Why Choose WordPress Anyway? |
|
Get The Dash
A free weekly marketing to-do list, straight from our desk to your inbox every Wednesday.
What’s the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?
We get it. Typing in “WordPress” into Google and seeing that there’s a difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com can get confusing.
WordPress.org is what the LKR Social Media site is based on, what we refer to in our Your Profitable Website program and what we recommend in helping you build your site.
WordPress.com is a free blogging site where you don’t have control. It’s all hosted on their site so if you sign up for a blog on WordPress.com, you have less functionality, less control and your website is going to be something such as WordPress.com/LKRSocialMedia which means that if WordPress.com goes down or disappears, your site does as well.
With WordPress.org, you actually install WordPress software to your computer and install it on your web host just as you’d do with software. This gives you total control over your website so that you own it and you control it. Think of it as when you buy software such as Microsoft Word. You buy it, install it and then it’s yours forever whether Microsoft were to go out of business or for whatever reason.
Your Profitable Website offers awesome step by step explanations of everything you need to know about creating and maintaining your website.
Is WordPress just for blogs?
No, you can use WordPress to build your entire website as we do here at LKR as well as use it for a blog. With WordPress, you can update and edit the site including adding pages, text and images without any knowledge of HTML or web design software.
I’m not very computer-saavy, can I really build my own website?
You can’t use that excuse anymore! You type into WordPress almost exactly like you would type into a Word document. Simply type in what you’d like to appear on your website, choose the font, color and size and voila!
The other great thing about WordPress is that if you are into html and coding, you can! Have no idea what that even means? No worries. WordPress gives the user control and lets you work within your comfort level if you want to get fancy schmancy and put your coding skills to use.
How much money do I have to shell out in order to use WordPress?
WordPress is essentially free software that installs onto your domain via your web hosting company. As we get started, all you will need is to purchase a domain name and web hosting which can be done separately or together. They’re all about the same but we do want to be very clear that you want to purchase a domain name and web hosting in order to use WordPress. That is the only component of this that is not free.
- Own a domain name: In simple terms this is the www.thisismywebsite.com. A domain costs under $10/year. We recommend using Dynadot.
- Own hosting: I recommend HostGator and it’s only about $10/month.
- Time: WordPress can take time. You want to make sure you have your website the way you envisioned it.
What are these plugins and do I have to pay to use them?
>WordPress offers over 10,000 free plugins. Plugins are tools that essentially enhance the functionality of WordPress. There’s a plugin for almost every need, just google it or search http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins.
Some of my favorite plugins include the All in One SEO Pack which essentially automatically optimizes your WordPress blog for search engines, Facebook Like Widget where you can add the Facebook “Like” button plugin, as well as the Optimizer plugin that lets you optimize your landing pages (as posts or pages) using the Google Website Optimizer.
Technology is always changing. How do I know if my site needs to be updated?
WordPress is awesome with keeping you updated. Anything that needs to be updated (plugins, features, etc) will provide you with a notification. Simply click on “Plugins” on the left side pane and press “upgrades available”.
Can I change my website’s theme or colors?
Did you design your whole website with a theme or colors that you thought would look awesome and turned out kind of “blah?” No worries, WordPress let’s you change your layout at any time with the click of the mouse. PS-there are over 17,000 free themes!
What will I be able to change on my WordPress site?
The great thing about WordPress is that it’s totally user-friendly. You can change themes, colors, page names, content, etc. at any time with a simple click of the mouse.
Is WordPress suitable for my business?
WordPress works for any business-small or large. If you are just starting out, great. If you have established visitors to your website, that’s wonderful too! WordPress features large sites like the University of South Florida to a small, homegrown blog started out for fun by a student.
To see the great variety of websites that WordPress has helped launch, see there showcase of websites.
Can I do e-commerce on my WordPress site? Can I accept payments?
There are various free e-commerce plug-ins for WordPress including Ecwid, eShop, WP e-commerce and more. Even if you decide to pay, most of them are under $50. Just do a simple search for e-commerce plug-ins and you’ll find plenty!
You can accept payments, but it all depends on the plug-in you use. The type of e-commerce plug-in you use will depend on your business and it’s e-commerce capabilities and goals. WP e-commerce for example, lets you accept checks, money order, PayPal, Google Checkout and Chronopay.
I am going to have to give some of my generated profit to WordPress, right?
No way, Jose! Any traffic and attention that your website gets, it’s all yours! You own your website. Let’s say your website is really doing well and you are getting more clients than ever, that profit goes directly to you!
Give yourself a pat on the back and don’t worry about having to give WordPress any percentage of that new money earned!
Can I integrate social media into my WordPress site?
Please do so as integrating social media into everything you do is uber important! There are many plug-ins for that you download and it automatically embeds sharing links on your pages. You ever go to a business web page and see that you can “like” them or “follow” them? Welcome to social media, baby!
You can integrate Facebook comments onto your WordPress website, display latest tweets in the sidebar as well as add sharing buttons for various social media services to your pages, posts and homepage.
There’s a social media widget which is a simple sidebar that allows users to put their social media website profile URL’s and other options to show an icon on your site.
Make your WordPress site your social media hub!
Still not sure about WordPress? Check out Your Profitable Website inside LKR Social Media Marketer now!
For more information on using WordPress, check these posts out:
WordPress Plugins to Help Boost Your Traffic This post gives you an inside look the top WordPress plugins we use here at LKR to increase our traffic and keep our blog on schedule.
7 Steps to Turn Your WordPress Theme Into an Amazing Business Website When it comes to creating your business website, setting up WordPress and selecting a theme is half the battle. But the second half of this battle, the all-important task of tweaking your theme to fit your business, still remains. Here are 7 steps to help.
Get The Dash!A free weekly marketing to-do list, straight from my desk to your inbox every Wednesday. |