What is WordPress? A Complete Guide on Everything You Should Know in 2023

WordPress has made website building accessible to anyone, even people who are not even developers.

You can use WordPress to create any type of website you imagine. With the help of themes and plugins, you can create almost any kind of website.

So, what is WordPress? In the simplest form, it is the most popular way to create any website or blog.

WordPress is like the operating system of your website. It might not be the only platform for building websites, but it is the leading one among the alternatives.

What Is WordPress?

WordPress is a website building platform and content management system (CMS) that enables anyone to run and maintain a website without writing a single line of coding. Nowadays, WordPress is the most popular website platform for building a website without any cost.

What Is CMS?

WordPress is an open-source CMS, which means that anyone can use or modify its software for free. A content management system is a tool that makes it easy to manage different aspects of your website without knowing anything about programming.

Here are a few examples of the types of websites you can create with WordPress:

Blogs, E-commerce website, Business website, Membership website, Portfolio website, Forum website, Event website, E-learning website, etc.

What Is the Difference Between WordPress.com or WordPress.org?

If you search “WordPress” on Google, you will be confused with the results. Since there are two versions of WordPress, it should be explained that what each of those versions offers and brings to the table.

WordPress.org also called self-hosted WordPress is the free, open-source software that you can install on your web host to create a website that is fully your own.

WordPress.com is a paid service that is powered by WordPress.org software.

It is the hosted version of WordPress, where you can create a WordPress.com account to make a website. It’s simple to use, but you’ll lose much of the features of self-hosted WordPress.

If you want to fully own your website, self-hosted WordPress.org is the best option. Most of the time, when “WordPress” is mentioned, it usually means the self-hosted WordPress available at WordPress.org.

WordPress Features

WordPress powers over 35% of websites on the Internet. One out of four websites you visit is likely powered by WordPress. But here’s the question, why should you use WordPress?

Here are the most important features and reasons to choose WordPress for your site:

1. WordPress Is Free: The biggest benefit of WordPress is that it’s a free, and open-source software. Although you’ll need to pay a little bit for hosting, you will never have to pay for using WordPress software.
2. WordPress Is Fast: WordPress is constantly being optimized to increase the loading speed of a website.
3. SEO Friendly: Search engine optimization is also simple with WordPress. Although you need to know a little bit about SEO itself, the whole process is easier on the WordPress platform.
4. Easy-to-use Interface: WordPress is very easy to use without any complicated settings.
5. Large Community: If you are facing problems or errors, there is an enormous network of WordPress users all around the world to help you out.
6. Easy to Find Help: It’s easy to find help if you run into problems. There are lots of blogs, tutorials, and forums that you can approach for free and paid help.
7. E-commerce is Simple: When it comes to e-commerce, WordPress offers a lot of options depending on the products or services you want to sell.

How to Start Using WordPress

Starting with WordPress is an easy process but it incorporates a few important steps.

These steps include finding a reliable hosting service provider, utilizing themes and plugins, and of course installing the WordPress software on your hosting server.

1. Choose a Hosting Provider:

First, when choosing a hosting provider, you’ll need a place where your site’s data and files are stored which transmits information across the web to anyone who visits your website.

Some of the hosting providers also offer domain name registrations too.

After choosing the right hosting provider for your website, it comes down to installing WordPress software on your hosting server.

2. Choose a Domain Name for Your Website

Secondly, choosing a domain name for your website is an important and primary task when creating any website.

A domain name is the online identity of your website or the name of your website.

In other words, it is your website address or the URL which users type on the browser’s address bar to reach your website.

Your URL is the first thing that the visitors will see, therefore a good domain name can make a great impression on your visitors.

Other than that, a good domain name affects SEO. Keywords in your domain name can help with your SEO ranking. Your domain name is also a branding opportunity. The right domain name can increase brand recognition.

3. Install WordPress Software on Your Hosting Server

Most of the hosting providers offer 1-click installations so that you get the latest version of WordPress installed no matter what.

Installing WordPress actually depends on the hosting provider you choose but it’s very simple and you can also find many guides online.

4. Choose a WordPress Theme

A theme is the face of your website that includes everything from layout to fonts. There is a vast marketplace for both free and premium WordPress themes for you to choose from based on your requirements and style.

5. Add Plugins to Extend WordPress Functionality

The basic WordPress software can be extended with WordPress plugins. Just like themes, there are thousands of plugins available, both free and paid. Plugins can improve security, optimize image files, enable e-commerce, and much more.

WordPress plugins are software that you can upload to your website to add more features (such as e-commerce, backups, and more). There are thousands of free and premium WordPress plugins available on WordPress.org.

To Conclude

Now that you have learned what WordPress is and what it offers if you are looking to build a website without much cost and knowing anything about codes and programming WordPress is surely the right choice for you.

Thank you so much for reading this article and let us know what you think about WordPress in the comment section below!