You know you need an online presence for your business. The question is, how should you go about building a website? There are so many different options and services and software applications that all the choices available can be dizzying. Particularly to a small, service-based business owner or local merchant whose hands are quite full already.
You need is a web platform that is effortlessly turnkey, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when building your new website. What you need is WordPress, which now powers 30% of the sites across the web. WordPress was created originally in 2003 as a blogging tool but has evolved into a complete content management system with e-commerce functionality.
That’s where WordPress and WooCommerce come in. Combined, these two tools are all you need to succeed online, whether your main goal is to sell products or services (which you can do with WooCommerce), or generate leads (which you can do with a WordPress contact form), or retain customers (which you can do by creating great content to post on your blog).
Wonders of WordPress
WordPress is a content management system or CMS built on open-source software, which means it can attract more collaborators (i.e., web developers who are willing to work for free) than it would if it were a paid platform.
So, web developers from all over the world can create WordPress compatible themes, plugins, shortcodes and more – all of which you can leverage for your site. Its open-source platform is one reason why WordPress is the most popular CMS today.
WordPress offers quick installation, built-in security, more than 11,000 themes, which are customizable website layouts, and over 54,000 plugins such as WordPress SEO by Yoast, so you can get noticed by Google and your website will be returned in users’ Google search results.
WordPress makes it easy to build a site by simply selecting a design or theme, choosing a few widgets or plugins to add functionality and special features, and by adding your content as a subject matter expert. WordPress also offers a community forum, where you can interact with WordPress users at large, bounce an idea off someone else or see if it’s already been done.
Why WooCommerce
If you want to add e-commerce functionality to your WordPress site, WooCommerce is a great choice because it was built on the WordPress platform. Thus, WooCommerce seamlessly integrates with e-commerce with content in a highly compatible interface.
WooCommerce is also highly customizable, which means you can use it to sell anything – from clothes to can openers and other physical products to digital downloads and subscriptions. You can even use it to book appointments and consultations.
As a WordPress compatible plugin, WooCommerce is free and open-source, making it a popular choice for small to large-sized businesses who want to sell products or services online. Trends indicated that WooCommerce runs on 30% of e-commerce sites and millions of active installs.
Additionally, WooCommerce offers a number of popular extensions such as WooCommerce Bookings, which allows users to sell blocks of time as appointments, and WooCommerce Memberships, which you can use to restrict access to certain parts of your website or sell access to certain parts of your website.
A Dynamic Duo
When you combine WordPress with WooCommerce, you have a dynamic duo of tools at your disposal. Together, they can help you build your brand and online presence, which will bring you more business in the long and short run.
As a service-based business owner such as a real estate agent, or a mom-and-pop shop, we at BrandCo understand that your No. 1 goal is to grow your business. That’s why we’re here! Contact BrandCo today to get started.