Building a WordPress website is a great way to set up an online business. WordPress is widely used and is one of the easiest services there is for building your site. However, there are some things that every single WordPress site simply must have if they are going to be successful.
A Quality, Modern Look and Feel
First and foremost, if you want your website to make money for you, then it needs to look decent. The easiest way to do this is with a quality page builder. A page builder is designed to replace the complicated HTML that was once required in order to create a website.
These kinds of products allow you to build your website visually. Some of the most popular page builders include:
• Beaver Builder
• Elementor
• Thrive Architect
• Divi
Most work in a similar manner, allowing you to create sections of your web page using graphical representations of whatever it is that you want on your website. While WordPress now includes its own page builder called Gutenberg, it is not as advanced or sophisticated as some of the other more mature page builders.
An Easy Way to Connect
Another important feature of any WordPress website is a way to connect with you. For example, you may want to include a contact form on your website and or a way to email you. It’s also possible to install a special plugin (an extra feature provided by a third party) that lets people automatically call you when they visit your website.
An Ecommerce Solution
Ultimately, unless it’s a hobby, your WordPress site needs to have a way to sell things. One of the easiest ways to do that is with a plugin called WooCommerce. This plugin was developed by the same team that created WordPress and it is extremely full-featured, providing for the ability to create an online store.
You will of course also need a reliable way to send people the products that they buy from you. While you may want to just head down to the Kalamazoo USPS and ship things, it’s also a good idea to find additional methods of shipping your goods.
SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It means getting your website noticed by Google so that it ranks within the top few spots when people search for a specific keyword. If you don’t manage to appear in these search results, you will struggle to make any sales whatsoever. The good news is that there are many ways to build quality backlinks (links pointing back to your website).
Security
Finally, your WordPress website must be secured against intruders and hackers. While WordPress itself is a fairly secure platform, you can never be too careful and that’s where plugins like WordFence and Sucuri come in. These kinds of plugins provide additional levels of security to harden your site against attacks.
You may also want to consider using a backup service to keep a copy of your site so it can be restored quickly in the event of a disaster. One of the best options for this is a plugin called UpdraftPlus. It is available as a freemium product, meaning there is a free version with a paid version which includes additional features.
