WordPress is used by 28% of the entire internet to create everything from hobby blogs to some of the most famous sites online. Akiko Design has developed and hosted over 200 WordPress sites for clients including Surrey Chambers of Commerce, Healthista, BioGreen and Soaper Duper.
Vanden Horner, WordPress Development Director at Akiko Design, puts the success of the open source content management system down to a number of key factors and explains how WordPress ‘out of the box’ can be further enhanced...
CLIENT CONTROL
WordPress makes it extremely easy for clients to update and take control of their own websites. Once we have designed and created a website and provided basic training, clients are able to edit the navigation of their sites as well as all the content. There are over 45,000 WordPress plugins that allow for unlimited website functionality including online stores, image/video galleries, mailing lists, forums and analytics.
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
It is now a given that for a website to perform well, it needs to be optimised for mobile. We use Responsive Web Design to ensure that our websites are delivered seamlessly to different devices. There are various WordPress plugins that allow the administrator to switch between the different views, to check how the content looks on mobile and tablet, and build for all devices simultaneously.
SEO FRIENDLINESS
We strive to improve the performance of our clients’ websites in organic search which, in turn, increases their visibility and visitor numbers. We employ numerous techniques before and after a site is launched to ensure it performs as well as possible.
WordPress ‘out of the box’ is already considered to be a good platform for SEO, however, it can be further improved with the use of a plugin such as Yoast SEO that ensures sites contain the type of content search engines love. Yoast SEO checks the content
of pages and posts, and applies a score along with tips on how to improve their SEO performance.
MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT
For clients wishing to include apps in their digital offering, plugins are available to quickly and easily convert WordPress websites into full- featured mobile applications, that will work on iOS and Android. Once built, the mobile app can be synchronised with a client’s website so all content changes appear automatically on both.
FUTURE PROOFING
Every piece of WordPress generated code is in full compliance with the standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This means that websites powered by WordPress will work in today’s browsers, while maintaining forward compatibility with the next generation of browser.
New WordPress plugins are constantly in development allowing us to add new functionality to clients’ websites quickly and cost effectively; WordPress also enables easy integration with other software and new technologies.
SECURITY
WordPress itself is a very secure platform but by moving all our WordPress websites to industry leader, WP Engine, to host, we can guarantee bulletproof security for clients. Furthermore, sites hosted by WP Engine run four to six times faster than on other environments, satisfying even the most impatient of users!
www.akikodesign.com Tel: 01483 510 510
