Make Your WordPress Website Look Professional
If you want your website to reflect your professionalism, you must make it look professional. This is very important for Internet professionals (web developers, SEOs, online commerce professionals), but could be true for anyone who is advertising their services online (such as doctors, engineers, musicians) using their own website. A lot of options are available to make this happen; one of the best approaches involves using WordPress.
WordPress is open source web publishing/CMS (Content Management System) software that can be used by any professional to publish their services or content online. As of 2009, no other CMS can beat the flexibility, reliability and cost effectiveness of WordPress. It is very flexible; you can customized it without limits as long as it works. It is very reliable because it does not have any major bugs that can affect a site’s operation (assuming you use the latest version). It is very affordable in terms of cost because it is entirely FREE!
This article will outline important points of how to develop the latest features of WordPress so that your WordPress-based site will look very professional.
Factors affecting website professionalism
On the Internet, where people do not know you, no one will believe you are a professional if your website looks terrible. Think of your website as an online business card; it should completely reflect what you are and should answer some very basic questions that are often missed in website design and development.
Who Are You
The first question many visitors to your site will want answered is “who is this person?” You should include your name on the website, particularly in the About Section. It is hard to trust a website without names involved.
You know, these days a lot of scams happen on the Internet, so people are more cautious than ever. For that reason alone, you should include your complete name on your website. If you use a pseudonym (as many writers do), make sure it is very clear on your website, and specify which other reputable websites visitors can reference for more information about your pseudonym. If you cannot provide this, you should provide your original and complete name.
The second question many visitors want to know the answer to is “where do you live?” It is useful to include your real business location; state it very clearly on your website. It is surprising, but I surf a lot of websites belonging to so-called “professionals” on which I could not even find their address.
This is a big turn-off, because it looks like you are hiding something. You should not hide your address; spammers and other scammers are known to avoid giving a very clear address.
The next question many visitors may want answered is “how can I contact you?” Think about it; it make sense that if you are advertising yourself as a professional, you should be available for people to contact you. Make sure visitors to your website will easily find your contact details, including:
- Your exact name or pseudonym.
- Contact address (for postal mail).
- Email address.
- Phone number (toll free,or any customer support land line number).
- Fax number.
Include this information in the contact section of your website.
What is Your Business
After the basics, many visitors may wonder what you look like, and more importantly, what your background is. A mysterious image does not suit a professional, especially if we’re talking about the Internet. You should include your photo and some background about your career. Provide information about your education, some professional references, how you came up with your business idea, etc.
Another question you should be able to answer for visitors is “is your business legally registered?” For example, if you are dentist, make sure you can provide your professional license number on the contact page. If you are starting an online business as a single proprietorship, you can even include your business registration number with your official business name.
To further gain the trust of visitors to your website, consider showing them your professional affiliations. For example, if you are professional electrical engineer and you are affiliated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), you can mention on your website that you are a member of that organization.
There are several other important factors that you’ll need to display on your site to make it professional-looking.
1. Terms and Conditions. Under this heading you can outline the terms of use/terms of service that are connected to the content and services offered by your website.
2. Privacy Policy. Do not underestimate the importance of a privacy statement. Most people are concerned about their privacy and will want to read this to know if you respect and protect their privacy while they use your website.
3. Testimonials. Consider showing your visitors successful and real stories about your business and profession. You’ll find that they are often very interested in reading these. Testimonials can help turn a normal visitor into a customer.
4. Frequently Asked Questions. I’ve encountered several websites without this. It is wrong to assume that your content is entirely clear. In most cases, once visitors read and get to know you and your services, they will usually go to the Frequently Asked Questions to know the details of your services, instead of going to the contact form to send you some questions.
Tweaking WordPress
Now we know the factors affecting the website’s professional appearance, it’s time to list what WordPress tweaks need to be made to include these items in the site. Let’s get started.
First, avoid making your WordPress site look like a “Blog.” Visitors came to the site to get to know your services (and possibly avail themselves of them), not to read your blog. So you’ll need to take out the default WordPress navigation menu which is completely irrelevant to the purpose of your website. For example, you’ll need to get rid of “Recent Post,” tag-related links (such as Browse by Tags), meta information, and category (your site may have categories, but this part of WordPress’s navigatio is intended for use with blog posts).
Second, when you publish content as outlined above (examples: About Us, Terms and Conditions, Testimonials, etc) , ALWAYS USE PAGES, NOT POSTS. Using posts is not recommended as it will make your WordPress website looks like a blog.
Third, use a static front page. This will ensure you have an entirely static home page which will not change if you add new pages. A static front page is important to a professional-looking website; it lets you provide consistent information and gives you full control of your home page content.
In order to set a static front page, follow this simple procedure in WordPress 2.8:
Step 1: Log in in to your WordPress Admin panel.
Step 2: Go to Dashboard -> Settings -> Reading, and then follow the screen shot to the right:
In the example above, note that I am setting the front page to use the page I created, entitled “Home.” So “Home” contains the home page content which I can easily modify through the WordPress CMS if it needs to be changed (for example, adding new services you are offering).
Fourth, use a professionally made banner. A banner is a big factor in website professionalism; the image there should “DIRECTLY” associate with the service you are offering. For example, if you are a dentist, you might have a banner of people smiling and exposing their beautiful teeth.
Do not rely on the WordPress theme banner; it needs to be changed to perfectly match with your services. If you are not confident in designing your banner, let a website banner designing professional do it for you.
Fifth, use a professionally made and trademarked logo. If you are very serious about your business, especially if you’re looking for long-term success, a logo helps to show professionalism. Tips for designing a website logo are out of the scope of this article. My brief advice is to make it directly related to your services, and again consider hiring a professional website logo designer if you are not confident in coming up with your own logo.
Sixth, your WordPress theme should match your services. There are a lot of free WordPress themes; select those that are not graphics-heavy to make your site load faster. If you have some money, you can donate some of it to the theme developers or to the http://Wordpress.org/ .
Make sure to read the terms of use for the theme, so you’ll know that any changes you make will not violate those terms. .
Finally, use SSL (https, secured protocol) for pages that require entering credit card numbers and personal information. If you accept payment online or ask for personal information that might be very sensitive, your use of SSL should be stated in your privacy policy. Installing SSL with your existing WordPress website adds more security and will make your website more trustworthy in the eyes of your clients.