When starting a new blog, it’s important you know what options you have available to you. Choosing the right tools, blogging platform and marketing platforms will make it easier for you to convert readers into buyers. This will ultimately help with your ROI allowing your blog business to grow. The main thing is now days, plugins and platforms automate your task so much that you really don’t have to do too much allowing you to focus on the things that matter. For example, you have a blogging platform WordPress which is built to allow you to put together a website within minutes. I have done a tutorial that allows you to build a website in under 4 minutes. This has allowed me to devote time to other things like marketing and user retention. WordPress is amazing for several reasons and I have written on this platform extensively in the past. Here are just a few things that allow it to stand out compared to others.
Templates – you have an enormous selection of templates both free and premium. All you have to do is download the package and install it then active. Many of the new templates are drag & drop with them being mobile ready.
Plugins – with WordPress you can design almost any type of website because you can easily add plugins. They have plugins for membership sites, ecommerce, performance, social media, search engine optimization, etc.
Growth – WordPress is continuing to grow over time making them huge as they add new features appealing to more people over time.
Hosting – they are starting to provide WordPress hosting which allows them to tap into another niche. This has allowed them to provide people with an all-in-one safe solution.
Open-source – if you are a programmer and need to make some serious customizations then you can open each file and make coding tweaks that better fir your purpose.
Next,
WordPress is always making improvements which is why it stands out compared to the others like Joomla and Drupal. WordPress continues to dominate the market and I see nothing but a bright future for them going forward. Today, I’ll like to explore what I see is the future of WordPress.
Automation
WordPress is becoming more automated as time goes on and this is helping bloggers build their online business more quickly. For example, the platform can connect to social media platforms and other applications which allow you to keep track of statistics and automate simple task like sharing, etc. If you have been using WordPress for several years, then you know more about the transition they have made in recent years going from one which had very little automation to one that depends on it because of the appeal it offers bloggers. Since it is open-source it allows programmers the ability to equip it with coding so it communicates with different elements of their site. For example, years back I had a programmer code it so it will pull data from specific sites and list them in an organized way to my visitors.
Next,
WordPress has become a platform with plugins that automatically pull data from specific websites. This sue to need enormous programming, however now plugins have been created to do the entire work for you. I’ll be talking about plugins in the next section.
Plugins
Each year you see thousands of new plugins enter their market place. This is awesome because it just helps bloggers perform their work more easily. The less time they have to worry about programming and tweaking their website, the more they can focus on customer acquisition and retention. Here’s something else that I’ve noticed:
WordPress has become more sophisticated so many of the plugins have too. This has allowed them to build something different and plugins which allow for more flexibility which at one point wasn’t available. I believe going forward you’ll have more plugins enter the market for two very important reason. First, it’s because WordPress is growing and more people are using them so emphasis and incentives are given to programmers who develop applications. Secondly, there is enormous money to be made through the sales of plugins which I’ll be talking about in the next section.
Profits
Plugins and the sale of hosting is a huge business. As a matter of fact, many people are simply making a great living creating plugins for WordPress. Imagine creating an important and popular plugin which gets 1 million downloads each year. Next, imagine charging $10.00/year for this plugins for some of the pro features being offers? This can equate to some enormous cash for you and your business of plugin development. If you go check out the plugin store, you’ll notice millions of free plugins, but with a price for their pro features. In my life I’ve bought over a dozen plugins because it helped cut my work in half so I’m sure you’ll do the same. Until today, I am paying premium price for some annually and this equates enormous money for the developer. At the same time, there is NO limit to how many plugins you can develop for WordPress so if you have a creative team, you’ll be able to create some awesome plugins which generate enormous sales per month.
Templates
Just like you have a plugin shop, you have a template shop too. Themeforest.net is one of the biggest and they offer thousands of WordPress theme’s which have been created by developers. WordPress each year offers developers a great incentive to create themes and even put more of a cut back into their pockets if they reach a certain level of sales. This has caused for the following to happen:
More templates – you now have more themes available than ever before. This has increased the popularity of WordPress.
Mobile – since Google introduced the mobile update many themes had to make the switch over. Those developers who created mobile-compatible themes saw a huge jump in their sales and profits.
Affiliate – the growth of affiliate programs has allowed theme developers to attract more sales and higher profits.
Here’s the thing you have to keep in mind at all times. No matter what kind of website or niche you’re in, you’ll have to design a website for your brand. This means you’ll want something unique and a design that stands out so will probably purchase a premium theme from a store. However, it’s also well known that every few years, you will switch your theme so will MOST probably head back to the same shop or designer to purchase another one.
Security
WordPress is very well-known to have a solid security system embedded within their initial install. They not only have built it into their platforms, but also offer plugins to help and even offer a secure hosting plan for single or large businesses. This is very important to those bloggers or businesses that keep sensitive user data on file like: name, address and payment information. If you run a store, then you know how one small security breach can destroy your brand and ruin your credibility. With that said,
WordPress has been known to relate to users by continuously reiterating the importance of security and what they have done to ensure your website and people visiting stay safe from hackers. I see this security growing each year as their user count grows and the demand for tighter security stays a priority.
Update
WordPress is always updating their platform so it stays compatible with plugins and the coding stays clear of bugs. The last thing you want is a platform that doesn’t work or goes down because of a bad command. WordPress will offer an update almost every month which can be done with the click of a mouse button from within the backend.
If you have been blogging and coding for years, then you know the importance of having a platform which operates with very little error. Even phones OS like Apple and Android offer updates every few months to ensure things stay running exactly as they had planned.
Final Thoughts
The future for WordPress stays very brought especially because constant changes are being made to their platform. Whenever I am thinking about building a website, my choice without a doubt is WordPress because of the options I have available to me and the flexibility in customizations. Over the years I have built 7-8 websites for myself and worked with clients to build several more. My choice for every single one of them has been WordPress. The flexibility and choice in plugins has allowed me to build almost any type of site I need, and the open-source allowed for easy customizations.
If you haven’t downloaded WordPress, I suggest you do and give it a try because you’ll have an easy time with the platform and developing a custom website. It’s free to download and offers many free plugins and themes.