WordPress is a great solution

My last post about doing things for yourself has led me to address a very specific need for any modern business: the need for a good web site.

There are a lot of issues involved and most businesses either hire an outside web designer or an in house IT guy. Either way, it can add up to big bucks very quickly. I have always maintained my own site and, until recently, it has always been right up there with pulling teeth. A real pain. The time and work involved in making even small changes has been substantial enough that it just doesn't get done often enough.

But recently, I switched my site over to Wordpress, an open source blogging package that is free to use. If you have a site with one of the more popular hosting services like GoDaddy or Siteground, Wordpress can be installed from the control panel with a few mouse clicks. If not, there is a quick installation guide on the Wordpress site along with complete documentation on how to do just about anything and also, a support forum populated by experts, that will provide answers to any questions that arise. Once installed, it's easy to configure and custom theme templates are available by the thousands, some free and some requiring a moderate fee, usually well under $100.

The great thing about this package is that it is so easy use. Upload a photo of a new project, comment on something, offer special deals, all doable from anywhere if you have a phone in your pocket. Wordpress is about as mobile friendly as you can get so uploading a pic from your phone is a piece of cake. While the blogging function is very linear, you can also easily create static pages that act like any other web page, always the same until you change it. So you can carry on a dialog on the blog side and maintain informational pages right along with it. There are hundreds of free plug ins that will expand the functionality.

If you need a more fluid interaction with your web site and want to free yourself from the constant high cost of outsourced site maintenance, or are, like me, getting headaches from trying to do it yourself, you might want to check it out.

D.D.