If we look further, currently WordPress is used by almost 30% of websites worldwide. Wow! A very fantastic number in my opinion. (Source: The Register )
WordPress has also transformed into a CMS ( content management system ) platform that can be used for many things. And I really like this, because we can optimize it for the basic needs of a business website, such as a company profile , instant online shop, online product catalog, and blog, WordPress is very sufficient.
Why WordPress?
Yes, the success of WordPress is none other than because WordPress is relatively easy to use, starting from the installation, setup, management, and support of a solid WordPress community to build this WordPress platform ecosystem. So that we can easily find various kinds of tutorials and tips on using WordPress on the internet.
Even high school kids, if you really want to focus on learning WordPress, you can make a live website LIVE without using it for long.
Just try Googling using keywords such as: how to create a website , how to create a blog , how to create WordPress , and so on. So we will find lots of quality references discussing WordPress tutorials and tips on how to use them.
Apart from that, there are several other reasons why I love WordPress.
- Free, open source application.
- SEO friendly, friendly to search engines.
- It's practical, it's not complicated to install.
- Its use is very scalable , adjusting needs.
- Can be multi-user , can be used for many managers in one site.
- Easy to customize, both from the back end and front end .
- Flexible, can be used for various needs by adding plugin features .
- There is a wide selection of great WordPress theme designs , most of which are also free.
- WordPress Search Trends on Google Trends
- Oh yes, has anyone tried the Google Trends feature? If not, you can try checking here: google.co.id/trends
Google Trends is a really cool tool. We can see the search result statistics from time to time for the keywords we want.
And to use it, free tissue paper. Just try to compare it with the costs of marketing research and surveys incurred by large companies to get customer or potential data. Expensive!
So, this time, on Google Trends, I want to check the results of the search statistics for keywords - WordPress . And the graph results from time to time, it turns out that WordPress search tends to be stable, the ups and downs are also a little bit.
Please see the following graph, these are the search results for the Worldwide area, within the last 5 years.
And these are the search results for the Indonesian area, within the last 1 year.
Okay, maybe the data is not very specific, but I just want to show that there are still a lot of people looking for information about WordPress. And this is an opportunity!
These are some derivative keywords that are related to the keyword “WordPress”.
Where there are many searches, there are many potential sources of traffic. And in the world of the internet, where there is traffic, that's where there is business opportunity .
WordPress Business Opportunity
Now I will discuss a little about business opportunities using WordPress , especially for those of you who like to help / help others. In this case, the business of the people who are around you.
What are some things you can do?
Offers website creation services , for businesses that are still offline and want to be online.
Creating a WordPress theme or plugin, whose market today is also more attractive and worth entering.
Opening a web maintenance service (webmaster), for people who are super busy and don't have time to manage their website.
Content writing, both as a freelance writer and as a regular contributor.
WordPress Consultant , for people who want to customize their WordPress website.
And much more.
But in the context of this topic, from the opportunities above, I want to limit the provision of website creation services and webmaster services .
Because I see this opportunity is relatively practical to do, and does not require a lot of financial capital. After all, this business model is what I've been doing. So that I can tell a little lengthy.
Helping Other People's Businesses Using WordPress
We can see, nowadays there are so many businesses that we could only find offline, suddenly appear online.
For example, people selling clothes, who previously only opened shops in markets, at home, in shop houses, or in crowded centers, are now also starting to take advantage of the internet by setting up online shops.
There is another, car repair shop, which previously we only got offline promotion (roadside, billboards, banners, etc.), has now started to use websites and social media to expand the reach of its promotions and the online booking process. Especially if the repair shop already has a network / branch in another place, then this website will be used as a means to inform the workshop in other cities.
Indomaret and Alfamart, which we can find almost every 200-300 meters along the memory road, uh ... mean a busy road, so now also have started serving orders via online by building their online shopping portal.
So, if they can, why don't we help the businesses around us, especially SME-scale businesses, also online? Even though there are so many conveniences to create a website in the NOW era.
On the one hand, in fact we can also collaborate with producers as their online marketing agents, so that we can receive commissions from the sales generated. Or, become a reseller, affiliate marketer, even a dropshiper.
Especially if we look at the number of imported products coming in, which are cheap in price, and their quality can compete in the local market. Indirectly, it can kill the potential of local products which should be huge, just because they cannot compete in this internet era.
Here you can also become an agent of development for this growing economy. With programming skills, webmasters, or at least being able to install WordPress, will later be able to help those businesses grow and compete online.
With the existence of a website, it can really help SME entrepreneurs to market their businesses in reaching various regions easily. Because anyone who has internet access, of course, can see his business website.
Business Flow
In my more than 5 years as a web builder / webmaster, there are several crucial stages in this business model that you might be able to reference as a template.
To provide an overview of the business process, here are the stages:
- Determine the services to be provided.
- Create your website / service sales stalls.
- Promotion (SEO, SMO, paid and free traffic ).
- Sales and transactions.
- Build customer relation intimacy .
- Workflow
- In dealing with clients, the processes that are running are usually not always standardized. In that sense, it can adjust the needs and complexity of the project to be worked on.
Sometimes when someone finds it, they immediately deal with it to make the website not take long. But sometimes there are also those whose web development process takes a long time, because there are many things that need to be adjusted or even design changes in the middle of the development period.
And as long as I have been involved in this field, the following are more or less common stages, namely:
- Web urgency , the phase where people begin to feel they need a website.
- Selection of website address (domain), along with the type of website to be created.
- Selection of website design and layout, as well as the preparation of the website structure.
- Delivery of material and website content, by clients.
- Website creation, by web developer.
- Submission of finished website results.
- Revision (if any).
- Maintenance support.
- Once again I remind you, during this process, the order can change, increase, or decrease. So it can be flexible to adjust conditions in the field.
WordPress Business Tools
As a WordPress enthusiast, I myself often position myself as a consultant, or partner to vent online business for customers. They can freely tell about their business needs, and also what they want to achieve with the help of the internet.
Although this ultimately required me to learn more about the world of digital marketing strategy, for clients, we are the closest people who can be asked for information about business prospects in the online realm.
I think this is important, because not all clients understand technical language. And it is our job to translate client needs into a solution that will appear on the website features.
Especially for myself, I realized that my skill capacity was not in coding or programming . Honestly, I still have a lot to learn on this one thing.
However, WordPress makes it easier. Because I only have "can install WordPress" as a capital, I can start this business model and thank God it is still running until now.
Even so, that doesn't mean we go to the battlefield empty-handed, right ... that's ridiculous. At least equip ourselves with investing in understanding WordPress more than ever before. The rest, can be adjusted according to your abilities when running this business.
So, to support the work process to make it more professional, here are some reference tools and what we can prepare and use during the business process.
Your own business website.
- Premium WordPress themes - Themeforest , StudioPress, Divi by Elegant Themes.
- Premium WordPress plugin - Codecanyon .
- Billing applications - WooCommerce, WHMCS.
- Hosting / VPS / dedicated server partners - Webhostmu , Hawk Host , Digital Ocean , Vultr , IDcloudhost, Niagahoster.
- Domain reseller partners - Resellercamp, Resellerclub.
- WordPress website management tool in one place - ManageWP.
- Project management application - Trello.
- Chat apps - Tawkto, WhatsApp Business.
- Design apps - Canva, Photoshop CS3.
- Code editor - Sublime Text, Notepad ++
- Imagery source - Pixabay, Unsplash, Graphicriver .
- Email marketing & SMTP Service - Mailchimp / Mandrill, SendinBlue, Send.Email, Mail Target, Elastic Email, Mailpoet / Wysija, The Newsletter Plugin, Mailster .
- Each of these tools can be tailored to the needs and capacities of each. And maybe you can also find substitutes for these tools if you are more comfortable using them, or are more suitable for your needs.
After all, not all of these tools are needed at first, depending on the target market you want to target and serve.
What is clear, it is better to control emotions in the soul when looking at promos / discounts on internet marketing tools and websites, which we might think are good if we use them.
Believe it, the reality on the ground, sometimes you will not use all the tools later. Even just a collection of deposits on the hard drive only. (Hehehe, personal experience if this)
However, if your exploration needs and budget are very, very sufficient, then go ahead. It's okay.
Finally…
Come to think of it, there are more doctors than the number of patients in a hospital. There are more people who understand machinery with people who bring their vehicles to the workshop for repair.
Which is more, people can create websites, with business owners who want their business to go online. And which one is faster, go online using WordPress, or create from the scratch .
I think you know the answer.
Therefore, help them. We know that people's buying patterns have started to shift to online shopping. Help local businesses go online. Convince them that their business can grow without having to close their offline business.
Don't worry about the profit you can get from the WordPress business model.
The potential income in the WordPress world is still very large, and of course it will also follow along with the increasing flight hours and our foresight to see opportunities.
Good business is what makes other people happy. And we can get even more profit by making other people happier and more satisfied with our help.
All right, hopefully in the future there will be more synergy between WordPress enthusiasts and business owners to create a symbiotic mutualism, and also more and more businesses will feel the benefits of the internet for their business continuity.