If you’re a business owner, you probably already know you need a website to survive in this ever-evolving digital world.
In 2018 Salesforce recently found that over 87% of customers conduct research online before making a purchase.
Translation: If you are not online when customers are searching for the products and services they need, your business will not show up. In other words, without a website/being online, you’re invisible to most modern customers.
Most business owners know they need a website, but too many don’t know where to begin. After all, the website design world has turned into somewhat of a jungle these days.
To build a website, you can use the services of website builders, digital marketing agency, web design agencies, freelance web developers and so on.
Business owners could find it harder and harder to determine which website solutions are the perfect fit for them.
I’m here to help. Below are 5 reasons you should prefer a WordPress website if you are a small business owner and you’re still searching for a web design solution.
1. Do more with a WordPress website
Open-source software
WordPress is an open-source platform that allows customers to create websites.
Wikipedia defines open-source software as “computer software in which source code is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.”
I will spare you the technical jargon. To put it in simple terms, open-source software is software that allows developers to openly collaborate. This means other developers are constantly building software to work on top of (with) WordPress. As a result of this, there are no limits to what you can do with WordPress.
With WordPress you can build business listings websites, events websites, blogging websites, web apps and more.
WordPress vs Other website builders
When I first started building websites, I used Wix, and Squarespace.
After a few months, I quickly found that there were certain limitations with those website builders.
For example, I couldn’t change the CSS source code for those websites. In some cases, this meant that I couldn’t edit certain layouts exactly the way I wanted.
This is not a problem with a WordPress website.
Furthermore, website builders like Wix and Squarespace are closed source. So, there are also limitations when it comes to what kind of apps you can use with these website builders.
With WordPress, if you have enough knowledge, you can build your own software to help you do WHATEVER you want. How amazing is that?
2. WordPress is affordable.
Nothing is really free.
As an open-source software, WordPress is actually (and literally) free to use.
However, as the saying goes, nothing is really free. WordPress is no exception.
Though the software itself is free to use, just like any software, you will need to install it on some hardware, in this case, a server.
You can either build a server yourself (expensive solution), or you can pay a monthly fee to a web hosting company like WPEngine, to host the website for you.
Either way, there will be some cost associated with hosting (storing) the software.
Pay with your time.
Compared to other website building software like Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly, WordPress has a steeper learning curve.
In other words, WordPress is harder to (learn to) use than some of its counterparts. So, though it is free, you’ll have to either spend the time needed to learn the ins and out to make WordPress work for you, or you will have to hire an expert to help guide you in the right direction.
Despite this steeper learning curve, WordPress is still a better option in my opinion.
Free themes and plugins.
There are two additional pieces of software, that developers can build on top of WordPress, that will help determine how your website looks and functions: WordPress themes and WordPress plugins.
WordPress themes mainly determine how your WordPress website will look like. WordPress plugins mainly determine how your website functions.
I used ‘mainly’ in both sentences above because sometimes, a theme can change how a website functions and a plugin can change the look of a website.
Whether you’re looking for themes or plugins, there are always free options you can use to start.
The free theme and plugin options will usually be enough to help get you started.
However, most of the themes and plugins will have premium options that will help you enhance the look, feel and functionality of your WordPress website.
3. WordPress is secure.
There are over 100k developers that are part of the WordPress ecosystem.
This is a classic case of strength in numbers.
Using a website builder is like having a company with about 1000 workers working around the clock to maintain a piece of software.
Using WordPress is like having over 100k workers in an ecosystem, who are relentlessly working to improve a piece of software.
Which would you rather have?
Though the popularity of WordPress makes it more of a target for hackers, you can rest easy knowing that 100k+ developers are working around the clock to come up with security patches as users discover vulnerabilities.
4. WordPress is popular.
No. WordPress isn’t popular like the ‘cool’ kids in high school.
It is popular like the nerdy kid in high school who always helped others, and was popular (known) for helping. So, everyone went to him for help with homework because he always got the job done.
WordPress powers over 30% of the internet today. Customers love WordPress because of all the reasons I listed above, and you should too.
5. A WordPress website is the perfect fit for small businesses
If you are a company with a budget for web design, hire an agency, and let them do the work for you.
If you need a website for a wedding, a one-time event, or a short-term project, use a website builder like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly.
If you’re a a small business owner, with a small or no budget, and you’d like to eventually grow your business online, WordPress should be your solution.
WordPress is flexible enough to create small websites like blogging websites but powerful enough to power bigger websites such as TechCrunch, Sony or even CNN.
A WordPress website will help you get started, and will help you grow as your business needs grow.