What is WordPress? 8 Quick Benefits for Every Beginners And Newbies

Introduction:

Have you ever tried building a website/landing page all by yourself? Have you come across or heard something known as WordPress?

What is WordPress? Is there a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? Why should a beginner use WordPress to build a website? Why is the majority of the website built on it?

If you have felt the same, Welcome to this particular article, we can go through all the doubts and questions related to WP.

We came across WordPress very late, back in 2016; till then, the other major platforms were all coding platforms which a non-coder like you or me could not cope up and get websites developed by ourselves.

To Understand more about WordPress, we need to answer some of the fundamental questions first.

• What is a Content Management System?
• What are the different Content Management Systems available in the market?

Let us begin with understanding what a content management system is.

What is a CMS (Content Management System)?

A Content Management System is a tool that helps to build websites or blogs. In CMS, there is no need to write all code from zero. You can still build websites even if you don’t know how to code at all. Thanks to day by day technological developments.

Let’s take an example where we start with creating a piece of content or writing a blog. 

Without CMS, you would need to write a code in a static HTML file and upload it to your server under a public HTML folder, etc… (it sounds complicated, right?).

With a CMS, you can write your content in a tool or an interface that looks similar to Microsoft Word or Notepad.

The ultimate job is to convert the information fed to it in the plain language to a language that the browser understands and store it in the webserver. 

That is, instead of writing a heading in HTML like <h2> What is WP </h2>, you can directly note “What is WP”, and the CMS will convert them into codes.

The Content Management System makes a newbie or a beginner who wants to develop a website simple in easy DIY steps. And it brings us to the next question, what are the different CMS’s available in the market?

What are the different CMS’s available?

There are a lot of CMS’s available like:

1. WordPress
2. Joomla
3. Blogger
4. Magento (For E-Commerce stores) 
5. Drupal 
6. Wix etc.

We will be focussing more on the WordPress – Content Management System on our blogs. We have been working with WordPress for more than four to five years now.

In future articles in our blog, We will be learning how to develop a blog or a professional website. Also, how can we customize it as per our needs? So now we know about Content Management Systems, let’s jump into the main topic i.e What is WordPress?

What is WordPress?

WordPress or WP is a free, widely used, and open-source content management system written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database. The Features include a plugin architecture and a template system, referred to within WordPress as Themes.

Difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

The one significant difference between WordPress.org and .com is who’s hosting your website.

With WordPress.org, You host your blog or website. WordPress.org is the website where you’ll find the free WordPress software that you can download and install on your web server and customize accordingly. These are generally known as self-hosted blogs or self-hosted WordPress websites.

WordPress.com, on the other hand, takes care of all of the hostings for you. You don’t have to download the software, pay for web hosting, or manage your web server.

WordPress.org is more flexible for most users; you’re free to install whatever WordPress themes and plugins you want, while WordPress.com doesn’t let you install third-party themes and plugins on most plans.

As said above, for WordPress.org, you need to buy a domain and hosting. I suggest you purchase it from Domainkharido.com or GoDaddy. 

To know more about domains and hostings we prefer and use – check our page – Best WordPress Tools: A Useful 101 Guide For Web Developers.

More About WordPress.org

WordPress is the world’s most popular tool for the creation of blogs and websites of different types. It can develop any style of website, from a simple blog to a full-featured business website. You can even use WP to create an online eCommerce store. WP has numerous features and customization possibilities, unlike other CMS’s.

For example, you can use WordPress as a base to develop:

• Blogs
• Professional websites / Corporate Business Websites
• Forum Websites
• Portfolio Websites
• E-Commerce Stores
• Online Courses / Learning Management Systems
• Membership Sites
• Own Affiliate System
• Social Networks
• Various Portals
• Etc.

Yes with WordPress as a base you can create any of the above kinds of websites. And Yes we ourselves have done it for many of our clients and even for our other projects. You can get in touch with us in case you are looking to create any of the above using the enquiry form on our contact page.

After knowing about What is WordPress, most of them doubt What is a Theme in WordPress and What is a Plugin in WordPress?

What is WordPress Themes?

A WordPress Theme changes the design of your website, mostly its layout. Changing your theme changes how your WP website looks on the front-end, i.e. what a website visitor sees when browsing your site on the web. There are thousands of free themes in the WordPress.org Theme Directory.

The best way to understand WordPress Themes is to compare them to the Themes available on our mobile phones as you change the Theme in the mobile, your layouts, colours, icons and some other visual aesthetics changes. Similarly, when you change your Theme in WordPress, it changes the colour scheme and typography and similar visual elements and its design.

What are WordPress Plugins?

A WordPress Plugin is a piece of software. Plugins can extend functionality or add new features to your WP websites. There are several thousands of free plugins in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory. Some of which also has a million installations.

The best way to understand WordPress Plugins is to compare them to the Apps available on our mobile phones. The more apps you add, the more is the features that get added to your mobile phone. Similarly, when you add different plugins to your WordPress website, you will get more functionalities for your website. Just like you have an Android App Store and an IOS Store – Similarly, you have WordPress.org Plugin Directory.

The more you add plugins to your website, the more the site will become heavier and thereby affect your page load speed time. Always make sure you add plugins from Plugin Directory or reputed web developers.

Seven DIY Steps to develop a website with WordPress.org

Now you know What is WordPress and What is Theme & Plugin in WordPress, let’s check out the easy DIY steps to develop a WordPress Website.

1. Buy Domain – Check the Article on How to choose a domain name for your website.
2. Web Hosting – Check the Article on How to Choose Web Hosting for Your Website.
3. Install WordPress.
4. Select a Theme and Customize the theme.
5. Add Plugins (Plugins are additional functionalities).
6. Create Contents and Publish.
7. Customize and Build various pages using easy to use Page Builders.

With these seven easy do it yourself steps, you can develop your website all by yourself, even if you don’t know about coding because now you know what is WordPress.

Why Should a Beginner use WordPress.org?

1. With WordPress a base, you can develop different types of websites. To name a few like – Business websites, E-Commerce website, Portfolio websites, Learning Management Systems, etc.
2. WordPress is a universal platform with a wide range of free WordPress themes and free WordPress plugins.
3. All the major WP Themes and WP Plugins have a Free version as well as a Pro Version. So those who want an advanced level of functionality can opt for the pro version of it.
4. Whether it is a corporate website, an e-commerce platform, or a survey site WordPress provides tools and customization opportunities, most of which are free to use.
5. Highly reliable since WordPress powers the majority of the website. WordPress powers more than 40% of the websites on the Internet, which is huge.
6. Websites like CNN, The New York Times, Facebook Newsroom etc., are built on WP. – Check this article to view 40+ Most Notable Big Name Brands Using WordPress.
7. You can hire designers and developers from any part of the world if you want to outsource your website building.
8. With Growing Technological Advancements, the compatibility with drag and drop page builders has increased. And now, creating a stunning website is just a matter of a couple of hours. Yes, with Elementor Page Builder, you can customise each element in the website and get your WordPress website ready within a couple of hours.

To learn more about Elementor Page Builder, check our article – Elementor Page Builder: A Free 101 Guide for Every Beginner.

Conclusion

I hope this article has given you in-depth information on various content management systems, What is WordPress, and Why WordPress powers the majority of websites. You would also have got the reasons why should a beginner use WordPress Website.

I know there might be a little bouncer information today. But I wanted to lay a strong foundation base for the upcoming articles. 

All the new Digital Marketers can start using WordPress to have their blogs or brand websites. Also, simultaneously can scale up their blog or website using digital marketing.

Now, after this article still, there might be someone who might conflict with the above. But what one needs to put in mind and understand is that it’s challenging to develop a factual argument for one content management system being the best in 100% of situations. 

But with the experience of the last 4-5 years, I can guarantee you that WordPress is a growing platform. It’s a perfect fit for Blogs, Corporate Website, Forums, Portfolios, E-Commerce Stores, Online Courses, Membership Sites, Social Networks, and developing Portals. We have built more than 250+ websites for different clients, and we have written this article to keep those in mind and empower you.

In case you want to learn on how to design WordPress pages. Check the 06 Day Elementor Workshop here.

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