Bloggers, both professional and personal, have a large variety of choices for blogging platforms. Many of these are free. However, I prefer the downloaded/hosted version of WordPress for a variety of reasons, the biggest being how it excels in search engine optimization.
If you are new to business blogging, you may consult with professionals who will encourage you to have a separate blog platform developed just for your business or to go with an expensive small business blogging platform company. Don’t! WordPress not only has great customization features, it can also function as a website and once installed, it is easy for the average user to update the basics. No more paying $100/hr or more to change a date of an event on your website!
WordPress.org is different from WordPress.com (the second is free and does not require web-hosting, BUT also has few customization capabilities). If you have NO technical ability, do not try to build or install a WP blog yourself. However, you can have someone design and build one for you for less than $1000. Sure, you can get a website built for that, BUT you will have trouble making updates. This is where this software really shines for the unskilled owner. With a few training tips, you can add blog posts, images and video with ease.
Unlike most blogging platforms, WordPress has pages like a website. You can add an About Us page, an Events page, a featured products page or whatever fits with your business and YOU can do this and make the changes as needed.
WordPress is the software, but there are themes which are user-tools and designs to improve its functionality. I use Thesis and I know people who happily use Frugal. Both are good paid choices. There are tons of free choices as well. If you decide to build your own, I recommend these. If not, encourage your designer/developer to use one of them because the dashboard is understandable and, if you are interested in learning, you can make design changes yourself.
Business blogging and having a website are important components of the online aspect of your small business. WordPress can function as both and is easy to learn and affordable. If you have a WPsite, let us know in the comments section below.
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