Many businesses still think of WordPress as a personal blogging platform.

It’s far more than that and numerous major brands have realised it. They’re now benefiting from the flexibility and customisation options.

With major sites using WordPress, the simple CMS has grown from a personal blogging tool to a well respected platform for any type of website and business.

Marks And Spencer For Business

The popular and well known brand chooses WordPress for one it’s most profitable divisions. Marks And Spencer For Business showcases a professional, yet friendly example of how businesses can use WordPress themselves. Multiple sliders, visually stimulating menus and well placed calls to action are just a few of the highlights. It’s the ideal business layout that no one would believe was WordPress by just looking at it.

Enterprise Magazine

The car rental giant uses WordPress to run their online magazine. Menus, sidebars, sliders and layout changes throughout the home page are just the start. The site accomplishes a visually pleasing site that encourages visitors to explore not just the content, but the world itself.

Facebook Newsroom

While Facebook doesn’t use WordPress for their main social network, the company has chosen WordPress for it’s Newsroom blog. The site itself is simple and elegant, putting content front and center. It’s a prime example of less is more. It proves you don’t have to go overboard to have an effective WordPress design. While WordPress has ample features, choosing the right ones for your site’s needs are what’s most important.

Metro

As the UK’s third largest daily newspaper, Metro is the perfect example of major sites using WordPress. The responsive design shows how adaptive WordPress can be. The magazine style layout is colorful and focuses on grabbing visitors’ attention immediately. It also features how easy it is to incorporate social sharing into a WordPress design.

Reuters Blogs

The international news source, Reuters, trusts WordPress to power its blogs. While color isn’t a major player, white space creates a professional news feel. A sidebar complete with major stories and the latest tweets keep visitors updated on what’s most important to them. The entire site is meant to give visitors the content they need as quickly as possible and their theme and layout does it perfectly.

Gizmodo

Tech news meets WordPress with Gizmodo. The header and footer stand out most. It showcases how easy it is to customise these areas to provide easier navigation. They layout varies slightly throughout with constantly updated stories in each category. The site is a shining example of how simple it is to update content at any time with WordPress.

The Rolling Stones

Classic rockers, The Rolling Stones, keep their fans updated with a WordPress powered site. The showcases the media rich features, such as integrated videos, a complete discography, iTunes integration and a photo gallery. Navigation is simple, yet effective with the real emphasis placed on what fans want most – media and band related news updates. The site shows WordPress is powerful enough to partner with one of the world’s most popular bands.

TechCrunch

As one of the most popular tech news sites, TechCrunch proves sites both large and small benefit from the seemingly endless benefits of WordPress. White space with a blog style layout makes the site seem professional, which you’d expect from a respected news source. The large header and footer encourage social sharing, site searching and email signups. It’s a good example of a WordPress being able to deliver everything a successful business needs to engage with visitors online.

Conclusion

There are no limits to the types of sites using WordPress. The platform is easily customised to fit any brand, business and purpose. These aren’t the only major sites using WordPress either. With the right developer, the site looks like your brand, not like a basic WordPress blog.

Ready to give WordPress a try for your own business’s site? Contact StuartMedia today for the guidance and skills you need to make the most of WordPress.

Image: Sean MacEntee