Is WordPress Good for Small Businesses?

A small business website lets you establish an online presence, sell products worldwide, and accelerate growth. WordPress is often associated with blogging, so you might wonder: is it suited to building business websites?

WordPress is a robust content management system (CMS) which makes it ideal for a range of websites, including ecommerce businesses. It’s cost-effective, beginner-friendly, and highly customizable. Better yet, you’ll have complete ownership of your content.

In this post, we’ll dive deeper into the reasons for choosing WordPress for your small business website. Then, we’ll present the quickest way to launch a WordPress site. Let’s get started!

8 Reasons to Use WordPress for Your Small Business Website

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS), powering over 40 percent of websites. Here are eight reasons why small business owners should create websites with WordPress.

1. Website Ownership

WordPress is open-source, which means you retain complete ownership of your business website:

All-in-one proprietary platforms (like Shopify) appear highly convenient. However, these solutions limit access to the source code, and may claim rights over content/designs that you create on the platform.

With WordPress, you can publish content and make any customizations you like, without abiding by strict terms and conditions. You’re also free to import/export content or switch hosting providers without restrictions.

You could even hire a WordPress developer to build custom solutions with the software.

Website ownership promises long-term stability, and WordPress is a highly reliable and scalable platform as your business grows.

2. Beginner-Friendliness

The user-friendly nature of WordPress makes it perfect for small business owners who lack technical knowledge. No coding skills whatsoever are required to achieve a professional-looking website.

You’ll get access to an intuitive interface where you can manage site settings, create blog posts, and install WordPress plugins:

You can also build and customize key web pages using the visual Block editor:

All blocks are fully responsive, so by default, they’ll look great across different screen sizes.

They also adhere to the Web Accessibility Coding Standard, so your content can be consumed by users with impairments and disabilities. If you find it difficult to use WordPress, there are tons of guides, tutorials, and online forums to help.

3. Cost-Effectiveness

Many businesses decide to build WordPress sites to keep development costs low. Since the source code is accessible, there’s no need to hire a professional developer, unless you want to build custom websites.

It’s more than possible for anyone to get to grips with the platform, even if you have to spend a bit of time reading documentation and tutorials. This eliminates the need to outsource tasks like web design, SEO, and content creation.

So how much does it cost to set up a WordPress website? The software is free, but you need to purchase web hosting and a domain name. You can find hosting providers that offer free domains and SSL certificates.

4. Secure Hosting Options

WordPress is generally secure, but a reliable hosting provider offers additional security features.

You need a web hosting service to store key website files and make your content publicly accessible. Some small business owners prefer shared hosting (which is the cheapest hosting option).

However, dedicated WordPress hosting solutions can be more cost-effective. For example, NameHero’s WordPress hosting plans offer a streamlined setup process, since WordPress comes pre-installed:

Not only that, but these services simplify website maintenance since they take care of updates and website backups (which are the first point of call if your website gets hacked).

Some hosts like NameHero also supply extra measures to keep WordPress secure, like a web application firewall and real-time malware scans.

On top of that, NameHero provides free domain names and SSL certificates with certain WordPress hosting plans. As a performance-focused service, you’ll also get built-in caching technology and super fast NVMe storage.

5. Customizable Themes

When you set up a WordPress website, you’ll need to choose a theme. These pre-made website designs give your small business website a professional look and feel.

There are tons of free themes available in the WordPress directory:

However, you can also purchase premium themes from third-parties. Every theme offers a unique combination of layouts, features, and functionalities.

The best WordPress themes are lightweight, SEO-optimized, and mobile-friendly. However, you should also be able to customize the designs using a visual builder (like the Block editor or page builder plugins). This way, you can change the colors, fonts, and other elements to match your brand identity.

6. Powerful Plugins

Most of the time, if you opt for a website builder that doesn’t offer essential functionality, you have to hire a developer.

But with WordPress, you can extend the base platform using plugins. As is the case with themes, there are free and premium plugins that might be useful for a small business.

For example, if you want to set up a storefront to sell physical or digital products, you can install WooCommerce:

Alternatively, you may wish to add neat contact forms to your pages. You could use WPForms to make it easy for potential customers to reach out.

If you’re launching a restaurant website, you may need to let people make reservations. Meanwhile, membership sites will need a plugin to manage members and provide premium content.

Many site owners use security plugins and SEO plugins, too. If you’re using a free plugin, you can browse options and install plugins directly within the WordPress dashboard.

7. Multi-User Access

By default, WordPress offers six user roles, which make it easy to control access and assign different permission levels. This means you can specify exactly what actions users can perform on your website.

Subscribers can only update their details and read your website content. On the other end of the spectrum are Administrators who get access to all files and can make site-wide changes.

This system makes WordPress ideal for small businesses with different departments or many team members. It’s also useful if you want to allow customers to create their own accounts to purchase items or memberships.

8. SEO-Friendliness

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of best practices for maximizing visibility in search engines. It helps you capture organic traffic, so you won’t need to rely solely on paid advertising.

WordPress is good for SEO since it offers sitemaps and meta tags. You’ll also get access to taxonomies and custom post types to improve discoverability.

On top of that, you can use SEO plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math. These let you create content around high-volume keywords. Plus, you can use caching plugins to accelerate content delivery times.

How to Create a WordPress Website for Small Business

As we have seen, WordPress is a great option for setting up a small business website.

However, if you want to speed up the time it takes to launch a website, you’ll need a powerful website builder like HeroBuilder:

Your business website gets hosted on NameHero’s blazing fast web servers. Plus, you can access free business email accounts with all plans.

HeroBuilder offers an instant site setup thanks to the power of AI. After you create an account, enter your website name, provide key details about your business, and define your primary goals:

For example, you may wish to collect email addresses, grow website traffic, or promote local businesses.

HeroBuilder then presents a tailored collection of pre-made themes:

Once you’ve chosen a template, you can select web pages like testimonials, FAQs, or a gallery to showcase successful projects.

After that, HeroBuilder generates your website with all the tools, styles, and content it needs. Your business website should open in the Block editor, where you can customize your site’s content:

You can also leverage AI tools to generate new content instantly.

From the dashboard, you can install a WordPress plugin, update site settings, create new blog posts, and more.

You can try HeroBuilder for free for up to four days. If you’re happy with it, you can upgrade to a premium account and access more features.

Conclusion

A small business website is essential for attracting customers and building a brand identity. While there are plenty of platforms to choose from, WordPress is the most cost-effective and gives you full ownership of your content.

Plus, it enables you to customize your website to suit your exact needs, both in terms of design or functionality. You can also opt for a secure hosting provider like NameHero to access a streamlined setup process and key security features.

If you’re in a hurry to launch your WordPress website, HeroBuilder can generate an entire site in minutes. The whole process is tailored to your unique goals and preferences. Get started for free today!