How to Integrate WordPress into Your Website
A few years back, blogging wasn’t even a thing. People simply didn’t have the time to sit down and write an article every day. Thanks to platforms like WordPress that allow for content to be published quickly and in large quantities, blogging has become a popular and essential part of anyone’s website. However, if you’re still not convinced why you should be integrating WordPress into your site, here are just a few reasons why you should:
1. SEO Benefits
Anyone who owns a website knows how important it is to have a solid search engine optimization strategy in place. With so much competition in the online space, it’s essential that you develop a plan and follow through on all of its steps if you want to ensure that your site is brought to the top of search engines like Google and Bing (and of course, your blog site!).
If you’ve ever read an article written by an SEO professional, you’ll know exactly what they mean when they say that blogging can contribute to your SEO strategy. Since SEO is all about making money from organic traffic, having a steady stream of high-quality content regularly published throughout your site is the best way to ensure that your site is found when potential customers search for your products.
2. Content Is King
If there’s one thing that everyone can agree upon, it’s that content is definitely king in the world of online marketing. Whether you’re selling food, clothing, or technology products online, without content you don’t have a website. The SEO strategy behind this is simple: if you want to rank well in Google, make sure that you have a steady stream of high-quality content regularly published on your site. If you want to learn more, read this blog post from Rand Fishkin, founder of SEER Interactive.
3. E-Commerce Functionality
If your site offers at least a small amount of product for sale online, you can bet that it will grow in popularity quickly. Thanks to the meteoric rise of platforms like Shopify, which allow for an e-commerce storefront to be integrated into a website, having a dedicated e-commerce section is now an essential part of any site. Additionally, with the various tax implications that come with selling online, it’s important that you get the e-commerce functionality correct on your site.
4. Cross-platform Integration
More and more people are purchasing items and/or using products while on the move. Thanks to devices like the iPhone and the Google Android, having a mobile-friendly website is also a must if you want to ensure that your site can be accessed from almost any device. When trying to decide which platform to use for your website, you need to bear in mind that not all phones or tablets are created equal. If you want your site to reach its full potential, integrate and test across all major platforms.
5. Marketing Channels
With so much competition in the world of digital marketing, it’s essential that you establish yourself as an expert in your industry. One of the best ways to do this is through consistent and extensive blogging. Since SEO is all about gathering as much quality backlinks as possible, integrating a blog into your site can help establish you as an expert in your industry and allow for your blog to be used as a tool for SEO.
Blogging is an excellent way to gain credibility with potential customers due to its human nature. People love to follow the work of an expert so that they can learn more and become more like this expert. A simple way to integrate an expert blog into your website is to guest blog for other websites in your industry. Since blogging is a form of content that is constantly updated, this is a great way to ensure that your blog always has fresh content. Additionally, by regularly contributing to industry publications, you can show that you’re an expert in your industry and help establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
6. Social Media Integration
If you’ve got at least a small social media following on your own account, you know that content shared on social media is one of the best ways to gain credibility with customers. Since your social media following will most likely consist of your existing customers, creating content that appeals to them is the best way to establish yourself as an expert in your industry.
To get started, simply identify a target audience on your social media accounts and start sharing content that will appeal to them. When you find a topic that you feel is of interest to your audience, create a short blog post around it and schedule it to publish. Doing this will not only establish you as an expert in your industry, but it will also allow you to continue to engage with your audience on a regular basis.
7. Mobile-friendliness
Since more and more people are purchasing items and using products while on the go, it’s essential that your site is mobile-friendly. When trying to decide what platform to use for your website, opt for one that is mobile-first
When developing a mobile-friendly website, make sure to use a mobile-first approach, which starts with the mobile version of your site and then progressively enhances the experience for users browsing on smaller devices. From there, you can continue to develop a fully-fledged desktop version.
8. Performance
While we’re on the topic of performance, it’s important to mention that speed is essential when it comes to creating a user-friendly and engaging experience for your website visitors. When it comes to mobile performance, small devices have a much smaller screen, which means that they’re accessing your site on a phone while on a slow network or during peak hours when everyone is trying to use the phone for other things.
To ensure that your site doesn’t suffer during these times, develop a content delivery plan. This will help you identify where and when content is published so that it can be accessed by as many people as possible during peak hours. Additionally, using a caching plugin like W3 Total Cache is a great way to improve the speed of your site. Since caching is a process where a copy is stored locally so that future requests for this information can be served faster, using a caching plugin is the best way to ensure that your site performs well during peak hours.
9. Security
Although we live in a time where digital security isn’t a frequent topic of conversation, it’s still important to keep it in mind. To best protect your site from malicious attacks, you need to implement a strong password policy and encryption. Additionally, make sure to regularly update your plugins and check for any suspicious activity on your site.
Last but not least, you need to maintain and monitor the reputation of your site. Building a following on social media is one thing, but establishing yourself as an expert in your industry is a whole other ballgame. To do this, you need to regularly monitor your site for spam, malware, and other malicious activity.
Hopefully, this post gave you enough good reasons to consider integrating and using WordPress on your own site. Of course, there are many other platforms like Shopify that allow for an e-commerce store to be integrated into a website, so it’s important to do your research before making a decision.