336 – How to Build a Business Website with WordPress

Announcements WordPress 4.8 Targeted Release AffiliateWP Recurring Referrals WooConf 2017 WordPress Stats Is there a plugin for that? With more than 48,000 plugins in the WordPress repository, it’s hard to find the perfect one. Each week, I will highlight an interesting plugin form the repository. For more great plugins, download my 50 Most Useful Plugins eBook. The Any Posts Widget plugin provides a widget where you can choose any post to display quickly with drag and drop ordering. How to Build a Business Website with WordPress If you are just getting started, you’ll need to decide between WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress. For simple WordPress business sites, I think WordPress.com is a great option. Advantages of WordPress.com – Start for virtually free – No maintenance / updates – Site can handle all types of traffic – Knowledgeable Automattic Happiness Engineers Disadvantages of WordPress.com – No plugins / custom themes – Some of the design features are locked out unless a subscription is purchased Advantages of self-hosted WordPress sites – Custom themes / templates – Add plugins and custom code Disadvantages of self-hosted WordPress sites – You have to maintain everything – Things can break / hosting can go down – More likely to get hacked Once you choose the right option for this business site, then you’ll need to do the following: Choose a theme Add navigation/menus (and create appropriate pages) Make a privacy and terms page Add a contact form (most likely need a plugin for self-hosted) Install Google Analytics (WordPress.com need to upgrade to the business plan) Install any other WordPress plugins (self-hosted only) Customize widgets Block spam (self-hosted only) Automated backups (self-hosted only) Create content for pages and a blog post or two Add WordPress security (self-hosted only) Social icons / sharing buttons Add WordPress SEO (self-hosted only) Start an email list Thank You! Thank you to those who use my affiliate links. As you know I make a small commission when someone uses my link and I want to say thank you to the following people. For all my recommended resources, go to my Resources Page View on YourWebsiteEngineer.com