| WordPress is well known as a blogging tool and an | | | | thousands of plugins (free and otherwise) that |
| easy way for non-programmers to upload | | | | you can add to WordPress with the click of a |
| content quickly and easily through it's powerful | | | | button. |
| content management system. | | | | Some of the more popular plugins include things |
| The question often asked however is; can | | | | like: adding Captcha to your comments area to |
| WordPress function well as a stand alone website? | | | | reduce spam, adding social bookmarking buttons |
| In other words; can you do away with an HTML | | | | to your posts to allow users to access the |
| website by substituting only WordPress? There | | | | content with their bookmarking sites, the ability to |
| are 3 areas that I'd like to discuss that will help | | | | add your posts to Facebook and twitter, and no |
| you decide if WordPress will work for you in this | | | | follow tags to prevent Google from seeing |
| regard. | | | | outgoing links, plus a whole lot more. |
| 1. Does a WordPress site look professional? Yes. | | | | There are also plenty of Widgets that you can |
| There are thousands of templates that you can | | | | add to your side columns that include: rss or atom |
| download either for free or for a small fee. | | | | feeds, twitter posts, digital clocks and even |
| Depending on the business that you are in or the | | | | weather updates. The sky is the limit here. |
| purpose for your website, you will have to | | | | 3.Are WordPress sites SEO friendly? Yes. In |
| choose the right skin or look for your WordPress | | | | today's online environment it is important that you |
| site. | | | | website be found by search engines and |
| In my experience I have seen everything from | | | | WordPress has one of the most powerful built in |
| elaborate to the most basic of WordPress sites, | | | | systems that allows you to quickly and easily |
| so the high quality that you want to achieve is | | | | create content that is search engine friendly. |
| not only possible but probable. | | | | There are in fact plugins for WordPress that will |
| There are even various software that you can | | | | create Titles, Descriptions and Keyword Meta |
| use to get your website to look exactly the way | | | | tags. And, because the software is open source, |
| you want it to look. | | | | great strides have been taken to keep the |
| Often clients of mine have previously constructed | | | | source code to a minimum which allows your |
| HTML websites and they like their look. I | | | | content to take precedence. |
| recommend that they keep what they've got and | | | | Google loves WordPress sites. Why? Because |
| add WordPress to it. | | | | often with WordPress sites content is being |
| A software like Artisteer for example, has the | | | | constantly generated not only by the creator but |
| ability to create any look and feel, including | | | | the contributors of comments. Often when |
| mirroring your current website look in an easy to | | | | WordPress is added to a website it's ability to |
| use WYSIWYG editor. | | | | attract Google traffic is increased significantly. |
| 2. Is a WordPress site scalable? Yes. They are | | | | An open source software like WordPress can be |
| many things that you can do with WordPress that | | | | used to create a beautiful, functional and search |
| most people are unaware of. | | | | engine friendly site. I highly recommend it to |
| Those things include the ability to upload; pictures, | | | | anyone looking to save some money on web |
| video, audio, flash and virtually any type of media | | | | design fees and for anyone who wants to create |
| you can think of. And, WordPress makes it all | | | | a website that will put a professional looking face |
| easy with a simple user friendly interface. | | | | for themselves or their company. |
| In addition to uploading content, there are | | | | |