Drupal, Wordpress And SEO Guru

WordPress is known as one of the best (if not the best) software platforms for blogging. With the introduction of Version 2.7 WordPress is even better; among other things, the software now can be updated with a single click from its dashboard. What does make WordPress a great platform for a CMS (Content Management System) or even for a website?

Adding the appropriate plugins, WordPress can be personalized for your exact needs. I usually add these plugins: antispam, a SEO module, XML sitemap generator, a statistical system for tracking visitors, a back-up module and a social bookmarking system. Depending by my customers’ needs I also add an eCommerce module, which includes a complete cart and payment system and other useful modules.

Advantages of using WordPress as CMS, website and/or eCommerce:

• robust software that can be personalized by one of the many WordPress specialists available
• the website’s owner can update pages without hiring a webmaster/web designer
• the code of the whole website, is W3C compliant and Search Engine friendly, helping you being visible to Search Engines
• the layout of the website can be changed, simply re-designing the theme
• it’s a less expensive proposition, than designing a website from scratch
• a blog can be integrated seamlessly into the system

The major disadvantage I found using WordPress as CMS, is the limited “freedom” in the layout of pages. In my opinion this is an advantage, because sometimes this “freedom” comes with a price: the layout of pages can be confusing and not Search Engine friendly. Remember that a “cutting edge” design is not always appreciated by your website’s visitors.

The main goals of a website should be a design that show your business philosophy and that can be easily found with a search through one of the major Search Engines. Using WordPress as CMS, you prepare your website for a future Search Engine Optimization strategy. The majority of my SEO customers have badly designed websites; they paid sometimes over $5,000 to have an useless, but “cutting edge” website. When they realize that their website is invisible to Search Engines, they ask for help to an SEO Engineer such as myself; often  they need a complete redesign of the website, but the problem is that they feel to have wasted those $5,000 and resist to a positive change. For this reason I insist that SEO is something you should have in mind when you are thinking about a website, not after you already have it! My “recipe” will result in money saved designing AND promoting your website. Unfortunately the majority of website designers have a vague idea of SEO; they think that SEO is just adding some “tags” to the code; it is like saying that in order to be a good doctor, you only need to give aspirin to your patients!