WordPress Design Services
WordPress is a popular (and free) open source content management system, or ‘CMS‘, that allows websites to be built with a pre-designed default web template, custom web template, or professionally designed template which can be easily installed by a click of a button in the back-end administration system. While initial default themes which are included with WordPress are free, the majority of premium WordPress themes require purchasing a license to use them. Additionally, in most cases, any template used will require, at minimum, a few customization changes to achieve the desired look and feel (or finishing touches) to make the site complete, such as your own logo.
Although WordPress is a free content management solution, you will likely encounter fees for someone to install it on a web hosting account or set-it-up and configure it all for you, but starting with a frame or foundation will save time and money, especially if you were considering building something from scratch.
Another very popular reason hundreds of thousands of sites are built with WordPress is due to its powerful plugin system which allows a wide range of functions and features to be easily installed into the site which creates programmatic functions such as calendars, photo galleries, shopping carts and all sorts of complex features, which avoids having to create custom applications or, in some cases, having to to hire a computer programmer to custom build programming functions. With thousands of available plugins, some free and some premium paid-for plugins, WordPress sites allow many of the complex functions websites require to meet the needs of the business behind the site. Again, a simple photo gallery could be a costly add on if you had to hire a web designer or programmer to build one; a plugin allows the site owners to add a photo gallery for free, or if a super feature-packed gallery required, a free gallery plugin will usually offer premium functions and/or features for a small premium upgrade fee.
The many features, functions and plugins available for WordPress has made it one of the most popular website software suites available on the Internet, and remember, for the most part it is free to use, download and install on a web hosting server. Few website software programs and/or content management systems can compete with the features and functionality of WordPress. There are even highly complex plugins for site security and to prevent hackers from compromising your WordPress site and these should always be installed as WordPress is so popular that many hackers look around for vulnerable WordPress sites to compromise them. This is also why when sites are using WordPress any security updates to the system and/or any associated plugins should be processed immediately.
At Internet Marketing Services Inc., when we are building a website for a new or current client, unless there is an objection to using WordPress, if any functionality on the site will be required, WordPress is usually the best platform we choose to get a new web design done. Added benefits to be considered are search engines and their familiarity with WordPress. Search engines such as Google have no problem crawling and indexing WordPress sites and there are even highly advanced SEO plugins which can be used to get most of your search engine optimization done, again, without hiring someone separate for that too. As search engines come in contact with WordPress CMS sites every day, search engines have to come to rely on its common crawling tools such as sitemaps, rich-snippet data, and general architectural structure; items search engines are extremely accustomed to having to comprehend due to its wide use. For instance, there are 75,000,000 websites running WordPress which means search engines are crawling and indexing WordPress sites every day, and probably every minute.
If you have chosen your web designer to use WordPress the first step would be to look around and see if there are any free or paid templates you like. There are thousands of web templates available and hundreds of template-purchasing services that allow you to pick out a general ‘look and feel’ for the design of your site. Three popular sites to search are below.
- https://wordpress.org/themes/browse/featured/
- https://themeforest.net/category/wordpress
- https://elements.envato.com/wordpress/themes
This process will remove most of the back-and-forth design work for both you and your web designer by coming up with a basic look, feel, shape and layout for the site. Once you have found a responsive mobile-friendly WordPress theme, just show it to your web designer and tell them to build your site on WordPress and to use that theme. After it is installed onto a web hosting account and the theme is installed, you can them implement any final customization changes and plugins to make your website look and do exactly what you need out of your site.
Feel free to request more information or call us right now at 561-370-7366 for a free strategic consultation.