When a homeowner has you install a new HVAC unit for their home, they have to choose what brand or manufacturer you put into place. You have a similar decision to make with your HVAC franchise website. Many options are available to you, but WordPress is a good one to always consider on your shortlist.
WordPress Powers a Lot of the Internet
WordPress is far from the only content management system (or CMS) around, but it also represents a substantial portion of the online world. Consider these facts:
- Approximately 40 percent of all websites, more than 63 million, use WordPress.
- WordPress is used by novices and experts alike.
- It’s available in over 55 different languages.
- The open source network allows for better SEO results.
- There’s plenty of support resources and tutorials out there.
10 Benefits to Using WordPress
The biggest advantage of WordPress is how user-friendly it is to both webmasters and website visitors alike. However, there are also many technical elements that can cater well to SEO efforts for better rankings and traffic to your HVAC website.
1. You Might Get It Free if You Like to DIY
There are many ways you can spend money on WordPress, but the primary model of it is free of charge. Premium features obviously cost money, but even many of them aren’t terribly expensive. If you’re a small business or independent franchise looking to host a high-caliber website without spending much, if anything at all, then WordPress is definitely something to consider.
2. Scalability Matches Your Business Growth
WordPress is great if you’re starting small and hoping to grow your business. The basic version can be enough to run your HVAC website, but as business booms, you can scale it up with new themes and extras. Your website can grow organically with your prosperity so you’ll never have to do a total overhaul of your online domain. This should help solidify your SEO gains over time.
3. A Huge Community Awaits You
Remember the WordPress usage numbers posted earlier? There are millions of other users of this platform online, and there are also people who have made the many add-ons, plug-ins, and themes. No matter what your skill level or question is, you’ll find answers, experience, and tutorials galore online. If you can handle the insides of an air conditioner, then you can handle many technical aspects of WordPress with a little extra education.
4. It’s Easy Anyway
The thing is, you might not have that many questions to start with. The interface of WordPress is simple to use. Just spend an hour with it, and you’ll know all the most crucial functions. You won’t have to hire a full-time web developer for your business just to keep the website up and running.
Things can be made very easy on the user side, as well. Many of the themes available in WordPress makes your website extremely easy to navigate for anyone visiting. Improved user experience is always a huge plus in terms of making a good impression on prospects. Google tends to like to see such things, too.
5. SEO Gets Easier
By itself but also with plug-ins, WordPress can score your various pages based on a number of SEO criteria. You can even get suggestions for:
- Titles
- Meta descriptions
- Keywords
- Alt image text
Use these to optimize your current HVAC content and create more that aligns with what homeowners in your service area are looking for. If you want to learn more about why we prefer WordPress for SEO, schedule your free audit with our team today.
6. Get Indexed Faster
WordPress doesn’t just make things easy for webmasters and website visitors. It also makes things simple for Google’s bots and spiders, as well as other search engines. The faster they can find and crawl your content, the sooner it gets put in their index. Pages that are found quickly rank higher, especially if WordPress helps them load faster. Page response time is a factor growing in importance as Google shifts to mobile-first rankings and more recently, ‘web core vitals’.
7. It’s Secure
If your website is using HTTPS, then you’ve taken a great first step towards user security. WordPress is another great addition because the platform is very secure. Older versions of the software might have some vulnerabilities, but modern versions are extremely mature in terms of their integrity.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t maintenance steps to be aware of! If you don’t update your plugins, theme and WordPress core files frequently, you may open yourself up to the risk of hacking. If that’s something you don’t want to lose sleep over, reach out and we can discuss hosting options.
8. It’s Easy to Blog
WordPress originally started almost 20 years ago as a platform for bloggers. It’s grown considerably since then, but it’s still easy to crank out blog posts quickly and post them easily. You get some serious SEO benefits from updating your website constantly with new content since Google is always looking for what’s fresh. Also, you can publish your content without having to create a new layout for every piece of content.
9. WordPress Is Open Source
Since WordPress code is open source, you get to enjoy two primary advantages:
- Third-Party Options: Closed-source platforms will only work with things that the platform’s creators give you, and that restricts your choices. Open-source platforms let you use third-party plug-ins and tools. You always have more options for your customers when you aren’t restricted to just OEM parts when fixing an air conditioner. You deserve as much choice and freedom with your website.
- Freebies: Third-party tools and plug-ins are usually free of charge at first. There might be premium options and add-ons, but you can use the basic versions without spending any money. If your HVAC marketing budget doesn’t like that, then there’s no telling what would make it happy.
A Quick Word of Caution on Plugins
Sorry to get on my soapbox here, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t caution you against the excessive use of plugins! Use them smartly and only when you can’t get similar functionality through other means. Some plugins add vulnerabilities and may slow down a website. That’s why it’s always best to work with an experienced web development team like Webology when budgets allow.
10. Testimonials Boost Clicks
The longer you spend in the HVAC sector, the more you learn how homeowners have a hard time trusting businesses in this industry. It’s hard to blame them given how many unscrupulous operators might pass through or plague a local market in any given year. Earning trust for your own franchise is hard, but doing it can mean lots of local business. Testimonial sections built into many premium themes for WordPress let prospective customers hear from your previously happy clients.
WordPress Isn’t Alone
Perhaps the most powerful thing about WordPress is that it is far from a standalone utility. Customization is possible, because:
- There are over 58,000 plug-ins available letting you make WordPress exactly what you need.
- These plug-ins have been downloaded more than 600,00,000 times.
You can customize your WordPress site on the front end, the back end, or both. Either way, you can make your site how you want it without sacrificing the user-friendliness WordPress is known for. Also, here’s a pro tip on plugin selection:
The most well managed plugins usually have two things in common:
- Lots of active installs
- Many 4 and 5 star reviews
You can actually see the numbers for both of those metrics right inside of WordPress on the Plugins page.
WordPress Is a Good Start
Using WordPress is a good start towards an effective website, but it’s even better to have industry professionals get under the hood to do some fine-tuning. Any homeowner can install a window unit air conditioner that cools down one room, but they need your professional expertise to enjoy a central unit that cools down their whole home.
In much the same light, you can go a long way with your website on your own, especially if you use WordPress. However, SEO professionals such as ourselves are who can make the most of it. Sign up for our free website audit here to see just how much we can get your website to do for your HVAC franchise.
