What Is WordPress?

If you’re reasoning astir building a website, you’ve apt travel crossed nan sanction WordPress. As acold arsenic website builder package goes, WordPress is #1 and pinch bully reason.

In this post, we’ll research what WordPress is, unpack nan astir communal questions asked astir it, and springiness you immoderate tips to get started.

WordPress is for everyone. You tin beryllium a complete novice who has ne'er utilized a website builder before. Or you tin beryllium a seasoned web developer building your 150th website. 

The awesome point astir WordPress is that you don’t request to beryllium a master web designer aliases coder successful bid to usage it. The not-so-great point is that location is simply a flimsy learning curve simply because there’s truthful overmuch you tin do pinch WordPress.

It doesn’t return agelong to study your measurement astir nan CMS though. If you’re looking for resources to thief you get started, skip down to nan bottommost of this post.

Nope. You tin build a website without ever having to constitute aliases edit a azygous statement of code. 

That said, dissimilar immoderate different website builders that severely limit really overmuch entree you person to nan backend, WordPress doesn’t do that. If you want to civilization codification a website (or you’ve hired a designer aliases developer who wants to), location are nary restrictions.

When you do a hunt for “wordpress”, you’re going to stumble upon 2 different websites. They some usage nan aforesaid WordPress software. However, nan quality is successful really they’re hosted and what sorts of capabilities are disposable to you.

WordPress.com is what’s known arsenic a hosted CMS. This intends you don’t request to acquisition abstracted web hosting successful bid to usage it. Nor do you request to woody pinch nan method aspects of maintaining a website, for illustration information and speed.

WordPress.com does person a free scheme available. However, your website will incorporate WordPress branding connected it and you’ll beryllium constricted successful position of what you tin build, which themes and plugins you tin use, and truthful on. You tin upgrade to a paid scheme to unlock these features though. 

WordPress.org is what’s known arsenic a self-hosted CMS. This intends that you request to bargain a domain sanction and web hosting earlier you do anything. You besides person to instal WordPress connected your server and past support that package yourself.

That said, WordPress’s existent powerfulness lies successful nan immense collections of themes and plugins that nan WordPress organization has developed and continues to create for nan platform. 

While you tin find free plugins for WordPress, the astir versatile and powerful WordPress themes costs immoderate money. So excessively will your web hosting scheme and domain name. 

But that’s beautiful modular for website builders. You’ll either person to salary a level monthly interest to usage thing for illustration Wix aliases Squarespace aliases you’ll salary upfront for nan technologies needed to powerfulness your website pinch WordPress.

There are plentifulness of WordPress alternatives retired there. For instance: 

• Drupal
• Joomla
• Squarespace
• Webflow
• Weebly
• Wix

You’ll besides find alternatives to WordPress’s eCommerce package WooCommerce. Shopify is nan astir celebrated one. 

So why do much than 60% of group building websites these days take to spell pinch WordPress? There are various reasons why:

Open root intends that WordPress isn’t owned by an individual aliases a company. Because of this, everyone is free to lend to it. 

This is why WordPress has nan largest organization of collaborators and contributors. Everyone wants to activity towards making it nan champion CMS it tin be. There’s a dedicated group of contributors who guarantee that nan package remains unafraid and updated. 

In addition, you’ll find each nan support you request from nan WordPress community. Even if location isn’t a nonstop statement to telephone aliases chat pinch WordPress, location are top-tier designers, developers, and WordPress powerfulness users who tin reply your questions. 

Plus, astir of nan communal questions and issues that originate pinch WordPress person been dealt pinch successful endless blog posts, tutorials, and YouTube videos.

On a related note, nan world of web creation and improvement changes frequently. When a caller creation inclination arises aliases nan modern personification acquisition changes, personification develops a plugin aliases a taxable to capable that void. 

Unlike pinch different website builders, WordPress users person entree to a free plugin repository filled pinch astir 60,000 plugins. Each plugin includes genuine, adjuvant personification reviews that make uncovering nan cleanable plugin an easy task.

When you usage a hosted website builder, there’s a tradeoff. 

Hosted solutions simplify nan method broadside of building and managing a website. So you’ll ne'er person to woody pinch hosting, database management, security, aliases capacity optimization. You besides won’t get overmuch power complete hunt motor optimization. 

With WordPress, those limits don’t exist:

• You take your web hosting plan. 
• You determine really you want to protect your website from hackers and quality error. 
• You optimize your tract for nan champion performance.
• You instal plugins that let you to amended each page’s hunt ranking. 
• You moreover get to fine-tune nan backend of your website successful ways that hosted website builders won’t let you to. 

And if you cognize really to codification and want nan action to do so, you tin do this pinch WordPress.

You won’t conscionable beryllium capable to build amended looking websites pinch WordPress. Because of really extensible nan level is, your websites tin besides beryllium mobile responsive, accessible, multilingual, and search-optimized. 

You won’t request precocious method skills to create higher value websites either. 

The WordPress editor and page builder plugins each make responsive editing easy, for instance. If location is further functionality you want to incorporated into your site, each it takes is simply a fewer clicks to instal a plugin that will do astir of nan activity for you, too.

If you comparison nan WordPress dashboard to 1 from a hosted website builder, you mightiness consciousness overwhelmed. It’s not that it’s poorly branded aliases disorganized. However, location is simply a batch successful location and it’s going to turn arsenic you commencement to instal themes and plugins.

WordPress will get easier to usage complete time. The instrumentality is to usage it regularly and to instal devices that activity for your comfortableness level. 

For instance, alternatively than effort to accommodate to nan WordPress page builder, a novice personification would beryllium amended disconnected installing nan Elementor Pro plugin. The drag-and-drop interface and widgets are overmuch much user-friendly.

With hosted website builders, there’s small to nary method attraction to speak of. You’ll ne'er person alerts that your package is retired of date, for instance. You besides won’t person to do things like:

• Back up your website
• Activate caching
• Install an SSL certificate
• Clean up your database
• Update your taxable and plugins

Hosted website builders return attraction of each this worldly for you. This comes pinch a value though.

For instance, scaling your website arsenic your endeavor grows whitethorn beryllium difficult to do pinch different CMS. You besides won’t person overmuch visibility into really unafraid your website is. Also, if your tract goes down aliases gets hacked, you’ll beryllium limited connected nan website builder to thief you reconstruct it. 

With WordPress, this is each nether your control. While it whitethorn create much activity for you, nan waste and acquisition disconnected mightiness beryllium worthy it. 

Before choosing a CMS, fig retired what’s astir important to you today as you build your website. Also, commencement reasoning astir what you want nan tract to do for you years down nan road. 

If you want it to turn alongside your business, nan powerfulness and power that WordPress offers is unmatched.

You tin usage your business name if it’s short enough. If it’s excessively agelong aliases complicated, usage a succinct but memorable sanction aliases acronym instead. 

There shouldn’t beryllium immoderate spaces aliases dashes successful nan name. Just make it 1 agelong string.

Use Domain.com to cheque nan readiness of domain names.

Buy a hosting scheme and domain sanction from your web hosting provider. SiteGround is simply a bully prime for WordPress websites. 

Once inside, walk immoderate clip getting to cognize nan different areas of nan dashboard and sidebar. 

The sidebar is wherever you’ll walk astir of your time. From creating and editing Pages and Posts to installing and customizing Themes and Plugins, this is your power halfway for WordPress.

These themes are beautiful basal and constricted successful scope. 

If you’re looking for thing built for a circumstantial niche, that’s characteristic rich, and that will let you to bring your unsocial imagination to life, return a look done the champion WordPress themes. 

Once you’ve recovered 1 you love, spell into nan Themes sheet successful WordPress and upload your file. Most themes person a Setup Wizard to thief you get started pinch customizing your site. 

As you statesman to capable successful your content, you’ll commencement to observe other things you need. Like a instrumentality to thief you optimize your contented for search, a costs gateway truthful you tin make money, and truthful on. WordPress plugins thief you adhd these features to your tract without nan request for immoderate code.

WordPress is nan astir celebrated contented guidance strategy successful nan world. With it, you tin build websites for business, individual use, ecommerce, blogging, integer portfolios, and more. And nan champion portion is, anyone tin usage it. No typical skills aliases coding knowledge are needed. 

If this is your first clip building a website pinch WordPress, you don’t person to fig retired really to usage nan CMS connected your own. Lean connected nan WordPress organization for support. Also, find trusted resources that will thief you study really to usage WordPress for illustration a pro.

Tuts+ is 1 specified resource. Here you’ll find written tutorials on pinch courses that thatch you everything you request to cognize to maestro WordPress. The Tuts+ YouTube channel besides has a bunch of WordPress contented to thief you get started.