses for its web services has to be fit for purpose. If you want a static 3 page website, then feel free to do so, it’s your money. If you want to make your site interactive, with frequent updates and with full control in-house of your information, then WordPress (which is open source software) is one of the major contenders to give your business many advantages.
Advantages of Open Source Software
- The software is supported globally by developers who are up to date with Internet trends and statistics.
- There is a MASSIVE support network for any glitches that you come across while using it.
- WordPress is constantly updated and being integrated with new features to make use of the changing Internet preferences.
- Reliability is based on huge communities working to iron out the bugs and problems with software as it arrives. In individual company built websites, you tend to have less robust systems which are developed by smaller teams with less time and resources available to work out the kinks. This is one of the reasons that website developers charge a lot of money to build a website.
- Simple administrative panels with the ability to set user groups at different levels, ie administrators, editors, contributors and subscribers.
- Public, private and passworded information and articles can be added.
- PLUGINS. There are plugins (and widgets) to do almost anything with a website, from adding shop pages, to forums, to help with SEO and Marketing, and adding ad hoc forms and polls. In fact, almost anything you can think of can be added within minutes.
- Interactivity. You can add posts and pages in such a way to mimic a static website, or you can have it in the form of a traditional blog. You choose basic interactivity levels by leaving comments on or turning them off.
- If you want your website to have a new look, it can be done in minutes, and for minimum cost by simply changing your template.
If you need even more reason to consider blogging software for your business, I am going to tell you why WordPress and blogging software is becoming so widespread in websites.
EXPOSURE
Quite simply, the giant that is Google LOVES fresh content. If a website remains static, it won’t be long before the spiders become sluggish in visiting your site to look for any changes. If you use webmaster tools and identify a few keywords that you want to be found using, you can build them into your website and make as many changes as you want, as often as you want, but also being careful to avoid duplicated content.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Building social media into a WordPress website is easy peasy. A plugin, 60 seconds and you are there. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, all in one easy click.
SPEED
