Technology Consultant Harness the power of the Internet

Use WordPress to Manage Your Website

I help businesses of all sizes set up websites to promote their businesses. I recommend that companies without a dedicated webmaster use WordPress's blogging software as a way to manage their websites.

There are lots of reasons I make this recommendation. Here are some of the top reasons:

• WordPress is one of the easiest yet most powerful Content Management Systems (CMS) around. If you can use a word processor, you can probably figure out how to blog. And if you can do that, you can promote your business.

• You or someone without programming experience can update and maintain your site. You'll need just a little bit more than basic computer skills coupled with desire and you can figure out how to add new pages, upload photos, link to other websites and share information. A couple of years ago I had lunch with Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress at a WordPress camp. He said that when he started WordPress he hoped to make it as easy to get and manage a blog as it is to get and manage a web-based email account such as Hotmail or Gmail.

• There are numerous "themes" or customizable looks that are available for WordPress. You can hire a designer to create a custom them or you can find inexpensive and even free themes that let you customize the look and feel of your site. The beauty of themes is that you can change the look and feel for the entire site in just a few clicks. Here are a couple to consider for "premium" themes: StudioPress.com and Press75.com. In fact, it's quite possible that very few people will recognize your site as a "blog" if you make an effort. Here is an example of a site that I helped a friend do to promote her Mexico Beach Rentals business.

• Search engines LOVE sites that are built on WordPress. In addition to lots of default options that are designed to help your website be found, you can find and install additional features built by 3rd parties that help increase your visibility. For example, I helped a friend set up www.cycleandstyle.com and within less than a month they started coming up in top spots on Google for 3 word searches like "Ladies Cycling Fashion" and "Women's Cycling Fashion".

Of course there are some disadvantages too but on a whole they tend to be offset by the above advantages. Disadvantages include:

• The inability to have 100% custom pages for each page in your site. You are forced to use a template of some sort.

• Because WordPress is managed by a software license known as GPL, the source code is available to everybody. There are hackers who attempt to exploit weaknesses to gain control of a website using the software. This is relatively rare and WordPress immediately addresses it but if you have sensitive information, this may not be the best solution for you.

• If you use free or even a premium theme, other sites may have the same look that you do. Given that there are more than a trillion websites in the world, the fact that a few thousand people are using the same site design to you should not cause much of a concern. Having said that, some customizations and custom graphics can serve to make your site more unique to you.