If you’re not, you need to be. I attended The Business of WordPress conference in Atlanta on June 23rd, which focused on the importance of WordPress as a business website, not just a blog.

WordPress is the Content Management System (CMS) I use for this site, and although I run a blog here, I also consider this to be my website. WordPress makes it possible for myself, who is business-minded but not technology-savvy, to have a great site, and manage it frequently and easily so it’s not static or outdated.

There are so many possibilities for websites with WordPress and that was what was covered at theconference. I attended with a team from The Creative Circus, where I work in online marketing and with a site that is built on WordPress.

The sessions covered topics such as plugins (which are additional features to help you make a killer site that developers make for WordPress), forms, email software that integrates with WordPress, membership, subscription, and ecommerce sites, social media integration, videos and photos in WordPress, themes, and overall WordPress strategies. Great stuff by great, knowledgeable people using this CMS for their businesses.

Here is a list of the main tips and information I noted:

• 9% of the top 1 million sites on the web use WordPress.
• If you’re blogging, be consistent with posts. Weekly, daily, etc.
• Themes can be modified to be anything you want. It’s PHP, HTML, and WP, so it’s totally customizable.
• 1st 3 recommended plugins for media and content sites: WP Super Cache, Akismet (for comments), Redirection plugin by Yoast (for category structure and SEO).
• On forms and email integration: No guarantees for getting emails into an inbox, but segmentation with zip code on forms can help you send relevant stuff.
• Your email has a much better chance of reaching audience with a professional email provider (Exact Target, MailChimp, etc.)
• Gravity Forms & Wufoo were the recommended form plugins in “Using WordPress for Online Content & Media Websites” session.
• There is no social media magic bullet. New styles of marketing are less expensive, but more time-intensive.
• Don’t purchase an email list. Start slow, build a good list, create relationships. It’s quality, not quantity, for results.
• Panelists: Social Media will NOT fix a bad product. Me: So true, and SM requires so much research, content, and preparation.

Many of these were from the perspective of our Creative Circus website, but there are things in there that would be useful to any kind of business website. Want more? Check out the entire list of tweets from everyone at the conference.

All presenters and panelists were fantastic, and they deserve a big THANK YOU, along with Mike Schinkel and Marna Friedman for making this event happen.