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John Yray
WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system. Most people think of it as a tool for creating blogs or sharing pictures of their food and travel. While there’s nothing wrong with this, WordPress can be used to do so much more.
So, what can WordPress do?
It can be used for everything from making money selling digital products to showcasing your art for the world to see. You can talk about issues most people aren’t aware of or find it difficult to address.
You can even leverage it as a platform to drive awareness and change to ongoing issues such as extreme poverty and famine.
You get to choose what you want to do with it. Whatever that is, have fun with it!
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1. E-Commerce site
The pandemic has forced millions of people to spend most of their time indoors. It sucks but it does present a wonderful opportunity for you to start a niche e-commerce site. Global retail sales are on the rise and with it is your opportunity to make a few bucks.
2. Online courses
3. Make an events blog
This is good for anyone who’s already organizing or attending events on the regular. You could be the person who blogs about upcoming events. You can even monetize it by selling tickets via an events affiliate program.
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4. Create a website for business
This is probably the most obvious one on this list of what can you do with WordPress. You can create a website for your brick and mortar business. Or, you could create an online store that sells digital or physical products.
6. Confession blog
Many people head to online forums to confess things they wouldn’t dare confess to other people in person. Start an online community where people can share their confessions anonymously so there’s less fear of actual judgment. A minimalistic design would be ideal. This way users are focused on the actual content instead of your site’s design.
7. Online Magazine
8. Build a personal blog
Here’s another obvious one on this list of “What can I do with WordPress.” If you have useful information or personal experiences you’d like to share with anyone who could possibly benefit from it, a blog would be an excellent place to start.
WordPress makes it easy to create your content and put it out there for everyone to see. You could even set it to private and keep the blog as a personal online journal.
9. News site
If you’re into news or gossip, then this is something that might work for you. There’s thousands of news sites online but it’s still possible to get some traction via social media. Be sure to keep facts straight (and updated) to help establish yourself as a trustworthy publication.
10. Display your work portfolio
Photographers, writers, SEO specialists, wedding planners and other gig workers like to market their services via their online portfolios. You can create a professional-looking portfolio and use it to land more gigs. Here’s a post detailing 30 of the best portfolio themes available today.
11. Start a picture gallery
Instagram isn’t the only place to share pictures of your food and feet. Use WordPress to create an enviously stylish picture gallery in no time at all. Not sure where to get started? Checkout this post by WPBeginner. It’s a step-by-step guide that details everything you need to know.
12. Article library
Article libraries are basically a compilation of articles, press releases and other online texts. You can gear your library’s content towards a niche in order to get more visibility (there are thousands of other libraries online).
13. Launch a membership site
Many take satisfaction in being a member of an exclusive community. Starting a membership site that lets you manage and charge members is now as easy as installing a plugin.
But you can’t install just any membership plugin. MemberPress and ARMember are a couple good options as they’re both user-friendly and provide you with all the tools you need for running this type of website.
14. Resume/CV site
Go the extra mile to impress your prospects by creating a professional site just for the purpose of showing off your work qualifications. This comes in handy if you’re trying to land a job in web development.
15. Contacts book
Managing a growing contacts book for different companies is easier with WordPress. There are plugins that’ll help you organize your contacts. Zoom.info is a great example of how to effectively connect businesses and customers.
16. Polling site
17. Clone a successful site
Somehow this makes the list of WordPress possibilities. Live your dream of becoming a pirate by inconspicuously creating a knockoff of your favorite website. You can recreate it exactly the way you want. Add the features you wish the original had and get rid of the ones you hate.
Give it a cool name like MugBook or Fritter (please don’t). Watch out for copyright infringement laws while you’re at it.
18. Start a video hosting website
If you think you can do better than YouTube (good luck) and can afford the startup costs, then by all means do it. Alternatively, you could create a personal video gallery of your food and feet instead.
19. Start a web soapbox
Otherwise known as an opinion page. Napoleon Hill once said opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. WordPress makes it even easier and cheaper for you to share your thoughts with the world by creating your very own web soapbox. You can get your valuable opinions up on the world wide web in no time at all.
20. Make a review site
Most people will want to read product reviews before making a purchase (especially if it’s sold exclusively online). Establish yourself as a reputable product review website and people could start turning to you before making any purchase. Review products you’re an affiliate of and you could make some money in the process.
21. Press release site
Building a press release site is another thing you can do with this content management system. It could even be entertaining if you can write about something newsworthy. Do it the right way and maybe journalists may notice your work and opt to get it published.
22. Create a multi-function clock
Because you can never have enough clocks. You can create one with a stopwatch or timer function so users will have better use for it. You can even monetize it with PPC advertisements to scrape in a few pennies.
23. Directory site
Building a directory site similar to Dmoz and Joeant is possible with the WordPress CMS. Might not be the best idea but it’s still nonetheless something you can do with WordPress.
24. Help Desk
Having good customer support is one of the main components of any business. Creating a help desk your customers can use to communicate concerns or issues can be useful if you’re already running a business. There are actually plugins that’ll let you do this. Help Scout is one option that’ll help you achieve this.
25. Niche jobs listing site
You might not be able to compete with Craigslist or Indeed. Nevertheless, creating a niche job listings site targeted at very specific types of jobs (e.g. contractors) might give you a fighting chance for creating something that gets regular traffic. WP offers plugins designed to help you build this type of website.
26. Podcast
Make your voice heard by starting a podcast. Starting a podcast and hosting it on YouTube is great, but linking it with your WordPress site is even better.
WP lets you categorize podcasts and provide your users with more info, including upcoming events. You get the advantage of sharing posts and news you otherwise couldn’t do with the Youtube platform alone.
28. Forum
A forum is a place where people with common interests can get together and share useful information. It’s up to you to decide what boards/topics you want to make available. Creating a forum can also be done with the help of a plugin or a developer (or both).
Much of the content will be user-generated. That said, you’ll have to moderate it carefully to ensure your forum doesn’t get infested with spam bots or humans posting inappropriate content.
29. Classifieds
You’ll see these in the newspapers and a whole lot more online. But don’t let that stop you from creating your own. Perhaps you want to allow specific types of advertisements only. Use your imagination.
30. Online comic books
Artists and comics makers have turned to the web to get their work in front of more people than they ever could with the newspapers. This could be your chance to showcase your drawing and story-telling skills.
31. City guide
People can learn all they want about the cities they’d like to visit simply by going online and checking out city guides. If you’re passionate about travel and talking about beautiful places worth visiting, then this might be ideal for you.
Maybe after travel restrictions are more relaxed, you could start to make some money via hotel and travel bookings.
32. Gaming portal
Not everyone has high-powered gaming consoles. That’s part of the reason why people turn to sites like Newgrounds and Y8.com to find a game to zone out to. Try building a site that embeds a bunch of games for your visitors to play. Or, you could create an online forum where gamers of a specific game (e.g. Minecraft) can share information.
33. Contest
Making a website all about contests is another option. Make your own contest themes and rules. Determine what prizes you want to give away. Maybe you want to host poem writing contests or one where the person who can hold their breath the longest. Just make sure nobody gets hurt.
34. Coupon site
Why pay any more than you have to? Start a site wherein you share coupons and allow your visitors to do the same.
35. WordPress Wiki
If you have special skills that you’d like to share with people working to get started, this one could work. Helping beginners achieve the level of knowledge/skill you’ve achieved can be satisfying. Whether you’re a cook, auto mechanic, salesman or parent – there’s someone out there who can benefit from what you know.
36. E-mail newsletter
Here you can create a website designed to get people to sign-up for your weekly (or whatever frequency) newsletter. A plugin like MailChimp can help you get the job done. In your newsletters, you can strategically place affiliate links to relevant products to make some money.
37. Timeline site
38. Google map tagging blog
This type of blog will allow you to mark specific locations of interest with the help of Google Maps. Places of interest may include local restaurants, night clubs or barber shops. By placing it on your site, you can share it with other people conveniently.
39. Pitch your startup
Perhaps you have a great idea you’d like to turn into a viable business. WordPress offers an amazing infrastructure to detail what your startup’s all about. You can share the site to potential investors. You can also create a blog and add new posts to help drive in traffic.
40. Invoicing system
41. Q&A site
People turn to these sites when they can’t find the answers via Google. You can start one of your own. The good thing here is that the questions are user-generated. Naturally, this will require moderation to ensure accuracy. A couple of excellent examples of this type of site are Quora and Yahoo Answers.
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42. Webchat
It’s like creating a forum wherein people can communicate real-time. With countless people in lockdown, this may be the only type of communication they can enjoy.
43. Ticketing system
There are many sites that sell tickets for upcoming events. Creating this site for local events is a possibility. It’s also a great way to earn a commission in the process.
44. Collaboration tool
Collaborating via phone, email and file sharing services like Dropbox is great, but having a private platform where you can do it all is even better. WordPress can provide you with the tools to create such a site. Sounds tough? Checkout this step-by-step guide on how to get it done.
45. Project management
Tired of using excel sheets or Trello for managing your projects? Then create your own project management tool using the WordPress platform. There are plugins that’ll help you do this. Here are 5 of the best ones.
46. Publish online book
Amazon and Smashwords are a couple of platforms that let you self-publish. However, it can be difficult to get traffic and make sales with all the new books constantly coming in (let alone standout).
A website can help you get past the risk of having your book buried by everyone else’s submissions. It can also allow you to publish one chapter at a time and receive feedback from your readers.
47. RSS aggregator
48. Appointment maker
This is useful if you have clients whom you see by appointment. You can create a website that displays when you’re available, so your clients can book accordingly. BirchPress Scheduler is one plugin you can use to get the job done.
49. Become a WordPress expert
This is an excellent example of what you can do with WordPress. You can watch a bunch of step-by-step tutorials to learn everything there is to learn about WordPress. You can then practice what you’ve learned on your very own website.
The knowledge and skills you acquire can be monetized by offering your services as a WordPress site developer. Or you can take satisfaction in creating beautiful, functional and SEO-friendly websites just for fun.
50. Change the world
Many people would like to get involved with philanthropy but don’t have the time or resources to physically contribute. Creating a website that spreads awareness on actual problems like extreme poverty in other nations is one thing you could give a go. You can link to non-profit organizations such as SaveTheChildren.org and get people to donate their cause.
What can WordPress do: key takeaways
- WordPress can help you do a lot more than just blogging and creating websites.
- You can use it as a tool to manage projects or schedule appointments.
- You may use it to create a community for people of similar interests to get together and share ideas.
- It can be used to spread awareness to real-world issues such as famine in Africa.
- You can use it to market your professional skills to clients.
- You make money by selling products and services.
- You can use it to create your knock-off version of a popular website.
- You may leverage the platform to voice your opinions and be heard.
- Much more.
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This is a fantastic list. I especially love the example links you give for most of the categories. Would it be possible to add example links to every category you list here? Not all at once, but if you could add them one by one until they’re eventually filled out, that would be great. Thanks anyway, for a great list.
Thanks for the tip.
Let’s see what I can do 😛
I didn’t know that WordPress has so many uses. Thanks for the ideas.
Sure they do BizEpic! Thanks for dropping by.
Do you know any other WordPress uses that weren’t mentioned? If so, feel free to ping me. Would love to hear them. Thanks!
Wow! this is a huge list. I really liked it.