One of the biggest hurdles decision makers have to overcome in understanding just how powerful and versatile WordPress is as a web presence platform is one of perception as merely a “blog” (the other is the word “blog” itself, but that’s a topic for another article).  From its humble origins, WordPress has evolved into a full blown Content Management System. Those decision makers with the vision to embrace that fact have been rewarded with a robust and economic resource that rises to the challenges of an ever changing internet landscape. Fueled by one of the most creative user communities in the open-source world, WordPress is the solution of choice for a growing number of businesses; from small groups staking their online claim to some of the largest names in traditional business.

In this ongoing series, I’ll be sharing some of these with you and showing you how they made WordPress work for them.

Network Solutions is one of the earliest online business/agencies on the internet.  Before there was GoDaddy or, in fact, any other domain registration service, Network Solution was there.  From 1979 to 1993 when the domain name registration industry was privatized, they were where EVERYONE registered their domain names.  Since the privatization, Network Solutions has diversified into a broad spectrum of online services but still remains a force in the domain name industry, managing over 6.6 million domain names.

In an effort to give their site a face lift and to make content/maintenance updates faster and less technical, Network Solutions underwent a conceptual and platform redesign.  For those familiar with some of the older versions (dense, almost impenetrable and with painfully dated content at times), the new site is a breath of fresh air.

The new site takes advantage of WordPress’s ability to create human (and Search Engine) friendly categories and architecture as well as generate “pretty permalinks”… those normal English URLs instead of inscrutable gibberish (www.somedomain.com/?p=32434&gdfd) some Content Management Systems are saddled with.

The often maligned “blog” has been reborn as a News section, allowing Network Solutions to publish a steady stream of company and industry specific articles, building readerships, traffic and incoming links. Older content in this area is automatically archived and accessible via intuitive browsing or WordPress powerful built in search functionality.

Custom sub-templates have been employed to add design flexibility from section to section while keeping the overall look and feel consistent for visitors that might otherwise be overwhelmed by a less focused site.

A simple image rotation solution keeps the “mastheads” of various pages fresh and engaging.

Finally, a unified header and footer menu mean that users can always orient themselves within the site no matter how far deep they find themselves and are never more than a few clicks away from the information or resources they need.

The Network Solution implementation is a great example of an almost “out of the box” use of WordPress drawing primarily on a custom Theme design.

If you’d like to see how WordPress can transform your web site and allow you to take the reins of your online presence, we offer many quickly deployable solutions for new WordPress users and enhancements and services for existing WordPress sites.