WordPress has become a juggernaut on par with other internet giants like Google and Facebook while it shows no sign of slowing down. Even with its growth, it is still seen by many as just a blogging tool. True, WordPress did begin humbly as a platform for bloggers, but its functionality has vastly expanded since then. Let’s take a closer look at some things you may not have realized about WordPress.
Live Chat
In an age where customers want instant solutions, WordPress allows you to live chat with customers. Not only does live chat enhance your customer service, it presents opportunity for sales as well. With plugins such as WP Live Chat Support and Tawk.To Live Chat, your customer relations will improve along with your customer’s loyalty.
Book an Appointment
WordPress empowers your customers to see availability and set their own appointments. Some plugins will even export the appointment to the most commonly used calendars. There are also appointment plugins that utilize WooCommerce (an e-commerce plugin we will get to shortly) if your appointments require a down or full payment. A few of the more functional scheduling plugins are Bookly, Gravity Forms, and BirchPress Scheduler.
Sell Services or Goods
WordPress has made it easy to sell products and services on their platform. Plugins are simple and anyone can add them. WooCommerce, it is the most popular e-commerce plugin by far. Its popularity is understandable with integration to PayPal and premium extensions to that allow shipping through couriers like FedEx, UPS and USPS. You can perform check and bank transfers, manage inventory, track numbers with Google Analytics; among other things. Enough really can’t be said about the functionality and ease of WooCommerce, it is in part responsible for the exponential growth of WordPress.
If you are selling a product like music, videos, or books through WordPress then use Easy Digital Downloads, the name is self explanatory as to its functionality. You can sell your media files anywhere on the globe with Easy Digital Downloads and it will translate into multiple languages. It is also accepts multiple payment types, allows unlimited downloads, and allows you to track download activity.
Invoice Customers
With all the sales you can make through WordPress e-commerce plugins it stands to reason you would want an invoicing plugin. Sprout Invoices makes the job of invoicing your customer much easier. It allows for various types of invoicing, provides payment methods, creates PDF copies, and has a client dashboard to keep track of invoices.
List Real Estate
One of the surprising things about WordPress is that realtors can use it to manage their listings. You can do this by integrating real estate functionality into your site. One plugin that can help you with real estate is WP-Property. You don’t need to know how to code to add this plugin and it is fully customizable. You can add fields for things such as bathrooms, closets, bedrooms, features, and price to name a few. It also can be localized on Google Maps. There are other plugins that can help like WPL Real Estate and Easy Property Listings.
There is so much more WordPress can do, these items are the tip of the iceberg. The bottom line is that WordPress has become an adaptable platform with multiple uses. If there is a type of business you want to use WordPress for, there is probably a plugin for it (or will be soon). WordPress is now being used by large corporations and small business alike and has leveled the playing field. So, now you know that WordPress can be used for more than you thought, let MosierData help you take advantage of its flexibility.