Do you want to know what is WordPress and how to use it? Then, you’ve landed at the right place. If you’ve heard the term WordPress on the Internet or from people, but if you aren’t quite sure what it is, then you might be missing out on something. Because, in today’s context, one-third of the website you see is powered by WordPress.
If the term “WordPress” sparked curiosity in you, then we’ll walk you through it. This article presents the information about WordPress that you need to understand as a beginner. Even if you’re familiar with technical terms, bear with us as we provide you with a clearer picture of it and how you can use it.
What is WordPress?
In simple words, WordPress is an application used to publish online content and build websites on the Internet. The application has been free to download and use since its establishment in 2003.
It’s a Content Management System (CMS) that provides a great deal of versatility and powers more than 41.4% of websites on the Internet.
History Of WordPress
The two developers Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg, released the software in 2003 i.e., 18 years ago, with its first version WordPress 0.7. In the initial stage, the developers researched what other web developers and bloggers wanted and designed features and functions accordingly.
WordPress is an open-source software as the developers licensed it under GPLv2, meaning that anybody could use and even modify it freely. Being open-source software, it represented transparency where the WordPress community could identify issues and fix them quickly.
Moreover, people are free to study the software and resolve bug issues, analyze code to fix issues within WordPress. To date, thousands of people have implemented their skills to make it a better software.
Know the Two Versions of WordPress
WordPress offers two versions but, all you need to know and recognize is what each version offers.
WordPress.com
This version’s the hosted one, as the hosting companies do all for you, granting you an easy start. Automattic started this version that’s led by one of the developers of WordPress.
The users get less control over their content in this version. You’ll get disk space of just 3GB and can place your website only under their subdomain. WordPress.com’s own advertisements can’t be removed in this version, followed by no monetizing of your own sites/blogs. You will not be able to install themes and plugins unavailable in the platform within default.
But, if you want the luxury to remove advertisements and use your domain name, it requires you to pay $4 per month. You can also upgrade to an $8 per month plan if you want Google Ads integration and an advanced custom design form.
The setback in this version is that it also comes with fewer flexibility plans. The same paid plans come free for users of another version. Still, this is an excellent version for users starting in the WordPress community and is of significant usage for a beginner in website building.
WordPress.org
This version is the self-hosted version and a more famous one that provides much more flexibility than the other version. In this one, users can customize their website according to their wishes and fully hold into their content. You can keep your website online for 24 hours when you buy a package of website hosting.
Companies like Bluehost or WP Engine offer the suitable website hosting packages that you need to purchase for this version. The host companies like Bluehost assist you by looking after most of the website’s administrative tasks, utilizing your time and effort for the website’s marketing and updates.
Furthermore, the hosting companies do the most for you by installing WordPress plugins and themes, backing up your websites, preserving them from hackers, and doing your administrative tasks. Not to mention, you can install third-party themes and plugins as well.
It’s wise to use this version of WordPress in the long run rather than using the other one, but of course, it’ll depend on your necessities to create a website.
What is WordPress Hosting?
You need WordPress Hosting to build a WordPress website with add-on features that make your website run efficiently. It’s a type of web hosting that can boost your site’s SEO with its appropriate implementation.
The different kinds of web hosting rely on price, space, and more, followed by the hosting type.
- The cheapest and budget-friendly among all is Shared Hosting because it comes with low-quality features. In this, your site will share server space along with other sites making it unsuitable for a website with a huge number of visitors.
- The other one is Virtual Private Server (VPS) which also has a single server for various sites. But its special technology allows each website to have its own space despite being on the same server.
- Similarly, Dedicated Hosting is another hosting plan where you get to own the entire server for yourself. It is the appropriate one for big sites as this enables you to handle numerous visitors. It can contribute to making your site faster with full control over your server.
- For Managed Hosting, the management of the entire server is looked at by hosting companies. You will get an easier experience with this one because administration and updates will be handled for you with the entire server for yourself.
There are numerous free website hosting companies in the market, but it’s best you avoid it at all costs. The free ones might use your website to put advertisements or close down your site without notifying you.
What are WordPress Themes and Plugins?
i) WordPress Theme
In general, the theme is a combination of graphics, styles, and codes that creates a website/blog’s appearance. Themes are WordPress’s most useful function that allows users to manage the website’s style and appearance without coding.
Also, users can manage the website’s look with complete control of thousand of free themes, and if the user has a different vision, then one can pick a preferred theme, adjust and modify it with their preference. WordPress.org’s theme repository offers more than 9,000 free themes for you.
Apart from that, users can also purchase premium themes from different websites. Some of the popular and trustworthy websites to buy premium themes are:
ii) WordPress Plugin
And for plugins, it helps users to add features for their website that too without coding. It’s a part of the software with various functions to add new features to the website. WordPress.org currently offers 59,399 free plugins. You can get more from other websites as well.
You can use the plugins to maintain SEO, improve results, and start galleries, forms, and more. The WordPress.org plugin directory’s free plugins lack tech support, so users should be mindful while picking it for their website.
Users can install, update plugins and also delete them right from the WordPress dashboard. Also, the plugins won’t affect the user’s speed, and they’ll only slow down if you pick the bad ones. Below are some useful plugins that your site might need:
How to Use WordPress?
Its primary use is to make blogs, build websites for businesses, forums, and more. Here you can operate a hobby site, an online store, a directory, or even a photo site.
There’s step-by-step order you can follow to build a website through WordPress. The following steps provide a straightforward idea of what you should do to get started.
- Start by picking a domain name: You’ll require a domain name that you can pick with help of domain registration sites so that people can search it up to get into the site.
- Buy a hosting plan and set up your hosting account: Next step is to build a hosting account. It’ll require you to fill out your information where you’ll pick and buy plans. Hosting services like Bluehost provide you with hosting services along with domain names you prefer.
- WordPress installation: Most hosting companies offers WordPress auto-installation, meaning when you buy hosting plan WordPress will automatically be installed.
- Picking out a Theme: After you log in to WordPress, you’ll require to pick a theme that you can modify later according to your liking. Also, if you’re not fond of generic ones, you can always pick new ones from the premium package.
- Setting up the Dashboard: After sorting out the themes, you can start your work by hopping into the Dashboard. WordPress has Gutenberg which is an editor used to produce and design pages.
- Build the website with preferred plugins: You could also utilize WordPress by installing plugins that add value through its many features and functions. You can get access to more than one hundred plugins. Yoast SEO is one of the most popular ones among them.
You can use WordPress’s versatility to build any website you want, along with its helpful blogging application. Also, while using the application, you should always incorporate using its latest version to use its full features. The latest version to date is WordPress 5.9 Tatum released in 2022.
Some Big Brands that use WordPress
WordPress’s presence can be found in more than 100 big brands you might have stumbled into one way or another. So, here’s a small list of some of the renowned brands that use WordPress.
Walt Disney: The world-renowned Walt Disney uses WordPress to operate their website, including its news, pictures, and more.
Microsoft News: Yes, you heard it right. Even Microsoft news built their website through WordPress. They’ve utilized it to create their magazine kind of look that features their recent updates and news.
BBC America: The big television network is another big name on this list. Their site was made with none other than WordPress that displays their blog.
Angry Birds: You might have played the game or watched the movie “Angry Birds.” But something you might not know is their vibrant site being set up with WordPress.
TED Blog: The famous talk show TED Talk’s blog includes articles and ideas. The simple blog represents two columns with various lists of articles set up through WordPress
Besides these brands, music company Sony Music, singer Katy Perry and Beyonce, entertainment and magazine site Variety, daily newspaper New York Post have also used WordPress to set up their site.
Wrapping it Up!
If you’re a beginner or even familiar with a few technical terms, we hope this provided you with a clear insight into what WordPress is and how to use it.
Initially, you’ve to get started by choosing the correct version of WordPress for you. The idea of WordPress hosting is also something you’ve to grasp followed by theme installations and plugins that’ll benefit your posts and pages. You can always get WordPress support if it seems too much for you.
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