Choosing the best CMS for your startup is one of the foundations of digital success.
Nowadays, more often than not, your website is the first thing that potential customers encounter when looking up your business. To make a good impression, it needs to be professionally made, functional, and good-looking.
At the same time, it needs to be easy to administer, manage, and operate by people with different levels of tech-savviness.
So what is the best CMS for startups?
You guessed it – its WordPress.
Why?
Simply put, because it’s the most versatile and agile content management system, and it provides you with a hassle-free way to build and maintain your online presence and grow.
But there’s so much more to it!
In this article, we highlight why WordPress is the best CMS for startups and how to use it to create a professional looking website.
Let’s get started.
Why Is WordPress the Best CMS for Startups?
When it comes to startups, professionalism is one of the key success factors.
Clients tend to underestimate these types of companies because, more often than not, they don’t have a portfolio of success stories to back them up.
That’s why, it’s not enough to offer a high-quality product, be a pro at what you are doing, and provide a stellar customer experience, you also need to inspire confidence in your clients.
And a properly built and optimized WordPress website does that for you, all the while facilitating your team’s work. Furthermore, it provides the following benefits:
- It is very easy to manage.
- It has a well-defined website structure.
- It’s reliable and secure.
But wait, there’s more!
Here’s how:
Very Easy to Learn and Use
WordPress is incredibly easy to use. Even if your team members are complete beginners, they are likely to be quick to onboard and start using the platform in no time.
WordPress has a constantly updated User Manual where you can find answers to all your questions.
On top of that, there is a huge online community of users and developers who are eager to help their peers. And there’s a, practically, endless supply of tutorials, guides, how-tos, and whatnots explaining every pertinent topic.
The CMS has user-friendly functionalities that make uploading and managing content intuitive. No matter if you’re a small sized startup or a large endeavor, you will be able to run your website smoothly and efficiently.
Also, when you grow and welcome new additions to the website team, they will have hassle-free onboarding and will be able to swiftly start contributing.
Highly Customizable
WordPress has a huge directory of plugins and themes that you can use to create a unique website.
Furthermore, if you work with an experienced WordPress agency, it can build for you customized themes and plugins developed to cater to your business’s individual needs and brand identity.
In other words, with WordPress, you can have exactly the website you’ve imagined, with all the functionalities you want and need.
As your startup grows and your technical requirements change, your online property can scale with you.
Supports Multiple Data Types
WordPress is ideal for all types of digital content such as different types of pages, posts, comments, and media.
It provides you with the ability to create as many custom post types as required in accordance with your business niche.
Also, there are plugins that allow you to integrate media players, opt-in forms, interactive content, ads inventory, podcast and video sections, and whatever else you may wish for.
Superb Support
As mentioned, the WordPress community is vast. Whenever you need any kind of help, you can find a solution in the official WordPress support page or in any of the multiple blogs and websites providing troubleshooting, tutorials, and how-to guides.
Furthermore, if you encounter any serious issues or WordPress errors, there are a lot of development agencies you can reach out to fix and maintain your website.
In fact, to save yourself the trouble, you should consider working with an agency right from the start. This way, you will not only ensure that you have a high-quality website, but you will be able to count on support at all times.
Reasonably Affordable
In spite of all its advantages, WordPress is, in fact, affordable and can cost you less than other CMS options that may offer similar functions.
The cost of premium themes and plugins is reasonable, especially for a startup.
And if you opt for a completely customized website, WordPress provides all of the advantages (and more!) of custom and proprietary CMS at a better price. Plus, you get to keep your website if you decide to change the provider.
Scalable and Flexible
The thing about startups is that they usually start small and, if they put in the necessary work and persistence, and are very lucky, they grow very, very fast.
This means that their business goals and needs may change over short periods of time.
And WordPress can facilitate this.
You can add new users to your website, upload unlimited pages, and change your content strategy over time.
Furthermore, with the help of skilled developers and web designers, you can manage incremental traffic, stay in line with the latest web design trends, implement new features and functionalities, and improve UX and usability according to your audience’s preferences.
Simply put, your WordPress website can grow and evolve with your business!
SEO-Friendly
Online visibility is a top priority for startups.
If you are to build a strong online reputation and manage to impress potential clients who research solutions similar to yours, your website needs to be in line with the requirements and standards of search engines.
WordPress is SEO-friendly out of the box, and allows your content to become visible to search engine bots, practically, immediately.
On top of that, there are plugins that help you improve your content and ensure that it is well-optimized.
This can help you create SEO branding, own your branded and unbranded keywords, and boost your website’s visibility in the SERPs.
How to Make Your WordPress Website Look Professional
Now that you know why WordPress is the best CMS for startups, let’s see how you can now use it to make your website professional-looking and impress those potential clients.
By following these pointers, you can give your startup a superb kickstart.
Use Striking Images
Images can actually make or break your entire website.
They are the type of information that gets to people the fastest and influences how we feel about what we see. In fact, it takes 13 milliseconds for the human brain to process an image.
Poorly chosen graphics on the homepage or another important page of your website can drive visitors away and reflect poorly on your entire brand, thus, compromising all your digital efforts.
To that end, when possible, you should use unique visuals and high-quality images across all your pages.
When using stock photos and graphics, there are sources where you may be able to find decent images that are free or very inexpensive.
Below are some links where you can find free photo resources:
- Flickr Creative Commons: You will always find great photographs here. Just keep in mind to always give credit to the photographer.
- Free Images: A great photography resource, which has a wide variety of royalty free images.
- Unsplash: A popular site, full of free images that you can use for whatever you need.
Use Easy Fonts
Your website’s fonts have to be easy to read. Your audience shouldn’t have problems understanding what is written on the webpage.
Tacky and stylish italics are not always a solution. Sometimes a simple font such as Helvetica can solve the issue.
Remember, if you ever feel confused about which font to choose, then just use Georgia, Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica. These are the simplest fonts with the highest readability. And you don’t have to pay anything for them. Neat, huh?
Furthermore, make sure that the background and text color make for a good match with the font. When it comes to fonts with too many details, low contrast combinations can hurt readability.
Your Logo Represents Your Brand
A logo is not just an icon that represents your brand – it is the face of your company. It’s how your audience recognizes you
As a startup, you may not have a logo yet, especially in the early stages of developing your business.
However, when building your website, adding a logo is vital, because it can boost brand recall, and help increase awareness and recognition.
Therefore, it’s always better to hire a professional designer and spend between $20 to $200 for that perfect logo when starting out with your website.
It’s generally accepted that the best position to place your logo on all pages is the top left corner. In fact, logos with this placement are 89% more likely to make a lasting impression on visitors.
Declutter Your Website Layout
You have probably heard the saying “Less is more”. Well, when it comes to website design, this applies with full force.
A professional website is stripped down of all unnecessary “decorations” and relies on an elegant, yet simple design.
While web design trends are constantly changing, some of the things to avoid in your solution include, but are not limited t
- Over аdvertising.
- Excessive pop-ups.
- Over usage of social media buttonс.
- Autoplay video or music.
You want to have a professional website, not a live advertising campaign. These distractions always take the viewer away from the key content or away from your website. So, there is no point in clutter.
Furthermore, simplicity facilitates a more user-friendly mobile experience.
Add a Corporate Blog
Blogging allows you to attract new users and customers to your website via organic traffic.
Furthermore, it shows your customer’s that you are not only an expert in your field but are more willing to share your knowledge and help out.
From the Search Engine Optimization point of view, a blog helps your website to gain ranking and visibility. So, bring out interesting topics and express yourself.
However, if you don’t have a knack for writing yourself, you should consider hiring professional writers, and/or creating a content team. This way, will increase the quality of your content and will boost its value to both search engines and your audience.
Wrapping Up
Remember, your website is like a reception area for your online customers. If it is elegant and professional, then your customers are likely to want to stay, and learn more about your business.
If it is cluttered, messy, and confusing, people will most probably leave for good.
WordPress allows you to create a website that is not only welcoming and of high quality, but is easy to manage and maintain, grows with your business, and provides you with flexibility and functionality.
And that’s what makes it the best CMS for startups.