WordPress themes and the various plugins supported by the platform might sound as though their hyper technical and impossible to manage, but actually, that’s simply not true. If you want your business’ website to perform well in search, even free WordPress themes will help greatly. That’s because of the technology behind not only the application, but the many free plugins which help refine your SEO efforts.
The software itself runs on PHP and MySQL, which sounds complicated, but it all works seamlessly in the background. In fact, there’s a ton of things which happen behind the scenes you as a business owner won’t ever have to see. What’s really great about each and every WP theme is that they come loaded with some of the best SEO features. In short, Google and Bing love WordPress, because the sites are configured in a way that makes them very easy to find and crawl.
But that’s certainly not where it ends. There are many benefits to using WordPress themes and plugins. Like the fact that WP is a CMS, or content management system. What’s that? You might ask? Well, let’s just take a look-see.
The Versatility of WordPress
WP was developed by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little and was first released in late May of 2003. Currently, there are approximately 60 million WP sites worldwide and some of the largest international corporations are among them.
WordPress themes are built on what’s known as a content management system. What that means, in plain English, is that when a site owner makes changes, they take effect sitewide. That might not seem very impressive, but it is when you take into account the fact before CMS applications were a reality, every page had to be changed individually.
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. A WP developer 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.'” —Inc.com
What’s more, is that pages and posts can be individualized, with custom templates. Moreover, WP is an open source application, which means some of the world’s leading web developers are putting their best efforts into it, making improvements and innovating different aspects. And when you consider the fact WP is compatible with plugins, that makes it all the more valuable.
What are plugins? They’re tiny software packages that “plug in” to the application. And they pack a huge punch. Plugins perform specific functions, such as SEO compliance, Google Authorship, a sitemap, contact forms, polls, chat platforms, video plugins, and many other functions.
When you combine the power of WordPress themes and various plugins, you’re unleashing a website that’s very easy to maintain, and has several SEO functions built right in.
Choosing Trustworthy WordPress Themes and Plugins
So, with all this power and all these benefits, why is this article titled the way it is. Well, because with the good come the bad. And while the good folks outnumber the bad ones, it only takes a few to wreak havoc with your site. Since WP is open source, and plugin codes can be written by anyone, there’s going to be mischievous happenings and that could spell big trouble for WP site owners.
To choose the highest quality WP themes and the best plugins, follow these simple guidelines:
- Pass on free themes. Yes, free is nice, but what isn’t is finding your new business site is spamming the web big time. If it does, even without your knowledge, Google and Bing will penalize your site or drop it completely from their indexes. Yes, you can still find and use simple WordPress themes, but paying a little to avoid a lot of trouble is more than worth it.
- Make sure themes and plugins are up-to-date. The WP platform undergoes occasional updates and you’ll get a highlighted message when you login to the back-end of your theme. You want to keep your site updated with the latest releases because they are the most secure. And the same is true for plugins, when an update is available, take a moment to refresh it.
- Check the stats. Lastly, you’ll want to check the theme’s and plugin’s user statistics. Each has a user rating score, a download account, the latest time it was updated, its compatibility with the latest WP platform, as well as user reviews.
If you want to leverage all the benefits and advantages of WordPress, being able to choose from many themes, and hundreds of useful plugins, then contact us. We are a leading WordPress development and customization firm as well as a go-to resource for SEO services. We can customize a WordPress theme that’s perfect for your business, your customers and potential clients will love to visit and share.
