Why Marketers (and others) Should Learn About WordPress at BlogWorld (#bweny)
I’ve made no qualms in (sometimes a little too much) mentioning that I will be speaking one week from today at BlogWorldExpo in New York City. I’m pretty excited, considering that I missed last year’s conference for the birth of our lovely son #2 (Sorry BlogWorld, it was totally worth it :). As such, I’ve seen numerous lists come out that showcase the “best presentations for XXX”, where XXX is some sect of marketing or social media. If you are looking a marketing agency, then go and view the rankings of the different companies.
Not to toot my own horn here, but if you will, allow me the five minutes to give you an elevator pitch on the benefits of learning WordPress. Whether you get it from my session, or whether you find your own go-to WordPress guy to tell you about it, or whether you do research on your own, WordPress is worth a look from even the most technophilic marketer.
WordPress Powers 14.3% of the Internet
Yes. The entire Internet. That means that 3 out of every 20 sites you go to has a good chance of being hosted on WordPress. That number remains high as you look at the top million Alexa rankings (I’d quote a website statistic, but I can’t for the life of me find it… it’s well above 10% though). With more and more corporate entities (like Time and Network Solutions) switching their main sites to WordPress, chances are that if you have to do writing of any kind for a blog or website, you’ll end up needing to know your way around
WordPress Allows for Rapid Deployment of Microsites
A seasoned WordPress veteran can get a site up, coded, and designed well in a matter of days (sometimes hours!) but that’s nothing – that’s what we are paid to do. The real trick is making it to where non-developers can still get in, install, and manipulate things without too much trouble. WordPress isn’t known for its “5-minute Install” for nothing, after all. With the proper hosting account you can install WordPress, get a premium theme up, drop in some content, and have the basics of a website up in around 2-3 hours.
WordPress <3 Google, and Google <3 WordPress
Granted, any website can rank well (and some WordPress sites are horribly done on the SEO standpoint, but for the most part the top themes are optimized from the get-go for great rankings. With proper use of H tags, content in it’s proper location, great tags, and a good linkbase in and out (which WordPress makes super easy), a site can rise in the ranks quickly (with the right content, of course). Plugins like All In One SEO further the control you have, giving you finite control down to the “keywords per page” level.
So, if you’re in the neighborhood next week and feel like learning a little about WordPress, stop into my session. It’s on Wednesday at 11:30, Room 1A16. If not, message me on twitter and I can tell you everything you need to know. Until then, WordPress is worth a second look – I did, almost 3 years ago, and it’s literally changed my life.