WordPress | Get a Powerful Website

WordPress is a powerful system which can be used to create impressive websites with complex features & integrations. It is super simple to use from an administrator’s point of view and comes with lots of documentation and video tutorials which are freely available on the web.

WordPress is considered the best Blogging systems in the world and allows you to spread your website’s content instantly onto Google, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and via email to your customers. It is fantastic for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and has the very latest tools to allow you to optimise your site to the max, quickly and simply. This will give your website the best chance to move up the Google rankings.

If you still need convincing, read our 11 Reasons to Use WordPress.

Check out these WordPress websites which you can visit at Mantle Financial Planning, Chem-Dry or SkipHire.me.

Initial Rocket Building Activity

1. Get a Free WordPress.com blog

Get yourself a free WordPress blog at WordPress.com. You can choose from a range of Free Themes and even create your own website using the address yourdomain.wordpress.com. Just give it a whirl and see how easy it is to use.

2. Get a WordPress website on Your Domain

In order to look professional, you need a WordPress website on your own domain name. You can download WordPress yourself from WordPress.org/download and install it onto your domain via your hosting company. This is where things start to get technical and we would advise that you work with a WordPress Specialist to do this. If you are on a tight budget, you can source cheap WordPress developers at Freelancer.com or Elance.com, but check them out their credentials first.

3. Get a Great Theme

Your Theme is basically how your website looks to the public and gets managed from the backend. You can buy cheap Template Themes yourself which look great and are relatively easy to install. Check out Theme Forest or Woo Themes. Some themes are easier to edit in the backend than others and some can be more easily modified than others,  so read reviews carefully.

Alternatively, you can have your own theme/website completely designed from scratch by WordPress Specialists and built on the WordPress system. It is such a powerful CMS and in the right hands, you can complex websites such as eCommerce Stores, Membership Websites or Order Processing Sites . There is no limit to it.

4. Add pages

Create a series of pages describing your products, services and key benefits to customers.Wordpress allows you to add unlimited pages.

5. Create Categeories

You also need to create a series of Categories under which you can blog about such as Latest News, Recent Projects and Testimonials.

6. Add Plugins

Add a range of powerful (and free) plugins to your website to give it extra functionality, including

• Article Templates – Create different templates for you pages and posts
• Contact Form 7 – Add great forms to your website
• Customer Reviews – Get great reviews which appear on Google Places.
• Google Analytics for WordPress – A magical Google Analytics plugin
• Gravity Forms – The best WordPress form plugin. Cost involved.
• Members - Set different permissions and web access for your team
• Vaultpress – Fully backup your website every hour. Cost involved.
• Viper’s Video Quicktags – Easily add videos to your posts and pages
• WordPress SEO by Yoast - An incredibly powerful SEO tool from our friend Yoast
• WP to Twitter – Fire your blog posts through to Twitter with shortlink and hashtags

7. Add testimonials

Turn every page into a testimonial page to prove that you can deliver what you promise. You can use photos, quote or YouTube videos to support the service or product you’re describing.

Ongoing Marketing Activities

To get the most out of your fab WordPress website you need to make sure that you…

1. Add new blogs posts

Google want to see your website growing by a page/post a day and blogging is a great way to achieve this. Seek inspiration from other blogs you subscribe to, books you’re reading and from YouTube.

Other good blog article topics include Local Events, Company Activities, 101 Lists, How-To Articles, Joke of the Week, Inspiration of the Week, Video Funnies, Video Nasties and anything else you can think of.

2. Add new pages

Creating new pages allow you to produce SEO specific content for your key services within key geographical areas. Keep expanding your site; the bigger the better.

3. Develop Your Website

Great websites can take 18 months to refine. You should constantly develop your website based on feedback from clients and new innovations on the market.

4. Add Customer Reviews

Get your customers to regularly add reviews to your website. These will synchronise with Google Places and give more credibility to your service or products.

5. Reflect Your Marketing Campaigns

If you’re distributing leaflets one week or you have a TV advert going live, you should put that same content on the front of your website. This will ensure consistency and help improve your conversion rate.

6. Make Seasonal Changes

You should change your website’s content or basic architecture to reflect different seasons. This will keep your website fresh and encourage visitors to return.

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