What in the devil is this WordPress thing? 

Well, if we cobble together a basic, descriptive definition, it’s a content management system that provides templates, referred to as themes, to build websites. In a sense, it’s the ecological system of an websites, and while some may consider using templates to be a cookie-cutter solution, the vast number of template designs available and the ability to modify them makes it very powerful. From the vantage point of Power Pair Marketing, we feel this is a perfect tool for our clients – small professional services companies like law firms, insurance brokers, financial advisors and accounting practices – because it is cost-effective and developed solutions would provide them with no advantage at a substantially higher cost. 

WordPress had its humble beginnings as a blog website. Actually, that’s pretty darn cool. You may have had a blog or still have one on a site like Blogger or Blogspot. These are one way for you to get your thoughts out to the world, but it’s not an effective way to promote an enterprise today. In fact, the very post you’re reading here is on a blog on a website that is designed using WordPress tools to help drive attention to our company. Yes, content is a big component of SEO marketing, and blogs like these on a company website, while seemingly throwback, are still effective. 

So, how many WordPress templates are there? According to a quick search we did, there are over 30-thousand WordPress themes available. Anyone who doesn’t think this is enough variety should have their head examined. That’s a boatload!

WordPress has also created a cottage industry of plugins. Plugins are programs that add a feature to an existing program. So, if a client liked a WordPress theme, but determined that it needed a calendar, Power Pair Marketing would select an appropriate calendar (there are many) and would add that to the website. How many plugins are there? Yeah, we wondered that too, so we checked. Google came back with a big number: more than 70-thousand are currently available, which is a boost of nearly 50-percent over what was available just three years ago. This indicates to us that this is a rapidly growing area. 

What kind of cool things can these plugins do besides add a calendar. Well, there are e-commerce options (Woo Commerce is the most popular), newsletter options, social media integration options, photo slider options, the list just goes on. And these are incredible. 

Is there a catch? Well, of course there is! These often require an annual licensing fee, although they are not expensive, and they also require some maintenance. Like any program, there are updates that need to be installed. These are important for reasons related to functionality and security. If you don’t maintain a license or fail to install updates, a plugin could stop working, disappear off your website, or create a series of problems with other aspects of your website functionality. This is why we insist our clients sign up with our maintenance program. We check on these things every month, and you never have to worry about it. Plus, our maintenance program comes with a fun meeting with us every few weeks just to check in. You’ll love it! 

If you want to learn more about WordPress websites, plugins and have fun chatting with Glen and Jeff, click the link below and we’ll make an appointment to get you plugged into the Internet in a way you will really like.