Business will live or die based on the success of their online presence. Customer interactions are driven increasingly by a variety of online touch points and ever-decreasingly by physical in-store or in-branch conversations. Websites are at the heart of a client’s business and the engine which powers all customer facing online interaction, as well as the mechanism through which digital marketers gather data and intelligence about their customers’ behaviours and habits. Modern websites need to balance great design, insightful content, UX, speed, security and so much more.
The opportunity for digital agencies is immense, but the pressure is on to get it right for clients the first time, every time. Sites must be scalable, easy-to-use and work as an engaging platform for publishing company content. Getting the CMS right is crucial.
Developers will often have preferred ‘go to’ platforms, but in such a fast-paced sector, there is no room for complacency and regular re-evaluation is important. Here we discuss why WordPress is the CMS of choice for businesses of all sizes.
#1 Proven success for businesses of all sizes
Twenty-six percent of the entire web is built on WordPress, that’s more than 74 million websites that have been created through the platform to date. And for all of the websites using a content management system (CMS), approximately 60 percent of those sites are powered by WordPress. Yet WordPress still battles the perception that it is not enterprise-grade, or enterprise-ready. This isn’t the case. Large-scale businesses such as UBER, Siemens, Hallmark and National Geographic all run on WordPress. This demonstrates that for businesses of any size, whether they are just starting out, or are a large global corporation, the platform is fully scalable to meet the demands of each.
#2 Flexible and secure
Agency life can be challenging. Managing multiple site builds for a wide portfolio of clients is not easy. However, flexibility and security are two unifying factors which all sites require. Agencies need to ensure they offer clients a website platform that can change and adapt as the business grows. But, potentially the biggest fear for businesses is a data breach, so ensuring security is a priority is crucial. The focus on security demonstrates why agencies should work with a WordPress partner that provides automatic upgrade features to help prevent cyberattacks. When combined with a managed WordPress hosting service, digital agencies can build a proven model to outsource even more diligent monitoring.
#3 Personalised
When designing a website for a client, it needs to resemble everything that their company is. It needs to be personalised to portray the brand that they care so deeply about. One of the greatest aspects about choosing a web platform is that, thanks to the vast developer communities which now exist, there are a host of plugins available which allow businesses to customise their site and develop its security. WordPress for example has over 43,000 plugins that extend the functionality of a website, from adding ecommerce capabilities, improving and maintaining SEO, keeping it secure and much more. The number of unique plugins which now exist allows agencies to build a unique website, adding and changing functionalities to suit the business as it grows and develops.
#4 Brands as publishers
A crucial aspect of any website is to promote and showcase the great information and content companies have to offer. Today, many brands are taking publishing into their own hands and looking to have direct relationships with their stakeholders. Agencies must encourage brands to bring their websites out of their IT department and into the hands of marketers and brand managers. The best corporate web strategies are those that empower knowledge specialists and content creators. By choosing a simple CMS, businesses can empower their employees to publish content themselves. This allows a greater diversity of content published, real time updating of stories and less reliance on one technical individual with the relevant expertise. The ease of use and flexibility of WordPress (rooted in its blogger origins) makes it a perfect choice for driving the ‘brands to publishers’ revolution.
Agencies must utilise the best CMS for clients, one that is scalable, easy-to-use and provides an engaging platform for promoting content. WordPress has proven itself as an effective and enterprise-grade platform, and should be the CMS of choice for all brands regardless of size.
