When you want to build a website quickly and easily, WordPress is the platform to use. As it holds nearly 60 percent of the market share of all content management systems on the Internet, it’s the most popular by far. But, why should it matter to you?
Today, I’m going to go over what you’ll need to know about WordPress and how it can help you. From building an eCommerce powerhouse to a simple personal blog, the flexibility of the system is astounding.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is known as a content management system, or CMS. It’s one of many that virtually anyone can use to create websites without knowing a single line of code. It’s built on a premise that even the most novice of users can create something stunning for the Internet.
The way WordPress is developed allows others to make contributions to give it more functionality. For instance, a lot of developers will create themes and plugins for various reasons. One of my favorites is the Yoast SEO plugin, which helps your site score well in search engine results.
Although it’s built with the beginner user in mind, WordPress also provides tools for the more advanced developer. It has integrated editors that give you control over many aspects of themes and plugins can be modified directly.
With WordPress hosting, you can literally have a functional website up and running in mere minutes. Then, you can customize it to fit your specific needs.
Who Uses WordPress and Why?
In reality, anyone can make a website with WordPress efficiently. It’s one of those systems that has something for everyone regardless of his or her skill level. From basic content to fine-tuning layout design, WordPress is a versatile CMS.
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why people use the platform is because it’s easy to use. WordPress is a complete system that simply works out of the box. Technically, you don’t need to do anything more than install WordPress and start creating content. However, it’s worth the effort to learn more about what it can do for you.
As I mentioned earlier, WordPress has a vast assortment of themes and plugins available. Its popularity is what drives many developers to create any kind of add-on you might need for almost any purpose. As a result, you can find an almost perfect theme or plugin to offer a specific feature on your website.
The popularity of this CMS is also what drives updates. Because so many people trust the system, it’s one of those platforms that may continuously have support throughout the years. This means you don’t have to worry about using an obsolete system that hackers can easily get into. In fact, WordPress automatically updates itself when developers push an exploit fix.
Is WordPress free?
By itself, WordPress is completely free to use. Although some developers sell “premium” themes and plugins, you’ll easily find a lot of them offering free services as well. When setting up your website, the only thing you’ll really need to worry about in terms of cost is the web host.
WordPress has two distinct difference of its free system on the Internet: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. It’s important to note the same company owns both of the following platforms.
WordPress.org
WordPress.org is where the primary application resides. It is here where you can download the latest version of the CMS, find plugins and download themes to use on your website. However, the elements available on this website are also available directly in WordPress.
This is the absolute WordPress experience as you can install the CMS on your own web host, personal Internet server or even set it up on a private network at home.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a bit different than its software counterpart. In this environment, you can create free subdomain websites and benefit from some of the abilities of WordPress. However, it is quite limited as you’re unable to make a lot of custom changes or install many plugins and themes.
A lot of people would rather not use WordPress.com as it denies access to a lot of the admin features the main application offers. This means it’s far more difficult to completely customize. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to move your site from WordPress.com should you decide to get more out of your online real estate.
The Connection to the Rest of the Internet
One of the most important features of WordPress is how easy it is to integrate with the rest of the Internet. Everything from search engine optimization to displaying documents from Google Docs, the support for integration is vast. You can even set up payment systems using services like PayPal in moments.
As new technologies become available, it’s safe to assume there will be developers creating something to go along with it in WordPress. For instance, plenty of plugins became available to integrate Cloud storage for backups as the technology was kicking off.
Another important element to using WordPress is how easy it is to connect social media. Because sites like Facebook and Twitter are important in everyday life for millions of people worldwide, developers created systems to make integration seamless in WordPress.
In fact, you can show a live feed of your Twitter account by simply copying and pasting the code directly into a text sidebar in WordPress.
Build a Better Website Today
WordPress is perhaps one of the best systems to use for first time website developers and seasoned professionals alike. It’s a strong backbone to build any kind of a website your imagination can dream up. If you’re looking for a quick and easy method that takes just a few minutes to get started, WordPress is worth exploring.
What kind of a website would you like to build? How much experience do you have setting up a site’s layout?