Use the full potential of your new website with a block-based approach in WordPress
Did you know you can use a block-based approach to building a WordPress site to get more out of the platform, as well as significant advantages in flexibility, scalability, and ease of use?
In this article, we will explain what blocks are, how they work, and how they can help you quickly and efficiently create enterprise-level websites without compromising quality.
WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world today, and it has been for quite some time. However, unfortunately, some people still have the mistaken impression that this CMS can only be used for creating simple websites without complex functionality and integrations.
In fact, WordPress is much more intuitive and reliable than many think. The fact that about 45% of all websites on the internet today are built on this platform is further proof of that. Moreover, WordPress offers more scalable and flexible capabilities that, when used correctly, are ideal for building corporate portals.
There are intelligent yet very simple ways to use WordPress that allow you to get more out of the CMS. With the right guidance, this can make WordPress a far better option than the more traditional, rigid approach to building websites.
This opportunity is currently being missed by most large companies. In this article, we will tell you how using blocks is a more flexible approach that can give you a host of advantages.
Understanding How Blocks Work in the Backend of Your Site
In 2018, WordPress released a new block-based user interface (UI) known as Gutenberg. Instead of the typical CMS page creation and editing features where you type text and insert images into a text editor, you can now build your site by creating and using a set of components. Components are code blocks that have predefined styles and input types.
Each component has a name to indicate what it is from the frontend perspective of your site on a web page.
However, using a custom approach, you can develop and create unique blocks that are entirely yours. Blocks or components can be created for you by your software development agency to match you, your style, your design preferences, and so on. And when building your site, you can go into the existing components and edit them, for example, change the background color, add images, text, etc.
The agency can set all this up for you so that you have everything you need to create, edit, and publish new pages with pre-built blocks. Whenever you need to create a new page, you simply select the appropriate components and place them where needed to quickly and easily build a page.
Benefits of Using a Component-Based Approach for Business
Scalability
Scalability is one of the biggest advantages of using these blocks, especially if you want to continue to expand your site map and add content. Scalability is where WordPress truly shines, allowing you to simply, quickly, and almost limitlessly scale your site with a high degree of precision, much like developing a scalable web service. It is a cost-effective way to grow without compromising design quality.
Flexibility
Blocks provide greater flexibility when creating, editing, and structuring pages. The ability to customize all components, along with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality, makes it easy to adapt and expand your site.
Efficiency
Creating components and reusing them multiple times on your site is a very efficient way to grow your site. Moreover, it makes it very difficult to make mistakes or go off track. The efficiency of reusing blocks on your site will free up time to develop new innovative features or focus on improving the quality of services and experiences you provide to your clients.
Ease of Use
If you have non-technical team members who would benefit from using WordPress, blocks will almost certainly improve the usability of the CMS for these people.
A simpler design and editing function will help more team members create web pages within clear, pre-defined brand guidelines. This is another aspect that frees up more time and resources to focus on more important tasks.
If you collaborate with a design and development agency, this also significantly eases their training and allows them to use the platform to manage your site.
Faster Time to Market
All this efficiency and ease of use will allow you to bring new web pages, site extensions, or even completely new websites to market faster. This, in turn, can create competitive advantages for your business, especially if your competitors are using CMS platforms that are slower and more complex to use.
Whether you do it yourself or your agency does it, you will be able to create and publish new web pages faster than with any other approach.
Reduced Costs and Total Cost of Ownership
As a result of all the above, you can reduce development and design costs and achieve a much better total cost of ownership (TCO) with the WordPress platform.
What would take an inexperienced agency several days with a classic design approach can be done in a few hours using custom-built blocks. This significantly reduces development costs and provides a lower total cost of ownership in the long run.
The Importance of Finding a Competent Agency Partner
As mentioned, custom blocks are a proven way to unlock the potential of WordPress and get more out of the platform. However, it is important to find the right partner. You will need an agency with enterprise-level experience and a certain level of expertise to guide and support you through this process.
There is nothing new about this approach to building WordPress sites, but the real value lies in creating blocks that are completely unique and specific to you, and then enabling your team to use them to scale your site.
Many WordPress agencies may rely on the standard block editor. But to do it properly, you need to find a partner who will explain the possibilities of using a custom design system to create a high-performance site that is easy to manage and edit.
A great partner will also help you by providing control and eliminating the risk of user errors thanks to the flexibility of this system. You won't have to worry about the integrity or quality of your site being compromised, as all components will be specifically designed to prevent that.
You will greatly benefit from having an intuitive, high-quality site that you can easily develop as you wish, while it is managed and maintained by an experienced partner. By sticking with these blocks, you can adhere to brand guidelines, follow best practices, and maintain site consistency.
You have a choice: manage, edit, and expand your site yourself, or rely on your partner to do it faster, easier, and more efficiently than with a traditional CMS.