What is WordPress About?

In A Hurry? Click Here To Download This Post As A PDF To Read Later

If you have anything to do with the internet, you should have come across the name WordPress in many of your surfing sessions across the internet. The name is as ubiquitous as the web itself, and you begin to wonder what it is about this name that makes it so popular.

To explain in the simplest terms, WordPress is the most popular and simplest way to create a website or blog. It is an open-source tool that allows anybody irrespective of their technical background to create and run their website or blog using the freely downloadable software.

To let you know how popular and easy to use WordPress, can be, it powers over 455 million websites and blogs in the world, a figure that translates to over 35% of all the websites floating on the internet.

When Did WordPress Start?

WordPress started as a blogging tool in 2003. It is the fallout of a collaboration between Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little who developed it as an update to an earlier project called b2/cafelog. At its core, WordPress is an open-source Content Management System that allows users to do as they please with the software.

By open-source, this means anybody from anywhere in the world can modify, update, redistribute, install and use WordPress in any manner that they like. This is the main reason why WordPress is so popular because it gives unfettered access to every user to add their input to the platform.

From its humble beginnings as a blogging tool developed out of Matt Mullenweg’s love of blogging, WordPress has grown to become the most successful website creation tool thanks to its open-source architecture and millions of dedicated contributors and community that are pushing ahead with updates every passing minute.

With WordPress, you don’t need any programming skills to create functional websites to share your idea with the world.

What Does WordPress Do?

WordPress is used for building websites of different kinds. At inception, WordPress was primarily a blog publishing tool. But as the platform matured, it started moving towards the mainstream of website creation tools.

However, you can now create almost any type of website with WordPress courtesy of the millions of plugins and themes which have been developed over the years by contributors, developers, and the WordPress community in general.

From eCommerce stores, business websites, blogs and everything in between, WordPress is the preferred website creation tool on the internet. Here are some sites you can create with WordPress:

• eCommerce Stores
• Business-Sites
• Blogs
• Resumes
• Social Networks
• Portfolios
• Membership Sites
• Forums Among Others

WordPress.org And WordPress.com – What’s The Difference?

The main difference between the .org and .com WordPress domains is that one is 100 free while the other isn’t completely free. With WordPress.org, you can download the WordPress software for free and install it on a web hosting service to create a personal website. The WordPress.org allows you unrestricted access to plugins and themes, although these feature basic functionalities. The WordPress.org is also known as the self-hosted WordPress because you own the web host.

On the other hand, the WordPress.com is geared towards profit, which means you need to pay to use the service. Like WordPress.org, you can also download the WordPress software for free, but now the use of plugins and themes is restricted.

The majority of the people who use the WordPress software use the WordPress.org because its the version that allows you to use the platform on your web hosting and domain name. If you want to have full control of your WordPress website, your best bet is WordPress.org.

Who Can Use WordPress?

WordPress is available to everybody from individuals, small businesses, large multinationals to state and national governments including the official website of the White House, Microsoft, and some biggest sports and music stars in the world.

What Are The Benefits Of Using WordPress?

If the White House and Microsoft are using WordPress for their official websites, there has to be something extremely incredible about the platform. There are so many benefits of using WordPress, including:

Open Source And Free

One of the best reasons for using WordPress is that it’s an open-source and free website building platform. The WordPress software is completely free to use, although you may still have to pay for a domain name and web hosting.

While you also need to pay to use premium themes and plugins, there are millions of free WordPress themes and plugins that also offer great value for your website’s functionality and appearance.

Fast And Secure

The source code of WordPress is one of the best regarding safety and speed, although no web platform is completely hacker-proof. The platform also gets regular updates which reinforce its security. The platform has hundreds of security plugins to enhance your website’s safety and also protect you from spam and malicious actors.

Search Engine Compliant

WordPress is written with the best code and web standards; it supports SEO-friendly URLs, tags, categories, metadata and you can also enhance your SEO with several SEO plugins that are incredibly affordable.

Ease Of Use

WordPress is extremely easy to learn and use. In fact, you need no programming or tech background to get the hang of this great platform. Every aspect of the platform from the installation, set up, installing themes and plugins and everything in between-WP is easy to navigate no matter how high or low your technical knowledge. Even most web hosts now offer free pre-installation of WordPress to make it as easy to use as possible.

Offers Flexibility

One of the best features of WordPress is its flexibility. With little to no charges, you can create almost any type of website or web platform using WordPress software.

Easily Extensible

Due to numerous free and paid WP themes and plugins, you can modify your WP website in any form and degree without knowing a single thing about coding.

Plugins help you modify the functionality of your website while themes help you change the appearance of your site.

Depending on your preference, you can choose from the over 50,000 free WP plugins and more than 5,000 free themes or better still, get a premium plugin for a small fee.

Help Is Always Available

Due to the large number of WP users and a strong worldwide community of developers, bloggers, contributors, tutorials, forums, and social media groups targeted at WP, you can quickly find help whenever you encounter any trouble using WordPress.

You Can Expand Without Limit

One other great feature of WP is its scalability. Irrespective of how big you plan to take your business or website, WordPress allows you to continue to grow without any limitations. In fact, the platform makes growth and expansion easier with the myriad of innovative themes and plugins that help tweak your website for optimal effectiveness.

You Can Make Money With WordPress

If you understand how the WordPress platform works or have some programming knowledge, you can make some cool money creating premium WP plugins, add-ons, themes, widgets, and scripts. It is also possible to create educational resources on WP in the form of eBooks, blogs, and courses. You can also make money by offering WP technical support among others.

WordPress is the world’s most popular Content Management System, allowing users to create different types of web services at little or no cost. It’s a great platform that has revolutionized how we relate to the internet, and it continues to add value to millions of businesses and individuals all over the world.

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you have any questions about WordPress or want to leave your own personal experience, leave a comment below.

Before You Go…