3 Surprising WordPress Uses Beyond Blogging for Business

March 28, 2012
Male using wordpress on laptop

 

WordPress powers lots of web sites and blogs such as CNN’s blogs, and can be extended with plugins to power more common advanced needs like e-commerce or portfolios, but here are 3 surprising uses of WordPress that aren’t typically thought of together with the WordPress platform. I hope this inspires you to add more features or functionality to your own web site above and beyond blogging for business, or migrate to the powerful WordPress platform if you haven’t already.

Job Board

You can turn WordPress into a Job Board that lists your available jobs, or create a full job portal, and charge job posters for posting their entries.

Check out these job board resources:

http://pento.net/projects/wordpress-job-manager-plugin/ (free plugin)

http://www.dailywp.com/jobpress-wordpress-theme/ (themes, simple and pro, both paid)

http://wpjobboard.net/ (paid plugin)

CRM and Invoicing

With well-written and well-updated plugins, you can eliminate or reduce the number and expenses of 3rd party services or systems. Two major functions usually done by dedicated software or services are CRM and invoicing. With WordPress, you can create an integrated web-based CRM and invoicing system, and save money:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-crm/ (freemium plugin)

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-invoice/ (freemium plugin)

Project Management and Collaboration

There are some very fine project management and team collaboration services out there, but depending on the number of users, clients, projects, storage needs, they can get very expensive over time. Here are a few WordPress plugins or themes that can eliminate that concern:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-project-managment-ultimate/ (free plugin)

http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/p2 (collaboration theme)

These uses of WordPress are delivered by available themes or plugins without any coding at all, and power some surprising and unique needs that you may want to consider for your own department or company. WordPress is a powerful yet simple platform that can do almost anything you want it to, usually without having to reinvent the wheel or write a single line of code.

For more WordPress support check out these helpful articles from our WordPress Expert Series:

How to Optimize RSS to Display Featured Blog Images

WordPress for Enterprise Facts, Myths, and Tips for Success

Why the 1-Click WordPress Install Should Be Avoided

How to Set Up 301 Redirects to Maintain WordPress SEO

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2 Comments

  • Reply Miguel Salcido March 28, 2012 at 10:08 am

    Freaking awesome! I had no idea about these. I can’t wait to test them out now! There goes an afternoon. LOL

  • Reply john r June 22, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    Great tips here. I’m experimenting with using WordPress as a support tool for my sales team – kind of like a ‘content bucket’ of great articles and talking points from around the web and comments on how the sales folks can translate that into benefits / uses of our product.

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