I am completely noob with WordPress so I apologize in advance if my questions sounds completely stupid.

Background

I have a small business catalog site that I wrote long ago in plain HTML. Now I want to add some SEO and improve the design therefore I am looking to use a CMS for easy content management.

Questions

• Is WordPress a right choice for my requirements? Is it only for blogging or can be used for any kind of site? (corporate, portfolio, catalog, personal info etc.)
• Will I need some kind of plugins for SEO and displaying product catalog?
• How can I remove the blog look (posts/dates/comments etc.) from the site?

Any hints/links/insights will be much appreciated.

I am completely noob with WordPress so I apologize in advance if my questions sounds completely stupid.

Background

I have a small business catalog site that I wrote long ago in plain HTML. Now I want to add some SEO and improve the design therefore I am looking to use a CMS for easy content management.

Questions

• Is WordPress a right choice for my requirements? Is it only for blogging or can be used for any kind of site? (corporate, portfolio, catalog, personal info etc.)
• Will I need some kind of plugins for SEO and displaying product catalog?
• How can I remove the blog look (posts/dates/comments etc.) from the site?

Any hints/links/insights will be much appreciated.

• cms
• seo
• customization
• listing

2 Answers 2

Is WordPress a right choice for my requirements? Is it only for blogging or can be used for any kind of site? (corporate, portfolio, catalog, personal info etc.)

WordPress can absolutely be used for any kind of site. But note that while things like post and pages are ready out of the box and simple to use, it takes some additional development if you want to implement your own types of content with more complex data (Custom Post Types).

Will I need some kind of plugins for SEO and displaying product catalog?

How can I remove the blog look (posts/dates/comments etc.) from the site?

There is number of highly functional and free SEO plugins available. WordPress SEO by Yoast gets a lot of traction lately.

Displaying content mostly depends on theme. There is an insane amount of themes available (starting with official repository and beyond), but as above - it may take some development if you need to implement something more complex.

I'll echo everything that @Rarst said and I'll add links to two of my answers that might help you:

• Tips for using WordPress as a CMS?
• Implementing a CrunchBase Clone using WordPress?

If you don't want to do it yourself I'll recommend a theme I just purchased for a similar project from WooTheme's called Listings.

• WooTheme's Listings

It's not free but it solves so many issues you'll have to address I think it'd be money well spent. Here's a screenshot of their blog post about the theme (since I like to include pictures in my answers :-):

_{(source: mikeschinkel)}