If you’ve ever thought about which website builder would be most suitable for your small business, you’ve probably got trapped in a sea of different offers, not really knowing how one differs from the other.
After a first few minutes of excitement, the variety of options you see on the list start making you feel puzzled and insecure. It’s true, they all look alike, and they all promise you heaven on earth. What do you do?
It’s pretty simple: Take a look at the latest statistics and market share to help you narrow down your list. In fact, once you see the actual stats it will be quite easy for you to decide.
WordPress as the Most Used Content Management System
Source: W3Techs.com
According to the latest w3tech statistics, WordPress is used by 26.1% of all the websites, and its CMS’ market share is 59.2%. Pretty impressive, I’d say. WordPress is clearly the most used CMS platform, and although it first started as a blogging platform, WordPress has subsequently developed into a full CMS platform. It now offers all the necessary features for creating an effective website for small businesses.
There are several reasons why WordPress is perfect for small business, and I’d like to point out a few:
- Great content creation, which is essential for your inbound marketing
- Thousands of professionally designed themes — many of them available for free
- Responsive and ready for smart mobile devices of any size
- Easy to setup, manage and use, you don’t need to be an internet expert or a coder
- Search engine friendly, which is of vital importance for your online success
- WordPress is open-source, which means it’s free and under your control
Why You Should Choose WordPress
For small businesses WordPress simply presents the best solution because it offers a platform that small businesses can grow upon their own needs. It’s easy to setup and update it on a regular basis, hence create a website that follows all the latest design and SEO trends. Speaking of design, WordPress offers a variety of different designs upon which you can create your webpage together with a blog page.
With WordPress, you can easily include a variety of different media into your website. PDFs, videos, testimonials, images — all that is easily integrated with WordPress, without spending too much time on it.
WordPress lets you include multiple users who can access the CMS and manage your website if needed. It also provides you with additional options, such as a restriction for other users to unable them see information you don’t want them to see.
WordPress is easily edited and managed from your computer, laptop, tablet and even mobile. With Android and iOS apps, it’s super easy to log in and edit the content that you need.
And last but not least, WordPress is affordable. Let’s read how and why.
Which Type of WordPress is Suitable For You?
There are two types of WordPress you can choose: A self-hosted (wordpress.org) and free (wordpress.com). However, both have their advantages and disadvantages that you should take into account before deciding on which one to use.
Self-hosted (wordpress.org) is easy to use. It lets you custom your chosen theme and modify files. It enables you to be in control of your own data and use plugins as you are fully responsible for your backups, but it also offers you a possibility to earn money by launching your own ads. It provides you with custom analytics and tracking options which is a fantastic tool for self-reflection and improvement.
For the self-hosted WordPress you will need a proper web hosting — and yes, it’s Avalon! More about this later on.
Free (wordpress.com), however, is free only up to 3GB of space. So, all your space which exceeds 3GB will be additionally charged. This is the reason I always recommend the self-hosted WordPress. In addition to this, there are other concerns that go along with a free website. For example, your free WordPress will be swamped with ads that you won’t be able to remove (unless you pay). And just when you thought of launching ads on your free WordPress, forget about it! That’s not allowed unless you get 25,000 page views per month.
Furthermore, features such as plugins or custom themes are not available, not to mention restricted analytics, possibility of having your website removed/deleted and the unavoidable (and quiet annoying) Powered by WordPress.com sign that follows you around like a shadow — letting everybody know you are broke.
So, yes, I recommend choosing and downloading your WordPress installation from wordpress.org.
Regardless of some small investments you would need to include, the self-hosted WordPress lets you have the full control over your webpage, layout, SEO, ad revenue, and many more.
Choose Your Domain with Avalon and Start WordPress-ing Today!
Before you start creating your WordPress website, choosing a domain is the first step. If you are one of those who has a clear idea on which domain to use, then you’ll make all this very easy for yourself. That, of course, means that you already know your domain is not taken.
You can now choose your domain with Avalon, fast and without any paperwork needed. In fact, you will get the full control over your domain via our admin web interface, and will have to worry no more. Within no time, you will be ready to start your WordPress webpage, create your stunning business portfolio, and be absolutely confident that you have the best possible 24/7 support and backup.
Don’t waste your time, contact us, and start WordPress-ing today.
This article was originally published at Avalon blog.