How to Use WordPress for Business
If you're looking to expand your brand online with a blog, a website, or both, here's what you need to know about WordPress.
iStock
WordPress certainly has its fans. Take Dre Armeda, for example. He describes himself as a "passionate WordPress developer" who has been "addicted to WordPress for over six years." In 2009 he co-founded WordPress Vibe, a site dedicated to bringing together both experts and newbies of WordPress. "There isn't a better blogging platform for business or personal blog sites alike," Armeda says. He is a creative and technical consultant whose firm CubicTwo LLC has "created WordPress-driven sites for small businesses, theatre studios, and large vendors."
Your company might already have a website, but perhaps it's not as easy to update as you'd like. Or maybe you are interested in creating a dynamic new company blog. Whatever phase you're in of creating or cultivating a web presence for your business, WordPress is an option worth exploring. Just ask Armeda, who says for small businesses it is "cost effective, [with] easy to manage updates and the SEO features will help you gain a digital footprint quickly."
How to Use WordPress for Business: A Look at the Competition
Blogger, TypePad, Posterous, Tumblr, Movable Type, and WordPress are some of the better-known blogging software options. "While Expression Engine, Drupal, Movable Type and Blogger all have their uses, as do Posterous, Tumblr and even Facebook as a potential blogging platform; WordPress is the standard for very good reasons," said Jonathan Firestone, an independent consultant on digital strategy and user experience.
Blogger is exclusively for blogging and cannot be hosted on another hosting service – though it is possible to point it to another domain. Unless you're looking for something basic – and a site with a standard blog aesthetic – it might not be a good choice for creating a company website.
TypePad costs $14.95 per month for the "pro" level, which is needed in order to be able to customize the site, and make sure it doesn't look like a standard blog template. If you need to do a high-level of customization you will have to learn a specific TypePad programming language to alter the template coding.
Tumblr was founded in 2007 as a way to blog from phone, email, or desktop. It falls in the middle of the pack for blogging platform options. The disadvantage of using Tumblr for many is that is does not have built in commenting. You would have to embed Disqus to allow for commenting. Disqus is a global comment system. So if you want to use your website or blog as a way to communicate with your customers and clients, Tumblr is not the best option.
Posterous, which launched in July 2008, is one of the newest free blogging platforms. It is an email-to-blog platform that allows users to post anytime - and everywhere. Blog posts are primarily submitted by emailing content to be posted, so it's easy, but it offers zero customization, which is a deal-breaker for most businesses.
Movable Type is another option for developing a website or blog. "WordPress.org and Movable Type are very robust systems that can be used not only for blogging but also as complete content management systems," said Heidi Cool, owner of the web design and strategy company HeidiCool.com. When Cool was a webmaster at Case Western Reserve University she primarily used Moveable Type, but decided to make the switch to WordPress in 2007 "primarily because it was a major player."
Using Movable Type for business requires a license, the cost of which ranges from $50 to $1,000, depending on how many people at your company will require access to make updates.
WordPress was started in 2003 and is the successor of b2/cafelog, a small blogging software company founded in 2001 by Michel Valdrighi. When development was stopped on b2/cafelog some of the developers, including Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, got together to create WordPress. "It has matured well beyond just a blogging solution," Armeda says. It has become one of the preferred options for blogging and website development because of the quick installation, ease of use, affordability (it is free), and accessibility. According to the company's current usage statistics, WordPress is used by nearly 2.5 percent of the 10,000 biggest websites, making it the most popular blogging software in use.
While WordPress makes it easier than ever to build a blog or website, there is no wholly simple solution for website development. Remember that the process can still be time-consuming.
"Overall WordPress is my No. 1 pick, but every situation is unique," Cool says. Armeda agrees: "I'm a champion for WordPress but ultimately it's about choosing the right tool for the right job."
Dig Deeper: More About Blogs and Blogging
How to Use WordPress for Business: Why Some Companies Love WordPress
WordPress was designed primarily to be used as a blogging platform, but it is also a powerful website content-management system. Here are 10 reasons it works for business.
1. Wordpress software is free.
While "free" is not always the best business solution, WordPress is well established. "WordPress.org can serve users at all price points from those who want to start with a free theme that they install themselves, to those with more specific needs who can hire a web designer to create a custom theme that integrates with their site and supports their branding," Cool says. From the start, the only cost will be the price of hosting your site.
2. WordPress is open source.
