Does the idea of creating and managing a website for business scare you? If yes, then WordPress development is the ideal solution for you. Hire WordPress developers and they will create unique business website and blogs which are easy to manage. Most small and medium businesses are skeptical about managing a website as they think this needs technical know-how. With the advent of WordPress the market leader in Content Management Systems, developing and managing websites have become child’s play.

WordPress is used by large corporations as well as smaller businesses to manage their blogs and websites. Some of the big names include Yahoo blog, eBay blog, Wall Street Journal and Sony Corporations are some of the big names, which are using WordPress in their day to day business. Add to this millions of other businesses using WordPress development services, this becomes a cult tool for web development.

Throughout the world, there are many offshore development centers, which offer WordPress services for small as well as large enterprises. You can easily outsource your development requirements to these centers and get websites and blogs developed at competitive prices. These offshore development centers hire expert WordPress developers who work on your custom development projects.

Things to Look For In WordPress Development Services

• If you can go through a reference, it will be the ideal way of hiring WordPress programmers. Ask your friends and colleagues for such references, doing this you will be led to professional companies delivering quality work.
• Look for the company’s portfolio while hiring WordPress development services. You need to make sure that the team has handled projects of your nature in the past. There are several companies, which make tall claims but fail to deliver results. A portfolio will give you an impression of the kind of work they do.
• Interview the team directly before you outsource your job. This is very important as the output will depend on the skills of the individual developer more than anything else. Ask them to explain their plan in detail and not narrate technical terms, which may sound Greek to you.
• Make sure the company you hire for development provides support after development. This is very important as even the most well developed blogs and websites crop up some issues initially. Also, check out the kind of support they provide as in chats, phone calls, email etc.
• Do a market research on the kind of fees these companies charge you for your development. Compare the prices of a few companies before settling on one. Fix a budget and stick to it while outsourcing your projects. Some companies might offer unbelievably low prices and the best thing to do is avoid them as you might be delivered unprofessional work.

These tips kept in mind will help you in hiring companies offering best WordPress development services, and help you in having unique websites and blogs and for such services, visit http://www.evontech.com/wordpress-development.html.

WordPress is widely used by bloggers these days because it is super easy to use and it is free. Many of the small businesses these days use WordPress too for reaching out to a larger group of people. It is beneficial for the people who just don’t have enough time or money to own a website. Or, if you can spend a little money, you can easily get a domain name of your choice.

Let’s take a look as to why you should be using WordPress.

• It is Open Source. WordPress is self-hosted therefore there are no additional costs associated with downloading or upgrading. There are thousands of plugins available to install.

• It is highly customisable. One of the reasons why WordPress is mostly preferred is because it allows designers and developers to create and modify layouts. This flexible framework is definitely a big advantage.

• Designed for everyone. WordPress is designed for everyone and not just for the developers. It was developed by keeping in mind that everyone would be using it. And not every blogger is tech savvy. It is very easy to use and then there are many online written manuals available for you to easily learn how to use WordPress.

• It has lower maintenance cost. If you ever want to further customise or develop your website, it is relatively easier to find designers or developers for WordPress than others.

• WordPress is Search Engine friendly. WordPress was made to be Search Engine friendly. So, it automatically solves a lot of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) issues.

• WordPress is popular. Considering all the features that WordPress provides and how easy it is to use, there’s no doubt that it is one of the most popular web publishing systems. There are thousands of professional quality themes and plugins available making it popular amongst web designers and bloggers.

• WordPress is mobile web friendly too. There has been a major increase in the number of people surfing the Internet through smartphones and tablets. It’s not surprising as almost everyone owns a smartphone these days. Many WordPress themes are designed to be mobile friendly thereby making your website more user-friendly as readers won’t be challenged to use the website on their smartphone.

Considering all the reasons above, WordPress is definitely one of the best web publishing systems to use. No doubt it is the most used one too. It is one of the important things to remember.

WordPress is software code that will make you look like an expert web developer. Once installed the software will allow you to build and maintain a website or blog with ease. It was first created to make it easy to set up a blog.

Over the years programmers have extended and improved its capabilities, making it a tool for developing more than just blogs. In order to use WordPress it must be installed on your host server.

Here is a list of reasons that you should be using WordPress.

1) It's Free

What can possibly be better that getting something for free? Not only is the software free, but you can get all sorts of add-ons that will enhance the appearance and functionality of your web site.

2) WordPress has pre-made designs to use

You don't even have to think about what you want your new site to look like. Finding a great looking WordPress theme is easy since there are thousands of template themes to choose from. Once you upload your theme 75% of the design step is done.

3) No special web editing software needed

This is great. After you log onto your site you use only your browser to create and edit new web pages or your blog. You do not have to learn HTML or other code like java or CSS. The WordPress editing interface is very easy to use. It works a lot like simple word-processing software.

4) Fast posting, updating and comment management

The blogging features in WordPress allow you to update your website / blog frequently, to receive and respond to comments from your readers, and to allow others to subscribe to your site content using RSS.

5) Plug-in

Plug-in are add-ons or snap-on mini programs that give you the ease and flexibility to add different features and appearances to your website. What you would do is install the plug-in you want to use and then just configure it within your WordPress dashboard. Some examples of a plug-in would be adding a Facebook visitor button to your site. Another would be a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plug-in that would allow you to add keyword tags to your posts.

If you are new to website building I would highly recommend that you choose WordPress for building your first website.

WordPress, According to Content Managers

• WordPress is simple and user-friendly.
• Since this is the first CMS I have ever used, I don't think that there is another platform, which is easier to use.
• WordPress CMS is simple to use. Though I faced a number of difficulties while using it, I was able to solve them.
• When it comes to bigger sites, it is sometimes hard to search for the page I want to edit.
• In the beginning, it felt a little disorganized. However, I've learned to love it after a couple of hours of using it.
• It is logical for anyone to manage.
• Since it is an open source platform, the client will find it safe to develop on WordPress. It also allows you to change the developer when you want to.
• Even without any technical background, I was able to create my own WordPress site all by myself and I love it.
• It is Search Engine Optimization friendly!

WordPress According to Developers

• WordPress has been in existence for more than a decade and it continuous to improve through the years while remaining very simple.
• Though I like the updates from time to time, security is still a major issue.
• WordPress CMS is flexible enough to develop anything on it, particularly to meet the client's needs and preference.
• It is simple and easy to follow. After learning the basics, you can do anything.
• It allows you to use the existing modules or create new ones.
• It is easy to find materials and tutorials about WordPress on the Internet, so there is an answer for all your questions.
• It supports various languages.
• It is a lot easier to use WordPress than Drupal or Joomla.
• While it is currently the best of its kind, there is always room for improvements.
• You can include eCommerce modules on WordPress and market your products on the web.

Conclusion

According to the feedback of both content managers and developers, WordPress is generally simple to use and develop on. For this reason, it is popular among many users. While this is a good CMS for SMEs, larger brands and websites may opt for a customized platform.

It is very affordable to own a WordPress site. It is easy to make one all by yourself and utilize responsive WP Themes that are simple to develop on. It is less time-consuming and only needs a small investment. Also, you could make use of the WordPress shopping chart to sell your products on the web without the need for another CMS. When you start using it, you will continue to go on. If you plan on trying WordPress, I highly recommend it.

In the end, it is not important which CMS you decide upon, whether you are using WordPress or another. What matters is how you make it transform visitors into customers. Consider the digital marketing ABC when you are building a website: create a website that is professional, develop targeted traffic via SEO, Social Media, PPC, and convert the traffic into customers.

Whenever we start discussing the CMS's for designing and developing a website, we cannot neglect the presence of WordPress. WordPress is one of the most powerful CMS platforms that allow you to build websites for different users. Such is the dominance of WordPress that millions of websites have been developed by it. No other CMS can match the reliability and flexibility that WordPress provides.

From the above paragraph, it is clear that WordPress provides a great platform for web development. So, if web development is on your mind then sooner or later you would feel the need of hiring a WordPress developer. When you start looking out for a developer for your website, then there will be two broad choices that you will have to face. One is that of a Freelancer whereas the other is an agency. Regardless of whatever choice you make, either of two would work at a cost for you.

Let's make a brief comparison of the cost of hiring, between a freelancer and an agency.

Freelancer Rates: Hourly rate of a freelance for WordPress development would range from $ 25- $ 40 (for a beginner freelancer) to $ 175 – $ 400 (specialist freelancer). The cost of hiring here totally depends on the skill level that is possessed by the freelancer.

Agency Rates: In the case of an agency, the hourly rate would range from $ 50- $ 75 (small market agency) to $ 200- $ 275 (large market bests).

WordPress is not only about designing and developing; it also demands maintenance services as it offers regular updates. These will also be included in the cost. So, the total cost of WordPress Developer would roughly amount to $ 500- $ 2500 + for designing a basic WordPress website. However, WordPress Website Development Cost usually depends on location and market.

There are broadly two types of WordPress developers which you will come across. One is the Bad developers and the other is the good developers. The bad developers are those which will overcharge you, not work at their full potential and thus not deliver the desired product to you. Whereas, the good developers will deliver you more than what was expected from them but will work for you at a premium price.

After comparing the two types of developers one point is clear that the quality of work which the developer delivers is the primary requirement that you must have from a developer. The cost of hiring is an important aspect but where the quality of work is taken into consideration then it also becomes secondary. Whether a developer is worth a premium price tag must be decided on the basis of the expertise level and past work that has been done by the developer.

Conclusion

From the above article is it clear that nothing concrete can be said about the cost of hiring a WordPress developer. You should give importance to the project requirements first and then choose a developer which is best suited for the role. If you are new in this business, then calculated risks must be taken, so that if the developer doesn't deliver the desired product, you can limit the losses that would incur as a result of it. WordPress Website Development Cost usually depends on location and market.

When it comes to choosing a CMS, I am often asked which is better – Joomla or WordPress. Though they are both uniquely and powerfully different, they have many similarities as well. Both Joomla and WordPress are open source software, which allows them to be easily customized to suit your needs, it often becomes a daunting task to decide which one is better to use. So, we bring you a comparison between both Joomla and WordPress to help you make an informed decision:

Basic function:

In WordPress: WordPress is a website engine, which allows the entire work installing and running the system, as well as publishing basic content a breeze.

In Joomla: Joomla is for managing and publishing a bouquet of different content types, in diverse ways.

Primary use:

In WordPress: Though it began as a blogging tool, it has evolved into a full-fledged CMS. You can check the blogs of the NY Times to get a peek into what WordPress can do. However, WordPress still caters mostly to newbies.

In Joomla: It caters to end users, developers and designers alike.

Estimated number of users:

In WordPress: There are 54,971,377 WordPress sites in the world. Over 333 million people view more than 2.5 billion pages each month. WordPress.com users produce about 500,000 new posts and 400,000 new comments on an average day.

In Joomla: As of March 2012, Joomla has been downloaded over 30 million times. It is believed to be the second most used CMS after WordPress.

Expansion plugins vs. extensions:

In WordPress: There are over 20,951 WordPress Plugins in the directory, which have been downloaded 338,446,638 times and counting.

In Joomla: Joomla has 3 types of extensions: Components, Modules, Plugins. A specific function is handled by each of these extensions. As per the Joomla! Extensions Directory, 10019 extensions have been served to the community.

Expansion themes vs.templates:

In WordPress: There are thousands of WordPress themes – some free, some paid. Free Themes Directory of WordPress lists 1,580 themes, which a user can download at no cost.

In Joomla: Though there isn't any central directory where templates are stored, it's estimated that more than 8,000 templates (counting both free and commercial templates) exist.

Popular Businesses Using the CMS:

In WordPress:
Yahoo! (Internet Search)
PlayStation Blog (Video game blog)
eBay (Online Auction Shopping)
Boise State (Educational)
Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs (Celebrity)

In Joomla:
MTV Networks Quizilla (Social networking)
IHOP (Restaurant chain)
Harvard University (Educational)
– Citibank (Financial institution intranet)
– The Green Maven (Eco-resources)
– Outdoor Photographer (Magazine)
– Play Shakespeare.com (Cultural)
– Senso Interiors (Furniture design)
– Thousands of Government Agencies around the world

Security:

In WordPress: The availability of several security plugins for WordPress has made the task of managing your CMS's security simpler. The WordPress tools can search for various updates of core files and plug-ins installed, and patch them automatically, thus making the administrator's job even simpler. You can enhance security further by renaming the administrative account from the default admin through MYSQL command-line client. Features like password protection, restricting and changing file permissions, managing separate databases, firewall plugins etc help in tightening the overall WordPress security.

In Joomla: The core code of Joomla, built on MySQL and PHP is considered largely secure and safe.

User base and support:

In WordPress: Though it has a loyal user base, WordPress forums aren't as active as that of Joomla.

In Joomla: A huge user base and a high level of activity on the Joomla forum.

Size of the installed CMS:

In WordPress: Around 10MB on the server.

In Joomla: Joomla installs at about 30MB, while 100 MB space can be taken by a small working site.

SEO:

In WordPress: WordPress has adjustable plugins, which you can help improve your ranking.

In Joomla: You can get 100% perfect metadata and SEF URLs if you have your website setup properly. However, tables in the layout scheme pose a problem.

Ideal for:

In WordPress: Small 5-10 page simple sites up to large, expansive sites.

In Joomla: Websites that can be expanded to include a multitude of functionality.

To understand which are the best WordPress Plugins for your website you first need to understand what a Plug-ins are.

If you were a website developer some years ago you would need to be proficient at a number of coding languages in order to add functions to your website. If you think of something simple like adding a social button to your site like Twitter for example. The web developer would need to write a piece of code or a link to Twitter and add an image on all the pages.

With the introduction of WordPress and its many associated Plug-ins, this is no longer the case. All a developer or site builder needs to do now is search for a Plug-in and install it with the click of a button.

Why Do We Need WordPress Plugins?

We can’t truly understand why we need plugins until we’ve planned our site and understood what we want from our site. When we have a good idea of the functions on the site requires, we can begin to understand are the best WordPress Plugins for its needs.

What Do WordPress Plugins Do?

To understand WordPress Plugins, is to understand that there’s nothing they cannot do. WordPress.org is an open source project meaning anyone can produce any Plug-in they wish. This means for every problem with a WordPress website, there is a solution in the form of a Plug-in. Many plugins are used for data capture and SEO. We will take at look at some of the best SEO WordPress plugin shortly because it’s on the list.

Which WordPress Plugins Do I need?

The first thing to do here is please, please never have more than one Plugin doing the same job. If you do, only failure will follow.

Secondly, the Akismet anti-spam plugin which is by now the best know Plugin is no longer free, so I suggest using WP-spam shield or SI CAPTCHA anti-spam.

So What Are The Best WordPress Plugins, And Which Ones Do I Need?

For this WordPress Plugin tutorial, I am going to outline what I believe to be the minimum requirements to run WordPress website safely and successfully, starting with a list of WordPress plugins and a description of the function.

So, let’s get started with our list.

1. All in one SEO Pack

2. Google XML Sitemaps

3. Hide Title

4. Mail Subscribe List

5. Pretty Links

6. SEO Smart Links

7. SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam

8. Sociable

9. WP Fastest Cache

10. WP Spam shield

11. Table Maker

12. Contact Form 7 + Download Monitor + Email Before Download

Notice that number 12 contains 3 plugins which I want to talk about as a whole because these are used together in order to create a subscription before download function to your site.

Also, as a starting note, it’s always wise to run on as few plugins as possible due to the recourses these plugins use. Don’t start to panic, it’s just something to consider when you’re adding your plugins because the more you install, the more resources that will be used. This could end up affecting the efficiency of the site, such as loading speeds.

All In One SEO Pack.

The all in one SEO pack does what it says on the tin. One of the best SEO WordPress plugin ever! Essentially, it installs an interface that allows you to configure your site SEO, so the search engine can easily make sense of your content.

It includes all these options

*XML Sitemap support – submit your sitemap to Google and Bing and improve your SEO

*Google Analytics support

*Support for SEO on Custom Post Types

*Fine tune Page Navigational Links

*Built-in API so other plugins/themes can access and extend functionality

*ONLY free plugin to provide SEO Integration for e-Commerce sites, including WooCommerce

*Nonce Security built into All in One SEO Pack

*Support for CMS-style WordPress installations

*Automatically optimizes your titles for Google and other search engines

*Generates META tags automatically

*Avoids the typical duplicate content found on WordPress blogs

For beginners, you don’t even have to look at the options, it works out-of-the-box. Just install.

For advanced users, you can fine-tune everything to optimize your SEO

Google XML Sitemaps.

The Google XML sitemap plugin will generate an XML sitemap to help search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to better index your blog. This sitemap describes your site to the crawlers sent out by the search engines, meaning those search engines understand your pages and can serve these pages to people looking for your content.

The plugin supports all kinds of WordPress generated pages and custom URLs, and notifies all major search engines every time you create a new post or page.

This plugin has been around for 9 years and highly rated as a plugin providing a complete XML sitemap for search engines without slowing your site down. so clearly one of the best WordPress plugins in my view.

Hide Title.

This is a simple plugin that you will appreciate once you start creating pages and posts. If your page has the same name as you content title, then this will appear twice at the top of your page. What if you wanted you page name and content title to be the same but only show once at the top of the page. This plugin allows you to hide the page name to give you a single view.

Mail Subscribe List

If you plan to create a mailing list then a subscriber mailing list will be essential for you.

Visitors are allowed to enter their name and email address on your website and the details are stored and available to view and modify. The data capture can be added to your WordPress site as a widget or added to a page using a shortcut code.

Advanced features include 3rd party integration, mass emailing and double opt-in options to qualify your leads.

Clever coding means this plugin works with all email service providers as well as allowing the exportation of the mailing list. The customization is also impressive including all the following areas that can be displayed as you prefer.

“prepend” -> Adds a paragraph of text just inside the top of the form.

“showname” -> If true, this with show the name label and input field for capturing the users name.

“nametxt” -> Text that is displayed to the left of the name input field.

“nameholder” -> Text that is displayed inside the name input box as a place holder.

“emailtxt” -> Text that is displayed to the left of the email input field.

“emailholder” -> Text that is displayed inside the email input box as a place holder.

“showsubmit” -> If true, this with show the submit button, return required to submit form.

“submittxt” -> Text/value that will be displayed on the form submit button.

“jsthanks” -> If true, this will display a JavaScript Alert Thank You message instead of a paragraph above the form.

“thankyou” -> Thank you message that will be displayed when someone subscribes. (Will not show if blank)

The list of customization are longer than this article allows, but I think you get the idea of just how versatile this plugin really is.

Pretty Links.

Pretty Link, is a must have plugin for any affiliate marketer in order to protect their affiliate links, and also makes their readers feel better about navigating to product pages.

A typical affiliate link may look something like this.

mywebsite.com/?@=?00006454543/img-4988c?-8976756thef?-/hojbv599977ee444=0

As you can see it is not very attractive and some people do not want to click on such a link, but what if you could change that link to something like this

mywebsite.com/MyProductOffer

Instantly, it’s more friendly and more descriptive, and all you need to do was enter your original URL into Pretty Link and add the link name of your choice and click a button.

In addition to cleaning up your links and protecting potentially valuable affiliate links being stolen, Pretty Link can also track and report on the use of your links. Without a doubt one of the best WordPress plugins out there.

SEO Smart Links.

This is another amazing SEO WordPress plugin, helping you create internal links between your pages and posts, which in turns tells the search engine crawlers how important certain page are, and really helps with your SEO.

The SEO Smart Links can automatically link keywords and phrases in your posts and comments with corresponding posts, pages transparently.

SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam.

Whenever a reader leaves a comment on your post they will need to enter CAPTCHA anti-spam before submitting.

This is to prevent to spam attacks that that fill your comment intray within hours.

Features include:

*Configure from Admin panel

*Valid HTML

*Allows Trackbacks and Pingbacks.

*Setting to hide the CAPTCHA from logged in users and or admins

*Setting to show the CAPTCHA on the forms for comments, registration, lost password, login, or all.

Sociable.

Sociable gives you the option to add multiple social buttons to your site.

It is a feature-packed plugin allowing a degree of customization so you can select and customize features like text, color, and length in order to ensure visitors have a great Sociable Experience.

This is a free Plug-in with over 1.5 million downloads so far which is a testament to its abilities and popularity as one of the best WordPress plugins

WP Fastest Cache.

Every time a web page is opened by a user, both the server the website it’s on, and the computer viewing the website utilizes resources such as CPU, Memory. When pages are rendered, PHP and MySQL are used on the server taking up precious resources. The more users or visitors the more resources used

This plugin helps the process along by creating static HTML files from your dynamic WordPress site, meaning fewer resources are used and load times are reduced.

The setup is simple. You don’t need to modify the .htacces file. It will be modified automatically.

WP Spamshield.

This is WordPress anti-spam protection with NO CAPTCHAs to challenge visitors, working instead, silently in the background.

Most spam hitting a site originates from bots sent out by the spammers, but there’s still quite a lot sent by real humans too. This plugin works like a firewall to ensure that your commenters are in fact, human, but also that those humans aren’t spamming you.

It’s a powerful and user-friendly WordPress anti-spam plugin that eliminates comment spam & registration spam.

Table Maker.

This is a very simple Plugin to use that helps you to create different comparison tables. It has functions which allow you to use plugins to create different types of tables, comparison, TOP, specification tables, etc.

Features:

• Responsive option (stacks)

• Predefined icons

• Rows or Cols lines

• Option to mark first column for specification labels

• Option to add labels and featured row and cols

• Works with shortcodes

• Option to add subheaders

• Option to choose color of header

• Great and simple design

• Option to upload and use images

• Optional center aligning

• Export tables to XML. Import ones from XML/CSV

Contact Form 7 + Download Monitor + Email Before Download

Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7 is another simple plugin that allows you to add a contact form to a page or post with a Short Code. You can create multiple contact forms that can be customized with simple markup. Should you wish to use it, the plugin also supports CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.

Download Monitor

If you want to offer downloadable file this plugin is for you. Download Monitor provides an interface for uploading and downloading so you can insert download links into post and pages.

Email Before Download

Presents your readers with a form where they submit information, such as name and email address before allowing them to download a file. This integrates with the Contact Form 7 and Download Monitor plugins, allowing you to create any form you like and manage your file downloads.

Not only that, you can also export the list of users that downloaded files and create your contact/leads list.

FINAL THOUGHTS

WordPress Websites with WordPress Plugins are now the de facto route to website ownership for millions of individuals and small companies alike. The versatility and ease of creating the sites and adding functionality for free and without knowledge or experience of coding means owning and running a money making websites is now truly democratic.

Now, anyone with an idea and the dedication can create and run an online business.

Add to this, the ability to install SEO and mobile friendly themes and it makes WordPress websites the only viable option for those on a budget and limited experience.

When you need to strike a balance between a number of things like quality, functionality and cost, you automatically choose the golden mean that could give you a little bit of everything! A tool like WordPress offers businesses with just the right mix of features, functionality and the final quality. With rich built in features and numerous plug-ins to enhance the functionality, WordPress is today’s most preferred CMS for rapid development and deployment of websites for both large and small businesses.

Here’s what makes WordPress the most preferred choice for website development today:

Quick and simple installation

WordPress is easy to begin with. The installation is simple and more importantly quick. All you need to do is enter some basic information and you are good to go! You can either do a full installation or a customized one.

Website themes

WordPress comes with a few built in themes, you can directly use these themes to quickly create your website. Well, if you wish to, you can also customize these themes and make them more suitable for your business. Website themes are available directly from WordPress or are provided by third party. You can easily tailor them to use your business branding colours and your strategies.

Website functionality

WordPress includes rich built in features. It is a complete content management system that allows you to easily and efficiently manage and update web pages and blogs. You can efficiently update, change or delete content and images within a few clicks and without too much technical support from developers. It also facilitates addition and deletion of features by adding or removing plug-ins – these plug-ins ensure that your business gets extended functionality to further your strategic goals.

Open source

WordPress is open source. It is built with PHP. It also means that it is available under the general license and can be used without purchasing a separate license. The source code is available too, which means that a WordPress developer can easily take a look at the code, develop it further and build creatively customized web apps. The developers incur no costs at the beginning and hence can deliver the apps to customers at a very affordable rate.

Self updating

WordPress is self updating which means that it automatically discovers that your installation is of an older version and provides you with a message saying that you need to upgrade. Upgrades are available for both the basic installation or for individual plug-ins. All you need to do is to click on the link that is available and your WordPress will be automatically updated.

It is a common understanding that WordPress is a blogging platform. But, it has evolved over the years into a very futuristic platform that not only helps create amazing blog sites, but also powers full fledged websites with all the features that are required for businesses and large enterprises.

While developing websites with WordPress, you have option to choose from thousands of open source and paid themes. Each WordPress theme enables you to design the user interface of the website without writing longer lines of code. You can take advantage of the front-end styling components – page layout, font styling, graphics, colours and widget location – to control the look of your website and content presentation across various browsers. But you must remember that WordPress has a much larger worldwide market share than other content management systems. A single theme may be used by a large number of websites. Hence, there are always chances that a theme may look your website identical to several other websites. You need to focus on a number of do’s and don’ts while selecting and using WordPress Themes.

Do’s

Do Choose the Right Theme

In comparison to other content management systems, WordPress provided a higher number of free themes. Hence, you can have option to choose from many free and paid WordPress themes. But a single theme may not meet the requirements of all websites. While comparing the themes, you must keep in mind the website’s look and content presentation. It is also a great idea to try out multiple themes to decide the WordPress theme that complements your website’s needs precisely.

Do Decide the Key Features

You can easily pick the right theme for your website by defining its colours, width, columns, navigation option, and other important features. Likewise, you also need to decide the nature and purpose of the website. When the theme complements the precise needs of the website, it becomes easier for you to avoid customizations and modifications. Also, you can add specific functionality to the website without using additional plug-ins. However, you can always opt for themes that allow you to make changes to its key components like layout, width and column spacing through control panel.

Do Opt for Simple and Lightweight Themes

The loading speed of your website will affect its user experience and search engine visibility directly. You must not affect the speed of your website by choosing WordPress themes that are feature-heavy or use large files like background images and videos. Likewise, you need to opt for a theme that has been updated on a regular basis to enhance website speed based on its high quality source code. You can easily check the loading speed of the website with a specific theme by using a number of online tools.

Do Consider Using Paid Themes

Many developers opt for free WordPress themes to save money. But you can always reap a number of benefits – reliable codebase and technical support – by investing in a premium theme. The premium themes will further make your website look different without making additional customizations. There are also certain premium themes that are designed just like web designing tools. You can use such themes to create custom page layouts and other components.

Do Implement Responsive Web Design

While selecting a WordPress theme, you must not forget the fact that most people nowadays access websites on their mobile devices. You need to implement responsive web design to make the website look good on both computers and mobile devices. That is why; it becomes essential to opt for a WordPress theme that makes your website responsive and mobile-friendly. You can always avoid using mobile plug-ins additionally by using a theme that makes your website look good on varying devices.

Do Explore Options to Customize Themes

The paid WordPress themes will make it easier for you to make the website look and feel different. But you may be required to use free themes to curtail project overheads. If you are opting for a free theme, it becomes essential to customize it according to your specific needs. You can easily make changes to an existing WordPress theme if you are proficient in commonly used web technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP. Also, you can use a number of tools to customize the WordPress theme without rewriting or modifying its source code.

Do Check Compatibility with Browsers and Plug-ins

You must remember that users will access your website on various browsers. But there are chances that a single WordPress theme may not make your website look good on each browser. Hence, you must perform basic browser compatibility test to check how the theme looks on major web browsers. Likewise, you also need to check if the theme supports all plug-ins required by your website. When the theme supports plug-ins required by your website, you can easily add functionality to the website through plug-ins.

Don’ts

Don’t Focus on Functionality

Unlike plug-ins, themes are not responsible for the website’s functionality. You can use the themes only to make the website content look appealing on various devices. There are a number of premium themes that come with additional functionalities like search engine optimization. But you can easily add functionality to the WordPress application by using specific plug-ins. Hence, you must opt for themes that support basic WordPress functions.

Don’t Forget to Evaluate Each Theme Thoroughly

You have option to choose from a large number of WordPress themes. Some of these themes are free, whereas others are premium or paid. But the quality of individual themes differs. Hence, you must not pick a theme based on the visually arresting photography used by the WordPress web developer. It is always important to evaluate each theme thoroughly, and ensure that it meet all needs of your website. The evaluation will help you to avoid making changes to the theme in future.

Don’t Forget to Read User Reviews and Ratings

There are many instances where WordPress themes directly affected the security of websites. Hence, you must assess the quality and reliability of each WordPress theme by collecting information from various sources. It is always important to read the reviews and ratings posted by other users to assess the quality of a theme accurately.

On the whole, you can curtail website development time significantly by using WordPress themes. But the quality and reliability of individual themes differ. Hence, you must build the website with the right WordPress theme and customize the theme to make your website look and feel different.

With a more than efficient CMS and a popularity that goes beyond the limit set by the sky, WordPress development has brought to one of the most exciting times of the ongoing tech revolution. Having more than 60 million people across the world using this platform, WordPress seems to have offered not just a unique, but probably the perfect solution to every business need out there.

The question that comes to mind then, is that what’s the reason that almost every business solution today starts with the intervention of a WordPress development company?

Let’s look at the possible answers:

Not Too Expensive at All!

With WordPress, you can never run into any budgetary problems, as it’s been made in open source, and is absolutely free of cost. No license fee, no nothing at all! Plus, WordPress development is one of the easiest ways to build a website. With literally thousands of themes available, along with all the plug-in, you can expand the functionality of your website through WordPress in a very time as well cost-efficient manner.

Simple and Straightforward Code

Take any WordPress site, and you’ll observe that the code behind them is simple, straightforward, and clean. Therefore, it’s no wonder that Google finds it easy to index a WordPress site. This, of course, makes these sites SEO friendly – a quality that is essential for any kind of content that pertains to marketing and goes on the Internet. To hire WordPress developers would always be a good idea for a company.

Because the platform they work on has each and every post or web page built with inbuilt keywords, as well as meta tags, title, and description. That, combined with SEO plugins, and SEO campaigns that you might run – it will prove to be a very SEO effective way to build your website.

A True Responsive Design

No website can do much good if it doesn’t have a responsive design. Partnering up with a WordPress development company can save you from becoming one of those website owners who always wonder why they don’t attract much traffic, or why their bounce rate is so high!

There is absolutely no alternative to creating a website design that is responsive to your audience. And the quality of a truly responsive site is that it conforms to whatever device you use to open it – that is, you do not have to make a different website for every single type of device.

Integrates Social Media as well

Social media sharing has become an important part of almost everyone’s personal life today. A social media platform is like this neighboring house where every person’s best friend lives; and who doesn’t love spending time with their best friend!

It’s therefore impossible to get hold of the target audience for businesses unless they too visit this friend’s house and receive the users at the door itself! With WordPress, you can easily share your website, blog, or any other content easily on any social platform, with the help of its plug-in. You wouldn’t even have to log into your social media account to separately share the content everywhere.

It’s that simple. Hence, social media integration is one of the major reasons your business should hire WordPress developers.

Scalable, Reliable, and With a Powerful CMS

Whether or not a business has been a success or not – a number of factors decide that. But, one of the major factors is always, quality. No compromise in quality can be allowed at any cost. But, how does one measure quality?

Two of the many things that truly measure the quality of a business is scalability and reliability. If a website cannot be reliable enough for its customers, and if it does not aid the business is growing bigger than what it is, then it stops being useful after a while. With WordPress development though, you can be assured that you will get a reliable and scalable CMS to work with.

The CMS is dynamic enough for you to add a lot of different features, plugins while allowing you to create different types of websites and make them as comprehensive as you’d like to. You can have thousands of blogs and any other kind of content up on your site, in order to market and scale your business better, without having to disturb the working of your website.

So many reasons, and so much more you will encounter once you start using this wonderful platform! As you rely on WordPress to help you handle your business, you will find it to be one of the best decisions you ever take for your company.