Creating a new website is a big project, whether you’re building it from scratch or giving your old site a refresh. There are a lot of tools that make launching a new website a little easier. The most important is your content management system, or CMS. This is the interface that you use to manage your website. Everything lives here, from the layouts you use to the images you upload.
There are a lot of CMS options to choose from that make your site easy to manage. All have pros and cons. One of the most robust platforms is WordPress.
Two Versions of WordPress
WordPress offers two versions of its product. WordPress.com is for businesses comfortable with DIY. WordPress.org is for centers looking for more flexibility when it comes to design and integrations.
Because there are more options in WordPress’s .org version, it can be a little tricky to set up by yourself. Enlisting the help of a technically savvy helper to build the basic framework of your website could be worth the additional functionality. It all depends on your center’s goals.
There are five reasons both versions of WordPress stand out from other all-inclusive content management systems like Wix and Squarespace.
1. Content Management
It makes sense that a content management system would be good at managing content. WordPress is especially great at it because it started as a blogging platform. It’s easy to add a blog for sharing your expertise and center updates.
This is what WordPress.org looks like when you start a new blog post. Because WordPress started as a blogging platform, it’s easy to add center updates to your website.
2. Open Source
Open source means that the code that makes up a program can be changed to meet the needs of end users. For you, it means that WordPress’s framework can be modified to fit your child care center. WordPress is really popular. It currently powers about a third of all the websites on the internet. Part of that popularity is the ability to make changes.
This is what WordPress believes it means to be open source. Source: https://wordpress.org/about/
This is great for small businesses like your center because it means lots of people are really familiar with WordPress. If you’re no longer happy with the people managing your website, you can easily find a new company or employee to take care of it!
3. Lots of Themes
The theme you use determines the look and feel of your website. WordPress provides lots of themes to choose from, from minimalist to bold. After you choose a theme, you can stick with the layout exactly, or move things around for a more customized look.
There are many themes to choose from and customize for your center’s website.
No matter which theme you choose, you’ll want to use your center’s logo, colors and fonts throughout your website to keep your branding consistent.
4. Templates
Once you’re happy with the look of your pages, you can turn them into templates. Use these templates throughout your website. They make it easy to add new pages that look just like the rest of your website!
5. Plugins
WordPress includes almost everything you need for a website. If you want to add extra features, you can install what are called plugins. These little bits of software make your website more dynamic, without changing the CMS you’re using.
Because WordPress is open source, there’s probably already a plugin for anything you need your website to do! Some of the most popular do things like accept credit card payments from parents and add your website visitors’ contact information to your email marketing list.
