Why Choose a WordPress Website? It’s Functional and Easy!

Wonderful World of Websites | Website Wonder Woman

Why Choose a WordPress Website? It's a good question!

Many people ask me why I use WordPress to build my websites. So, I thought I would tell you a bit more about the basics and functions of a WordPress website and why I like them.

WordPress logo for the WordPress website blog

What is WordPress?

OK, so let's get the boring stuff out of the way. WordPress is a Content Management System. Now I can hear you saying to yourself, 'Um, OK, but what on earth is that?!'

A Content Management System is a way to create and manage content in the digital world. So basically, it's a platform you can build your website on.

And boy, do people build websites on it. WordPress has around 64.7% of the market share of websites, with Shopify in second place with only 5.4%! (https://www.whoishostingthis.com/compare/wordpress/stats/).

So, I've blinded you with stats that prove that a WordPress website is the choice of many. Now, let me give you a basic explanation of what it is and how you get it. In other words, why use WordPress?

Why are there two different versions of WordPress?

When you Google WordPress, the first thing you see is WordPress.com. So, most people click on that and set up a free blog, and away they go. They then see that they can upgrade, use their own domain name, pay for a premium package, and get all these extra features.

But guess what?

This is how WordPress makes its money. Because, if you scroll down a bit further down in your Google search, you will also see WordPress.org, the totally FREE version of WordPress that you install onto your own website (you just need a domain name and hosting - in other words a business name and rental space on the Internet to host your little business) and THIS is the version everyone is talking about when they go on about WordPress, themes, plugins etc.

WordPress.com is very limiting, even with the premium version, and although you can still make a lovely-looking website from it, you are going to be very restricted as to what you can do with your site.

So my advice is to keep scrolling, sort out a domain name and hosting, and get WordPress.org installed as your WordPress website. Why?  Because your website will grow with you.

 

Graphic of a person sitting on the floor with their laptop designing a WordPress website with different pages popping out of the laptop screen

WordPress Website Themes

The first screen you will see when you install WordPress (or one of the first) is the option to choose a theme. This is what your WordPress website will look like, so the layout of your website.

Many people stress over this. From the thousands of free themes available (without all the paid-for premium themes), there are so many to choose from, so what if they get it wrong? Then change it! Nothing is set in stone, and it is so easy to change your mind - you simply select or install another theme.

Why use WordPress? This is one of the main reasons why. I have used so many different platforms in the past, from template builders to having a website written in code, and it is only WordPress that gives me the look I want for my website, and it allows me to change it easily.

So, once you have selected your theme, add some pages, a few blog posts, and ta da, you have a website!

And all you have paid is around £40 for a domain and hosting, unless you have purchased a premium theme - yet another reason why I love a WordPress website.

Graphic of a computer screen with building block that has a picture of a plug on it for the WordPress website blog

Plugins

Now this is where things get fun! This is where we turn that lovely-looking website and get it working for you and your business.

Plugins are covered in another post of mine, but basically, these are little add-ons of functionality that you can add to your WordPress website and basically get it to do whatever it is that you want. Need a contact form? Add a plugin. Need an opt-in form to start building your email list? Add a plugin. Need to sell stuff on your website? Add a plugin. Yeah, you get the idea.

I find that a lot of other platforms give you the basics, but then, as your business grows, you need more and more features on your website to be able to meet your customers' needs and give them the best possible experience, and those plugins usually cost more money. There's nothing I haven't been able to do with a WordPress website yet!

Easy to use and manage

The first time I used WordPress, I thought OMG, I will never be able to use this; it's all too complicated. So I switched it off and continued to use other template builders, trying to find something I liked working with and that would do what I needed it to do.

I failed!

Out of the blue, I came across a WordPress website course and watched a series of videos on how to use WordPress. It was so SIMPLE! At first glance, I was overwhelmed, but when I actually looked at it and watched someone else do what I needed to be doing, it looked, and was, so easy.

So I had a go and got a website up in a few days, which I was happy with. As my needs changed - or just my choice of colours or layout! - I could easily adapt that on my website, and quickly.

Why use WordPress? All in all, the reason why I always create a WordPress website for my clients is that it is functional, cost-effective, and easy to use.

Which, as a web designer, with my clients' best interest at heart, sounds like a pretty good deal to me 🙂

Why use WordPress for your Website Top Tip

Make sure that you get wordpress.org and not the .com version or you won't be able to access all of WordPress' magnificent features, you will also find that you will end up paying, just to be able to customise your website and do things that you would think would come as standard.

There are many different platforms for you to build your website on and many offer you to get set up for free and then hit you with monthly and yearly fees to access certain features.

WordPress.org is totally FREE and you can build an amazing website without having to pay anything more than your yearly domain and hosting renewal fees (so around £30 a year!).

Help ChatGPT find your website a laptop with a megaphone coming out of the screen

I know that sounds ridiculous, but spend a few minutes browsing small-business websites, and you will see why it matters.

For example: A homepage might say: "Helping you achieve your goals." That's great, but what goals? Who are you helping?

A web visitor might work it out from the logo, photographs and navigation. Machines have less tolerance for ambiguity.

Compare that with: " We provide commercial cleaning services to offices, schools and healthcare businesses across South Wales."

Suddenly, there's much less to decipher. Who are you? A commercial cleaning company. What do you do? Clean commercial premises. Who for? Offices, schools, and healthcare businesses. Where? South Wales.

Clear website copy isn't unsophisticated copy. If you want to help ChatGPT find your website, clarity can be a big advantage.

3. Create Proper Pages for Your Main Services

One mistake I regularly see is businesses trying to squeeze everything they offer onto one service page. Imagine a building company offering extensions, loft conversions, kitchen renovations, and garage conversions. Giving each important service its own useful page creates far more context than mentioning all four in a short bullet list.

A strong page can explain:

  • what the service involves;
  • who it is suitable for;
  • common questions customers ask;
  • the process;
  • relevant experience;
  • examples of completed work;
  • geographical areas covered.

This is not only useful information for potential customers, but also useful for conventional SEO and will help ChatGPT find your website and understand exactly what your business provides.

However, a word of caution. The important word here is useful. Creating 30 near-identical pages simply to target 30 slightly different phrases isn't the answer. Websites are ultimately for people, so create pages because you have something worthwhile to tell them.

4. Answer the Questions Your Customers Really Ask

3d speech bubbles with Q & A in them for Help ChatGPT find your website blog

This is where good blog content becomes particularly valuable and can help ChatGPT find your website.

People often interact with ChatGPT and other AI bots in a conversational way. Rather than searching for something like: "loft conversion Cardiff", they might ask "Do I need planning permission for a loft conversion in Cardiff?" or "Is my house suitable for a loft conversion?". You get my drift.

Think about the questions customers ask you on the phone, in emails, during quotations, or at meetings. Those questions can become extremely useful website content. And don't limit yourself to just obvious FAQs. Some of the best content comes from the questions that require actual expertise to answer: comparisons, costs, pitfalls, misconceptions, alternatives, and situations where one option is better than another. That is where your knowledge becomes valuable. Put that into blogs, and it will help ChatGPT find your website.

5. Don't Just Say You're an Expert - Demonstrate It

Almost every business website claims some variation of: "We pride ourselves on providing a professional, high-quality service." The problem is that anybody can write it. Evidence is much more persuasive.

If you want to help ChatGPT find your website and understand why your business might be a credible source, then you need to give your website substance.

That could include detailed case studies, named authors with relevant experience, customer reviews, original photographs, accreditations, qualifications, awards, research or data you've produced, and genuinely knowledgeable articles/blogs.

A case study saying: We recently completed this project for a client in Newport", isn't particularly informative. Explain the problem. What did the customer need? What did you recommend? Why? What difficulties arose? How did you solve them? What was the outcome?

That is useful information for humans, and it gives search and AI systems considerably more context about your real-world expertise.

6. Make Your Location Clear

Naturally, this is particularly important for local businesses.

If you are an electrician serving customers across South Wales, make that clear on your website. Your address, service areas, and contact details shouldn't require detective work to find.

Your About and Contact pages can reinforce where you are based, while individual service pages can naturally explain areas you cover. However, avoid creating dozens of thin location pages where the only difference is swapping one town name for another, like "Electrician Newport", "Electrician Cardiff", and "Electrician Cwmbran."

That's not useful content. If a location genuinely warrants its own page, give the reader something specific and worthwhile.

7. Build Your Reputation Beyond Your Own Website

Your website doesn't exist in isolation.

If you claim to be a leading expert in your field but nobody else on the internet appears to know you exist, that's not a particularly convincing signal. Therefore, I want you to think about your wider digital footprint.

Are you listed accurately on relevant professional or industry websites? Have local publications mentioned your business? Do reputable websites link to you? Are there genuine customer reviews? Have you contributed expert comments or guest articles elsewhere?

You see, digital PR, quality guest blogging, and traditional link building still have a place. However, the aim shouldn't be to scatter links across hundreds of low-quality websites to help ChatGPT find your website. On the contrary, it's to build a recognisable business with a credible online presence.

8. Write Content Worth Citing

Graphic woman sat at a computer with pages of content coming out of it

This may be one of the biggest opportunities created by AI search.

If everybody writes a generic article called "10 benefits of X", then there is very little reason for any search or AI system to favour yours above the others. To help ChatGPT find your website, you need to give it something better:

Share your experience.

    • Explain what customers commonly get wrong.
    • Compare two approaches and say when you'd choose each one.
    • Publish original examples.
    • Answer awkward questions.
    • Discuss pricing honestly where possible.
    • Challenge a commonly repeated piece of industry advice if you disagree with it – and explain why.

The internet doesn't desperately need another 800-word blog saying the same thing as the previous 100 ones. What it does need are people who actually know their subject sharing information that isn't available everywhere else. Tricky, yes. Impossible, no.

9. Don't Forget Traditional SEO

As I mentioned right at the beginning of this article, trying to help ChatGPT find your website doesn't mean forgetting Google and other search engines. In fact, as I'm sure you've realised by now, many of the fundamentals overlap.

You still need a technically sound, crawlable website with logical navigation, descriptive page titles, useful headings, strong internal links and well-written pages focused on genuine customer needs. Ultimately, your content should make sense to a person first; I always stress this to my clients. There is little to be gained by contorting every single paragraph into something you imagine AI or search engines want to read.

Cater for your customer. Ensure your website clearly explains who you are, what you do, where you operate, and why you know what you're talking about. That's what they need to know, and by doing that you are already building a much stronger foundation for both traditional and AI-driven searches.

Help ChatGPT Find Your Website - But Write For People

Help ChatGPT find your website a 3d graphic of a person in front of a laptop with books and text

AI is changing how people discover information online, but that doesn't mean websites suddenly need to be written for robots. Quite the opposite. After all, humans, your potential customers, are asking ChatGPT the questions. So, if you want to help ChatGPT find your website, you must make it clear, informative, and more authoritative for the people you're trying to reach.

Follow the guidance listed above. None of it is particularly technical (save point 1); it is simply about making sure you have good website content. The difference is that today, a well-written website isn't only helping a potential customer decide whether to contact you; it may also help ChatGPT find your website and decide whether or not to list it in response to a query, ultimately driving fresh traffic your way.

If you would like help reviewing your website content, or creating quality blogs that appeal to both humans and bots, please do not hesitate to get in touch. My name is Heather, and I'm The Content Creator.

Heather the Content Creator A lady with blonde hair in a bob, smiling, wearing a black top

A bit about the author

Heather founded The Content Creator nearly three years ago, combining her love of writing with a genuine passion for helping small businesses and solopreneurs get seen online. She supports her clients with everything from website copy and SEO to AI search visibility, newsletters and social media, taking the stress out of creating content that not only sounds like them, but helps their business grow.

If you need a helping hand with any of these areas, Heather is your go-to girl! We can speak from experience, too, because she works on our own website, helping us keep up with the ever-changing world of SEO and AI search and making sure our content continues to work hard for our business.

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