If you’re just starting out with the online world or an aspirant blogger or website owner, you must have heard of WordPress a couple of times by the time you’re reading this post.
But for some reason, it all just seems too confusing. Is it a web-hosting platform, blog market, page builder, or something else?
Well, just calm down. It’s nothing like that.
In more than simple words, it’s an open-source and a hundred percent free software that allows you to start a blog or create a website super fast (without any programming knowledge and experience).
Or in beginner-friendly words, the easiest way to build a website or start a blog in minutes from anywhere around the world as long as you have a laptop and internet connection. That’s that.
Now that you’ve understood this, let me get a bit technical:
It is an open-source CMS (Content Management System) written in PHP (a programming language) and paired with MySQL or MariaDB database.
I hope you’re not scared. This definition and elaboration were just to give you more and better information. You don’t have to worry about it if you don’t understand.
Why is WordPress So Popular?
With WordPress, you must also have heard about Wix or Squarespace.
Yes, those are its competitors. But still, the most sung among these three is WordPress.
Why is that?
It’s because the platform has been in the game for years and has the best usability features and experience for beginners. Also, you get access to top plugins and themes for absolutely free.
On top of that, you can hose multiple websites on a single installation which is not offered by any of the alternatives.
According to Google, WordPress has a rating of 99% SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Friendliness. What this means is that it has the most potential to show up your blog posts and pages in search results or Google or Bing, and drive more traffic (visitors or views) to your blog or website.
Currently, WordPress is powering over 36% of the total websites on the planet (which is insane).
Is WordPress Safe?
Yes, the platform is powerfully protected and audited by hundreds of skilled developers regularly to ensure top notch security.
However, there have been some cases where websites have been hacked but not because of the software, but the low-quality hosting-service used by the website owners (We’ll talk about web-hosting in our next chapter soon).
To stay at the highest level of security, all you need to make sure is that you update the core application regularly.
When Did it Come Up?
WordPress started as a blogging software back in 2003 by American developer Matt Mullenweg and English developer Mike Little under GPLv2 Licence (General Public Licence).
After the time it was released, several contributors have been working on the platform to make it better and safer every single day.
Wikipedia says that it’s a factory that makes webpages for the internet. There are over 11,000 themes and 60,000 plugins available that you can choose from.
The Confusion – Difference Between WordPress.org and WordPress.com
There’s often a confusion between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. I’ll tell you a funny thing. When I got started, It was so confusing to me that I watched a YouTube video on how to create a website with WordPress.org and ended up creating it on WordPress.com.
So, what’s the difference?
WordPress.org is self-hosted WordPress. This means that it’s free and you can install it on your own web host.
WordPress.com is powered by WordPress.org which provides you official hosting, support, and various features that you definitely won’t get in the free version. But honestly, you do miss out on the flexibility and features (only a couple of). But it is safer and better, and costly at the same time.
I’m currently paying $25/month + $5/month (hosting) + $3/month (mail) on WordPress.com. That’s over $33/month including some extra expenditure.
On the flip side, with WordPress.org, you can have a site up and running for as little as $3/month (using Bluehost web-hosting – I’ve talked about it in this tutorial).
Generally, when you hear someone talking about WordPress, in most of the cases, they’re referring to WordPress.org.
What Are Some Popular Sites Using WordPress?
WordPress is used by some of the industry leaders out there on this planet.
You know about VOGUE already. I don’t need to tell you about it.
Yes, that’s right. Obama Foundation website is run completely using WordPress.
This one’s my personal favorite.
I can just go on and on you know…
There are so many of them…here’s a small list.
- Quartz
- BBC America
- Time Inc
- TechCrunch
- 007 – James Bond
- Backlinko
- SB Digital – Ha!
- And more…
What Type of Website Can You Create?
Simple answer – you can create any type of website. Whether you want to start a dropshipping store, an e-commerce store, a blog, a portfolio website, a portal, business website, DIY site, software, tool, or something else.
You are as free as a bird to make whatever you want.
I heard About Blogger As Well. Should I Use It?
Please stay away from it. Only use WordPress. It’s better in every way. It’s the best.
Using Blogger will lead you to freak out and throw your laptop or Macbook away.
Yes, I’m serious.
Final Words
As a small business, big business, solopreneur, blogger, marketing guy, online coach, entrepreneur, and software as a service company, the only platform that will help you get better results with the minimum required skills and work, will always be – WordPress.
That’s the conclusive statement I would like to make in the end. In the next guide, I’ll show you how to create a website or blog using WordPress step-by-step so that you don’t need to hire any developer.
If You Have Any Questions About WordPress Or Anything In General, Feel Free To Ask In The Comments And I’ll Make Sure To Help You Out Personally.
