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How to add a Sticky Floating Bar in WordPress

Adding a floating bar to your WordPress website allows you to show to visitors current promotions you have going on or show information you want them to see. Floating bars or “sticky” bars are notification bars that are placed on the bottom of the visitor’s browser and stays there as they are scrolling. Sticky bars are now very common to use amongst bloggers and WordPress users.
If you wish to catch a visitor’s attention to promote an article, make an announcement about a product, etc. then adding a sticky bar will do just that. You can also use it for social media promotions to get more subscriptions.

There are different options, styles and features you can choose to add to your sticky bars. WordPress has various plugins available to add the floating bar to your site. In this article, I will show you how you can add a sticky floating bar to your WordPress site.

Installing the floating bar to your blog

To start adding a floating bar to your site, go to Plugins > addnew

I will be using the GC Message Bar plugin. Go to the search form and type in GC Message Bar. Once you get the search results, you can begin installing the plugin.
As soon as you press to activate, you can check out your blog and see that the floating bar is already up. The default settings for the plugin places the floating bar at the top of your site, but you can configure the settings to your liking.

To start configuring your floating bar go to your dashboard, Plugins > GCMessageBar

From here, you can select your background color, text color, floating bar location, etc. To pick the location of your bar, go to the General Settings tab.
General Settings tab you can also enable animations, alignment of your content, enabling a close button, CSS caching, and more.
Filters tab allows you to choose whether you want the floating bar to show up on just the desktop, or both mobile and desktop. You can also choose whether you want your floating bar to show up only on your home page or on other pages as well.
Compose Message tab is where you write what you want your floating bar to display and type in the URL location of where you want your visitors to be directed.
Style Settings tab choose the footer color, text, color, font size, font style, etc.
After getting familiar with the settings, you can start configuring your floating bar to get it ready to show up on your WordPress site. Don’t forget to press save anytime you make any changes.

Is your Small Business Missing Out on Profits?

Is your Small Business Missing Out on Profits?

You may be surprised to hear that small businesses missed out on huge dollar amounts last year. In fact, half of small businesses missed out on a potential $250 billion last year simply for not having a website. How could a lack of a website account for this massive of a number?

There are over 28 million small businesses and those with a website brought in over $250 billion in the first three quarters of 2015 due to having a website. This is shown through the fact that ecommerce sales in the US last year came out to this dollar amount which means businesses without a website couldn’t sell e-commerce products.

If you don’t want to miss out on profits like these again this year, make sure you get your piece of the pie by finally setting up that company website. With all of the time you spend online, you may as well use some of that representing your company on a website and social media. Take a look at how this could affect profits for 2016.

How websites are making small businesses money

While websites are great for e-commerce efforts, websites can also make company’s extra money by functioning as a marketing tool for new customers, helping to retain clients through blogging, and can increase sales by offering special promotions or online-only offers.

Setting up your products online for selling as e-commerce isn’t hard to do and it beats selling your items on auction sites or sites like Etsy. You can choose the design of the website, feature the best products first, and customize the whole experience for the buyers.

Why you may have avoided a website in the past

 

It’s important to look at why you may have skipped out on having a website in the past. Was it because you thought it was going to be too hard to set up or you didn’t really know how to run it? Perhaps you were concerned about the expense behind it.

Luckily, it’s not only easy to start and run, but it doesn’t cost much of anything. You’ll need to put in the time and energy, plus a small cost for things like domain names and hosting, but the return would be huge. Today’s technology allows you to use sites like WordPress to give you free themes, user support, and tons of great features to choose what you need depending on your industry.

When you run a blog on your website, you can share your content with your social media followers, giving your brand an online presence and a higher chance of finding new customers. Your current customers will remember you better and look at you as an industry authority, wanting to purchase from you in the future.

Packages for new websites

When you join a site that you will use as a blogging and website platform, you can get packages that make it really simple to get started. First, you’ll get your domain name which you need to create to make sense to your brand and to be easy to remember. You’ll need to buy website hosting and many packages may include this.

You’ll usually get website building software and support. You can get a customized email address too. Once you’ve done all of this setup, you can start working on adding different sections, like the “contact,” “about us,” and “FAQs” to make sure your customers can find everything they need. Update your blog posts once or twice per week and set up social media accounts to share them with followers.

 

You don’t want to miss out on potential profits this year just from neglecting to start a website. Set it up and once you get it done, you can start maintaining it by marketing to your target audience, writing great blog posts, and sharing with the world what your company is working on. Feature your new products and promotions and get the word out there so that your target customer base can find you. Before you know it, you’ll be improving your brand’s image, increasing sales, and gaining a larger customer base.

The Best Free WordPress Themes of 2016

As the leading CMS that allows individuals to create and publish content seamlessly and conveniently, WordPress is getting better and bigger each year. Through its wide range of tools and applications, WordPress has become a community of thousands of developers and designers, which is why it has become the foremost choice for businesses and individuals looking for quality, versatility, and support.

It offers an array of design and creative features that can be integrated into the content to make it more appealing for the readers as well as for the search engines. Themes are perhaps the most important contributor to the look and feel of your content. Changing your theme every now and then can be a good way of keeping your site visitors engaged and updated. Although there are themes that have to be purchased, there are many that users can enjoy without paying a penny.

A multitude of new free WP themes are added on a daily basis. So, instead of scavenging through thousands of options, take a look at our list of the five best free WordPress themes of 2016. Before you add any of these themes, make sure to backup your WordPress first. Check our article on WP backups here.

1)    Upright

Upright is a fantastic theme that is focused on offering a magazine style look to your content. This theme is ideal for bringing life to large imagery or content that uses lot of pictures.  If you are a blogger, Upright will be a great way of making it easier for visitors to keep track of all of your blog posts, and by integrating images into your content, your site will appear much more vivid and eye-catching.

2)    Fashionista

Fashionista is also another theme that is best suited for blogs or content that required to be showcased as a magazine. Offering a slightly more aesthetic and edgy look to your site, you can hope to keep your visitors engaged and therefore increase traffic. Its large headlines and news-like layout will be pleasing on the eyes and easy to navigate on desktop and mobile devices alike.

3)    Future Lite

The Future Lite theme provides a clean and image-rich feel to your website. Because of this reason, the theme is best suited for those who have creative portfolios, such as designers and brand teams, or freelance photographers. As soon as visitors are directed to your landing page, they will be greeted with the high-resolution imagery that can leave a lasting impression on their minds.

 

4)    Moesia

Moesia is the go-to theme for giving your business the kind of first-impression you desire for it. With the option of parallax background imagery, you can easily set the tone of your website that can be a strong cue to your business values and brand image. The header comes with the option to put a high resolution image, so make sure you utilize it to instantly grab attention.

5)    Glider

Many of you may want to keep things simple and not necessarily require grabbing the attention of visitors using hi-res imagery. This is where Glider is useful. As a text-focused theme, Glider is excellent for giving visitors what they need to see most urgently, text. This makes it ideal for writers or bloggers that share articles or blogs without the excessive need to delve into imagery.

So, these were our favorites for the year but bear in mind that the definition of the best theme may vary from business to business. Feel free to share the ones that have worked wonders for you or get in touch with us to learn more about the best managed WP hosting solutions for your WordPress themes.

Choosing the Right Web Host Provider

The world you have known is there no more. Thankfully, the new world has more exciting opportunities stored in it, if you know the right doors to knock. This also means that those on the other side of these chosen doors have the right abilities and energies that you are looking for.

Setting up a catering business? Need to promote your photography skills? A freelance policy consultant up for hire by the hours? No matter which industry you belong to, giving a face to your work requires a strong online presence for others to discover and access.

First thing first, you need to have a website to showcase all your brilliance. Setting up a website requires technical expertise; hence, it is imperative to have on-board the right kind of people who can assist you with the relevant know-hows and ongoing maintenance.

You need a reliable web host provider.

A group of highly skilled life-savers who will store your website’s files on its servers and deliver them to your readers’ and customers’ browsers. Web hosting companies offer a diverse mix of services such as, monthly data transfers, storage, email, etc. Even payment systems can be different (monthly, annual, mixed packages, etc.). So how do you decide who to buy your hosting from?

A credible company is embedded with the following core principles:

Lower costs: It is not about whether you have the ability to splurge on your budget. It’s about investing in a host provider who works in the interest of both parties efficiently to acquire a satisfactory returns on your investments.

Higher bandwidth: It’s all about how easily accessible your website is to your catered customers/beneficiaries. A credible web host provider will enable the aspect of speedy loaded pages, plugins and features given that it has rock-solid coding built in.

Good security: No point in having a user-friendly website if there’s no decent security system in place. A web host provider will provide not just the set up but also ensure support to tweak and update the security features, from time-to-time.

Rapid support: You also want a web host with 24/7 customer support – by phone, chat, knowledge bases, tutorials (check out how XonHost’s support system is designed to cater to any support of your choice). Easy-to-reach communication and stand-by support from technical experts is essential to get things sorted out quickly as well as for maintenance purposes.

A few additional points to ponder:

  • Consider the duration – whether you need hosting support for a short time period or for longer. There are refund options and various financial packages which you should look into for making best use of your budget and timeline.
  • Web hosts often provide different offers in starter packages and then expand on their services in advanced tier plans – read everything before finalizing a plan, including features such as domain, website builders, SSL Certificates, email, etc. Having these features integrated will make your operations smoother.
  • Before you make a decision, familiarize and do a research of the different web hosting services that are available (such as, shared, virtual private server (VPS), dedicated hosting, Linux Reseller hosting and WordPress hosting plans). Each of these offers different features and packages that you should analyze to decide what best suits you and the service/content you intend to curate.
  • Every provider has their unique niche factors – some focus on security more while some offer email marketing and e-commerce tools. Some offers integrated packages while some encourage customized plans.  Be careful to not get carried away. If you know your product/content well, it will be easier to prioritize.
  • Read the in-depth customer reviews. Real time experiences provides insight into what the company actually is capable of providing in terms of service and quality (hence, avoiding the trap of false advertising).

As you choose the right web hosting service, you become a part of the bold new world where you get back more than what you give.

Exciting New Features in cPanel & WHM Version 60

cPanel & WHM (WebHost Manager) is the premier control panel for automating and simplifying server configuration, email, and website management. cPanel is the de-factor industry standard control panel for Linux based environments.

The newly released cPanel & WHM Version 60 offers businesses with an array of incredible features and benefits that can enhance user experience and provide customers with quality engagement and empowerment at every facet of your website. The web-based control panel enables convenient and easier management of your website that helps you track and redefine each website element for best use.

In this post, we explore some of the features and tools included in cPanel & WHM Version 60 and analyze how it can be a major plus for both users and customers.

Website Efficiency

Websites frequently suffer from frequent downtime and maintenance issues that have the potential to drive away customers to other competitors. With cPanel & WHM Version 60, the benefits of a 25% decrease in memory usage and greater speed and responsiveness of processing power and applications have tremendous user benefits, which can be passed on to visitors in the form of higher web loading and page speed. cPanel & WHM Version 60’s Apache 4 is also substantially faster than the 58 version and its PowerDNS leads to fewer requests.

Greater Web-Security

Web-security is considered to be one of the greatest threats businesses can face, owing to the risks of advanced spyware and malware attacks that are exceptionally difficult to trace. cPanel & WHM Version 60 utilizes PowerDNS to provide sufficient protection of users’ zones from the scale of attacks using DNSSEC, which is regarded as among the internet’s most reputable exploit vectors. With greater web-security comes less risks of data loss and corruption, leading to an improved and safer website experience for visitors.

Enhanced User Experience

The Style Management interface from WHM promises less tediousness and more convenience in downloading, uploading, handling all Paper Lantern themes from WHM. The interface enables you to customize your control panel by adding images, colors, and custom branding tools that can make your user experience truly unique and personal.

More importantly, it’s hundreds of available plugins and applications allow you to install and manage widgets and tools necessary for offering a distinct and rewarding experience to visitors. The distinct personality of your website by utilizing different tools and widgets will serve as a key differentiator of your website with that of competitors. This can enhance your website appeal and pull more customers to your business.

Productive Usage of Emails

It is irritating when emails pile up and clutter your inbox to the point that you can’t properly stay track of your most important ones. With cPanel & WHM Version 60, however, users can set their trash files to automatically dump emails from the File Manager after a number of days have passed. More importantly, email queues can also be kept clean by rejecting incoming email at SMTP time. This improves your productivity and allows you to stay updated with regards to the most urgent and pressing emails.

In short, the aforementioned features and benefits included in cPanel & WHM Version 60 offer tremendous advantages to both users and visitors. Keeping this in mind, you can optimize your website and achieve goals successfully.

 

FastWebHost is happy to offer cPanel / WHM on our affordable web hosting plans to make your life easier.  We have been a serious cpanel hosting provider since the last decade and will continue to use this amazing tool for its simplicty, powerful features, stability and widespread acceptance.

What Is SSL And Why You Need It

You might have noticed how you need to put an extra ‘s’ next to ‘http’ of a URL to access it. The extra ‘s’ is referred to as Secure Sockets Layer or SSL. This is important for accessing websites that are encrypted to prevent abuse from hackers.

However, there is more to SSL than simply adding a letter in the URL. In fact, it offers many advantages for ecommerce websites that can be of use to your online business. In this post, we offer all there is to know about SSL.

What Is SSL?

According to SSL.com,
SSL is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browser remains private.

Put simply, SSL is an advanced level of encryption technology that makes use of key algorithms to provide a safe and secure web browsing experience. The way SSL works is that the encryption technology is activated as soon as the connection is made between the algorithms. So every time a user logs onto a website, all website data is encrypted and shielded from third party access.

Why Is It Used?

SSL serves a crucial role in maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive information and shielding it from third parties. All details pertaining to account login details, such as passwords and usernames, as well as credit card details. Without SSL certificates, the data would be shared on any device or computer, increasing security risks.

SSL certificates are particularly important and relevant for today, owing to an aggressively expanding cyber security industry to curb the influence and dangers of hackers. Several large and established companies have experienced leaked customer and employee accounts and other important information that has discredited their reputation and credibility.

Why It Is Important For Your Ecommerce Website?

Due to the aforementioned reasons, SSL certificates provide excellent resources for safeguarding your ecommerce business from the risk of leaked or corrupted data. Building safe and secure ecommerce transaction platforms are not only crucial for your business, but also impart trust and reliability to customers that they can purchase good and service without worrying of credit card fraud and theft.

For example, PayPal’s visible green symbol that reflects their SSL certificate gives customers great confidence and trust that they are making a secure financial transaction. Such a trust is vital to building your online business and for marketing your brand across thousands of customers.

The other advantage of SSL is authentication. This means that you can be 100 percent sure that you are sending sensitive information to the correct server and not to a hacker who will exploit your details. SSL, thus, enables you to operate in a safe and secure zone through which you can order supplies and equipment for your online business without any qualms.

It is also now required to have SSL certificates for complying with PCI (Payment Card Industry) standards. In other words, having a secure and high level SSL certificate is necessary to operate your e-commerce website.

We at FastWebHost provide FREE SSL for our customers on certain plans. SSL as an add-on can also be purchased. Read more here.

Top 5 WordPress Cache Plugins

WordPress is the most popular content management system out there. It is used by 25% of the websites on the web. WordPress is great when it comes to design and functionality. But, it lacks in-built caching capabilities.

So, what exactly is caching?

Caching is the method of storing temporary data to improve website loading time. Caching your website not only improve user experience but also help your website to rank higher on Google.

And you will need to install cache plugin to make sure that your WordPress website is as fast as possible.

The good news is that there are some awesome WordPress cache plugins that you can use to make your site faster. So without any delay, let’s get started with Top 5 WordPress Cache Plugins.

Top 5 WordPress Cache Plugins

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is one of the most advanced cache plugins out there. The plugin has more than 1+ million active installations. The plugin offers easy customizable options. Moreover, the plugin is free of cost!

To get started, you simply have to install the free version. You can customize the plugin if you know how to do it or you can also use the simple “one-click” setup option. W3 Total Cache uses GZIP compression and file minification to ensure proper caching for your website.

W3 Total Cache also comes with premium extensions which further improve the plugin functionality.

Download

WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache is yet another popular WordPress cache plugin. Just like W3 Total Cache, it is easy to install and work with. This plugin offers easy to use options. It also comes with mod_rewrite option so that the static pages are delivered faster compared to the legacy caching options. However, if your website doesn’t support mod_rewrite, you can opt to use the legacy aching mode.

Other key features that WP Super Cache comes with are CDN support, HTML and CSS minification, GZIP and good interface. Also, you can use the plugin free of cost!

Download

WP Rocket

If you are looking for a paid cache plugin that comes with all the features from the get-go, then WP Rocket is for you. It is a paid plugin and is worth every single penny you spend on it. It is built with user simplicity in mind. Hence, you will find it easy to install and configure.

The key features that WP Rocket offers are GZIP, cache preloading, HTML, CSS and JavaScript concatenation and minification. It also comes with lazy load image feature which makes images load only when users scroll down. You can also integrate WP Rocket with CloudFare and optimize Google Fonts HTTP requests.

Download

WP Fastest Cache

Our fourth cache plugin is the WP Fastest Cache. It comes in par with the other free plugins on our list. Just like other cache plugins, it aims to deliver fast loading times by using popular cache mechanisms such as static HTML file, GZIP, mod_rewrite, cache for mobile devices and much more.

It also does performance optimization by minifying HTML and CSS, leveraging browser caching, combining CSS and JS.

Download

Comet Cache

Our last plugin is Comet Cache. Comet Cache is a perfect plugin to improve your site speed. It works differently compared to other plugins by taking snapshots of every category, page, post, etc. Once done, it stores the cache and delivers the cache when a user requests the site. If there are new changes, it simply rebuilds the cache.

The plugin is easy to install, and you can access all the features from the dashboard. Furthermore, it offers a PRO version which comes with more features. So, if you like the free version, you should check out the PRO features.

Download

Which one should you get?

Now you must be thinking which plugin should you get? For starters, using a free plugin is always a good idea. They can use WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache as they are not only popular but have a strong community backing up. If you know what you are doing and want the best, it is recommended to go with WP Rocket.

So, which one you decided to choose? Comment below and let us know.

5 Best WordPress Business Themes

If you are operating an online business, you already know how important it is to have a website that reflects your business. Creating one, however, means investing a huge amount of money and time. Thankfully, we have WordPress. WordPress ecosystem is known for offering great themes and plugins.

In this article, we will list the five best WordPress business themes. All these themes are handpicked and offer great features and design. All the themes are apt for promoting your business online and will always give a lasting impression on the audience.

5 Best WordPress Business Themes

Divi

Divi is a complete WordPress theme with a focus on innovation. It is termed as the “Ultimate” theme and also comes with a visual page builder. The biggest selling point of this theme is that it comes with 20+ layout templates. All these templates are customizable to the core, with real time design.

Divi is also an excellent choice for new businesses as it supports drag and drop builder. This means that you don’t have to hire a developer to do all the work. If you can use the builder effectively, you can create a professional website in a span of few hours.

Key Features

  • SEO Friendly
  • Completely responsive design
  • 46 content elements
  • Premade layouts

Demo

TheGem

The Gem is an excellent theme that is modern, elegant and offers high performance. The theme is designed for creatives. That’s why the theme offers 70+ creative concepts which can be used by individuals, agencies, hotels, bloggers, business and many more! At the time of writing, the theme is also going for only $39 which is a steal deal in itself.

The Gem is also one of the cleanest theme out there. It offers unlimited creativity with the help of 150+ pre-made creative demo pages. Each demo page can further be adjusted with 250+ styles.

Key Features

  • WooCommerce support
  • Comes with Visual Composer
  • Premium sliders
  • SEO friendly and mobile responsive

Demos

ZerifPro

It is common to see one-page layout themes used by businesses. ZerifPro is one such theme that offers one-page layout and flexible interface. It also comes with drag and drop builder so that you can shape your website the way you like.

So, what makes ZerifPro amazing? First, it is compatible with page builders. So, if you like a particular page builder, you can go with it and customize it!

Key Features

  • Great support
  • Optimized for speed
  • Supports Translation and it is RTL ready
  • SEO friendly

Demos

Studio8

Studio8 is a premium modern website aimed at Creative Professionals, Photographs, Web Designers, Filmmakers, Agencies, Photographs, and Architects. The theme is visually appealing and offers great features and functionality. Its modern outlook enables business owners to create sites that can appeal a modern audience with a great user experience.

The theme is built on latest WordPress practice and hence have clean code. This also makes it SEO friendly and fast.

Key Features

  • WooCommerce support
  • Responsive design
  • Advance theme options
  • Multilingual ready

Demo

X-Theme

X-Theme is one of the most selling themes with over 170,613 copies sold at the time of writing. It is dubbed  as the “last theme you will have to buy.” As you might have guessed by now, it is a fully functional theme with tons of templates, elements and plugins to play with. It also comes with a front-end page builder.

The theme can be a little bulky and you might want to get rid of extra plugins that you don’t need. However, the theme is SEO friendly and loads fast if done right.

Key Features

  • Live editing
  • Stacks which help you get started.
  • Cornerstone page builder

Conclusion

Business themes make it easy for anyone to set up their online business. So, what do you think about the themes listed above? Comment below and let us know.

To stay afloat, business needs not only to have a great website but also require a good hosting. At XonHost, we understand businesses and their requirements. Get a hosting now according to your budget and make the most out of your online presence.

5 Best WordPress Backup Plugins

Backups are important. It doesn’t matter if it is your computer or your online website, backups can help you stay at peace. WordPress ecosystem works well with backups. You can also do manual backups or ask your website hosting company to provide backups for you.

However, there is one more way you can backup your WordPress website, i.e., by using backup plugins. In this article, we will go through the five best WordPress backup plugins. All the plugins are top-notch and will help you backup your website in the best possible way.

So, without any delay, let’s get started.

5 Best WordPress Backup Plugins

BackUpWordPress

Our first plugin on the list is the BackUpWordPress. With this plugin, you can backup your watch with a simple process. It comes in both free and premium version. The plugin helps you to set proper schedule to backup your website and it is compatible with the latest version of WordPress.

If you are looking for more features, it is advised to go for the PRO version as it will give you more control over the whole backup process.

BackupBuddy

If you are looking for the best possible backup plugin out there, don’t look further than BackupBuddy. So, what makes it so special? Firstly, it doesn’t come with a subscription model, like the other paid plugins. Secondly, it comes with tons of features!

By using BackupBuddy, you can schedule your website backup the way you want. It can be daily, weekly or monthly. It also provides an easy way to monitor your backup using their Stash service. Also, you can save backups to popular online cloud storage services such as Rackspace cloud, Dropbox or Amazon S3. It also supports FTP backup. The plugin has great documentation and regular updates as well.

BackWPUp

BackWPup is easy to use backup plugin. It comes with all features that you would need. Moreover, it is a free plugin. To use the plugin, you just need to set it up once.

The plugin can be used to store backups either in the cloud or your computer. The cloud platforms that are currently supported is Amazon S3, Rackspace, Dropbox, etc. For desktop, it supports email and FTP. You can also schedule backups

UdraftPlus

Just like all the other plugins on the list, UdraftPlus offers both free and paid version. With this plugin, you can easily backup your WordPress powered website. It can also be used to backup on cloud or computer. All you need to do is schedule the backups and set the desired location. You can store backups on Google Drive, Rackspace, Dropbox, and so on.

It also offers backup to work through FTP and SFTP. If your website is not big, you can also try the email backup option. Overall, the plugin is a great pick as it offers excellent features with decent support.

VaultPress

VaultPress is a paid backup service offered by the creator of WordPress itself, Matt Mullenweg. It comes preloaded with one of the most popular WordPress plugin, JetPack. However, it stays disabled by default. To use it, you need to buy subscription plan which starts at just $3.50 per month.

VaultPress provides a one-click backup solution. Monitoring your website is also easy. Overall, VaultPress is a great choice if you want the best possible backup solution. However, it does come with some drawbacks such as limited archive period of 30 days.

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This brings us to the end of our article. Our hosting services come with automatic backups. Still, it is a good idea to backup your website regularly using backup plugins that we have mentioned in the post. Do let us know which plugin you are thinking to use!

Pro Tip: Check out our WordPress hosting plans which already include automatic backups!

Top Advantages of WordPress in 2018

WordPress loves to be at the center stage of the CMS. And why not? It is the most used CMS out there. However, you might be thinking of moving to other content management system. There are also many content platforms such as Medium that can provide you better value for your content marketing efforts. However, there are many reasons you should stick with WordPress for better content marketing outreach.

Top Advantages of WordPress in 2018

In this article, we will discuss the top advantages of WordPress in 2018 and why you stick to it. So, without any wait, let’s get started.

1. Continuous Updates

WordPress is an old CMS. It has continuously improved from its first inception in 2001 with a major release every three to four months. Also, WordPress open source status helped it grow to new heights. Just like any other open source solution, WordPress is regularly updated with new features and bug fixes. At the time of writing, the latest version of WordPress that you can use is 4.9.4. Major releases are done almost every two or three months.

2. A great ecosystem with new themes to choose from.

WordPress ecosystem is what makes it a great CMS. It has a thriving community aimed to provide excellent themes, both free and paid. The theme collection for WordPress is full of options and surprises. If you have a relatively new business who are looking to build an online presence, WordPress is the best choice. WordPress has a lot of premium business themes to choose from. It also comes with important business plugins such as Contact Form 7, Sliders, and so on. There are also free themes that are available in the market that you can use.

3. The ability to choose new functionality thanks to plugins.

Plugins are also part of the WordPress ecosystem and help you add new functionality to your website. So, if you are looking to add a new feature to your website, you can just check the WordPress plugin repository and install the plugin. If for some reason, you need to add a feature that is unique and you cannot find any related plugin in the free or paid market, you can always hire WordPress plugin developer to built it for you. There are plenty of WordPress related talent available on the market.

4. It is still simple to use

Yes, you read it right. Even with a lot of updates and releases, it is still easy to use for both new and experienced users. Usability is a key factor that should never be ignored. WordPress was always simple to use from its inception, and the developers have kept it that way. It is still very easy to install WordPress and use it.

5. SEO compatible

SEO is important to improve online presence If your site is not SEO compatible, you will find it hard to reach your target audience. WordPress is a great CMS that is SEO compatible. Moreover, it also comes with great SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO that gives you the ability to make your website even more SEO-friendly.

Conclusion

WordPress is one of the best free-to-use and open source content management system. Its online presence is growing every year. The developers behind WordPress also care about the project and ensure that it gets regular updates and bug fixes. All-in-all, WordPress is still a great choice in 2018. It is still easy to use, offers a great ecosystem of themes and plugins, and so on.

So, what do you think about WordPress being relevant in 2018? Comment below and let us know.