Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little developed WordPress in 2003, a Content Management System(CMS) originally built for blogging.
- It is an open source software used for building websites as well as publishing a blog for Free.
- It builds and manages websites even if you don’t know coding.
Few terms you might need to know –
- Open source software means that code is accessible to everyone and anyone may add to it if they want to, just in case.
- Web Hosting stores your website files. If you want to build a website, then you must own a domain name.
- Domain Name is your website’s name/address. It is not a necessity to create a website in order to own a domain name.
WordPress indeed is the world’s most popular website builder software, powering 43% of all websites and holding 64.2% of CMS market share.
It has endless possibilities for creating websites, such as e-commerce, online courses, and membership sites.
For instance, some of the popular WordPress websites include Microsoft, Disney, Vogue, PlayStation and The White House.
Two ways to host a WordPress website :-
- WordPress.com
- WordPress.org
Now you might be wondering which one to choose amongst them and what makes them different from each other. So just to make it easier for you, I’ll compare them, and you can choose which one will be most advantageous for you.
WordPress.com
- Quick/easy way to start your website for free.
- Focus on site without maintenance hassles..
- Use their web hosting.
- No monetization feature.
- No domain name ownership. [It will appear as (Your Domain Name).WordPress.com].
WordPress.org
- Build a professional website with your own unique domain name and web hosting (paid).
- Self-hosting provides more flexibility and control over your website(No limitations).
- Provides advanced customization and monetization options.
If you want to build a professional website then wordpress.org would be the best option for you. If not, then you can go with wordpress.com as well.
Choose what serves your best interest.
Let’s now discuss the key elements of WordPress –
- Pages
- A section of your website where you can display information and store static data.
- Home, About, and Contact are some of the most common pages on a website.
- Your website can have as many pages as you like; Update it whenever you want.
To access and alter them, go to your WordPress site, look in the left-side menu for “Pages.”
2. Posts
- Posts are for more up-to-date, timely content that is updated frequently.
- They can be displayed on a website in various ways, such as using the Blog Posts block or creating a posts page in Customize Homepage Settings.
To alter a post, go to My Site, select the post’s title. The post will open in the WordPress Editor where you may edit or add content. Once a post has been published an Update button will appear. To publish your changes, click Update.
3. Themes
- An excellent tool for branding your website and developing an online persona.
- Changes website’s appearance and experience.
- Makes it possible for anyone, even those without coding or design experience, to quickly set up a website and customize it accordingly .
- Several themes, texts, and font sizes available.
- Design buttons, upload images/videos and more.
4. Plugins
- Enhances your website’s features and functionality.
- There is no limit to how many plugins you can use, but it is advisable to use less as more plugins will affect your website’s performance.
5. Media
- The WordPress sidebar has a tab called Media that is used to manage user uploads (images, audio, video, and other files).
- If you want to edit the media, then click on the Media → Library and choose an image to edit.
6. Users
- A user is someone who has registered on a WordPress website and has a username and password, while visitors do not need to be registered users.
- A well-managed WordPress hosting plan can handle 400,000 visitors per month.
7. Comments
- Website visitors can engage with you and others in the following ways; by commenting, giving feedback, and responding to posts and pages.
- Once you enable comments on your site, WordPress adds comment boxes after content for users to leave comments.
Concluding Remark
Without a doubt, WordPress is the best platform for making professional websites without spending a lot of money and time.