In external marketing, there are a few rules.
- Talk the talk.
- Walk the walk.
- Talk the walk.
(Most people forget this step. Yes, it’s okay to flaunt your site. In fact, it’s encouraged.)
Critical Items
When looking for the ideal site to showcase your work, there are some items to consider:
- Drag and drop page builder
- Responsive (this makes it mobile and tablet friendly) and retina ready
- Banners and theme sliders
- E-commerce integration (to accept immediate payments)
- Color and layout editors
- Boxed for full-screen layouts
- Shortcodes (for easier display manipulations)
Are All WordPress Themes the Same? No.
First, I encourage you to use WordPress. It’s the best for more reasons that I care to list. Second, not all themes are the same.
Don’t pay over $60 for a premium theme. It’s ludicrous. In fact, you could get some decent ones for $19 on ThemeForest.net.
Furthermore, I encourage ThemeForest.net as a resource because the themes are coded consistently, so that you could switch to other themes easily. For example, if you start building galleries in some awful custom theme, you won’t be able to migrate it to another theme.
Hosting
Where you host is super important. I’ve tried Bluehost, GoDaddy, and others. They’re all okay if you’re on a $3/month budget, which I don’t recommend for businesses. The reason is because they’re shared servers, which means that one server could host 40 other sites on it. If one gets infected, you all get infected / hacked.
I use WP Engine because it has daily backups of my database and securities up the wazoo. After getting hacked four times, I ponied up and paid the premium since, after all, I am running a business. The downtime outweighs the costs.
SEO
In the photo/creative industry, (I’m going to talk the walk now) I am the best. Don’t believe me? See here.
Having your site found by those who matter is just as important as having a nice site.
So, which WordPress theme defines you?
Cheers,
Lawrence Chan
TOFURIOUS 