WordPress Means Business

29th Dec 2012 | Posted by Eko S. | No Comments

When taking on a project to enhance your website for the purpose of increasing business, there are some important things to consider.

Back-End Functionality
User Experience
Conversion Optimization
Search Engine Optimization
Front End Functionality

Let’s go through each of these one-by-one.

#1: Back-End Functionality

To cover the back-end functionality aspect, it is ideal to install WordPress due to its flexibility and feature-set. WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world. The statistics stand behind that fact.

In 2011, WordPress was running on 14.7% of the top million websites in the world and 22 out of every 100 new active domains in the United States are running the software.

#2: User Experience

For businesses, user experience is an extremely important element to the success of the website. Businesses need something that displays what the business is about, and can function how the business needs for its clients.

For example, if the businesses clients typically use mobile devices, then a responsive design or mobile plugin (like WP Touch) would be a good option. If the business is a restaurant, then a menu friendly design is important. So my suggestion is to search for business WordPress themes and find the perfect one to match your niche.

#3: Conversion Optimization

Some businesses rely on email marketing for lead generation and nurturing. There are many business WordPress themes that can make an email opt-in form prominent. However, there are also WordPress plugins that can get the job done. For example, Mailchimp Widget.

A popular method is using call to actions in order to catch the attention of visitors.

Other methods of conversion are social signals, like Facebook shares, Google +1s, Pinterest Pins and Tweets. As with all things WordPress, there are many options to implement effective social sharing. My two personal favorites are DiggDigg and Flare.

For businesses needing conversion optimization specific to them, using services like User Testing and Crazy Egg can be extremely beneficial. With them, you can see click maps, heat maps and have random visitors test your new website for conversions.

#4: Search Engine Optimization

Working for a WordPress gallery theme developer, I am often tasked with optimizing new website content for search engines. One of the most important things to know about SEO is that there is a fine line between optimization for computers and people. Often times, businesses are better optimizing for clients more so than search engines.

However, there are many simple tasks (the basics, if you will) that are proven effective.

Make sure the domain is indexable
Permalinks should be search engine friendly
Keywords should be in URLs possible
Keywords should be in the beginning of Title Tags/Page Names
Keywords should be in the beginning of Meta Descriptions
Keywords should be in the beginning of Meta Keywords (if you choose to use meta keywords)
H1 Tags Keywords should be set for Page/Post titles and there is only one on each
Keywords should be in Alt Tags
A sitemap is available and submitted to Google & Bing webmaster tools

Using the free plugin, WordPress SEO by Yoast, can help businesses implement all of these simple SEO tasks in one shot.

#5: Front End functionality

The front end of your website should portray the niche, branding and class that your business has.

I’m a New Jersey Photographer, and when visiting my website, the first thing you know for sure is that I am a photographer. If you are a baker of cakepops, and someone visits your website, then they should know that you make cakepops. (by now your mouth should be watering because you should really want a cakepop) Give yourself a five second test. Ask someone to look at your website and tell you what they know about your business within the first five seconds.

Your website should also be branded with your company’s logo. The most common place to include it is at the top near the navigation, however there are many other places it can be placed.

Footer near the copyright
Sidebar within social profile links
After blog posts using a content marketing campaign

Make sure that your brand is pronounced, but not too much. The goal is to make people remember your brand but not turn them off to it.

You also want your website to show class. If you’re running a doctor’s office, then clowns aren’t ideal for display on your website. Choose the right graphics, text and photographs so visitors know you mean business.

Recap

WordPress can be your best friend and your worst enemy, so be sure to make it work in your favor. The first time loading WordPress, you could be overwhelmed. One of the best parts of the software, is the community behind it. So takeadvantage of what is available in both free and paid plugins and themes. Utilize the free community forum to ask questions, or contact support if you paid for extrafunctionality.

Remember that the back-end needs to work for you, and the front end needs to work for your clients. There is a very thin line between SEO and conversion rates, and having a comfortable and pleasing user experience is a key to your business website’s success.

Thanks for reading an good luck,

- Written by Scott Wyden Kivowitz -

He is the Community & Blog Wrangler at Photocrati, developer of the WordPress theme for photographers, NextGEN Gallery and the Photographers SEO Community, teaching other photographers on how to increase business with their website.