Over 50 percent of the websites in the world are built on WordPress.
But many website owners don’t know what WordPress is.
Yes, yes, you might be surprised to hear, but many WordPress website owners don’t know that their website is built on the WordPress system.
So what is WordPress?
What is WordPress? What can it do and is it right for you? A beginner’s guide
WordPress is software that allows you to easily build websites and publish content online.
It was launched back in 2003 and has since become the most popular website building platform in the world.
The software is released under the GNU General Public License, which means it is free to download and use.
What attracts people to use WordPress is its diverse use.
It can be used to create blogs, libraries, forums, galleries, business websites, online stores, and more.
Today, WordPress powers over 43.3% of all websites and continues to grow and become more and more popular.
Let’s take a closer look at WordPress and what it can do.
What is WordPress?
WordPress was originally a simple blogging platform, but it quickly evolved into a more feature-rich content management system (CMS).
The software is written in the PHP scripting language. All website content, including settings, blog posts, and pages, is stored in a database.
MySQL is the most popular choice of database, but some website owners choose to use an alternative solution such as MariaDB or SQLite.
Don’t worry if all of this seems technical and unclear to you, your hosting company takes care of the technical side of running WordPress so you can focus only on creating content and marketing your website.
That’s the efficiency and beauty of WordPress, the software allows anyone, regardless of their technical experience, to quickly create professional-looking websites using a user-friendly and convenient administration area.
What can WordPress do?
Because WordPress’s functionality has expanded so much over the years,
It’s more accurate to ask “What can’t WordPress do?”
Because the software can be used to build almost any type of website.
Of course, WordPress will always be known as a fantastic blogging website application and that remains true today.
An example of a blog on quality of life, leisure culture, health, and more: https://lifejoy.co.il/
At the heart of WordPress is the excellent WordPress editor. The editor allows you to create and design pages using simple design toolbars, and a modern page builder that also includes drag-and-drop. Today, the Elementor plugin has become very popular on WordPress sites.
Whether you publish blog posts daily, or use WordPress to add static pages, you’ll appreciate how easy it is to use the WordPress editor.
The version of WordPress available at wordpress.org/download is known as the core version of WordPress.
While you can build a website using the default WordPress Twenty Twenty theme, the vast majority of website owners use a more advanced WordPress theme. They also install plugins to add more features and functionality.
By using themes and plugins, you can expand what you can do with WordPress. This allows you to create a variety of websites with WordPress, including directories, discussion forums, portfolios and galleries, blogs and magazines, e-commerce sites, business sites, corporate sites, online courses, hotel bookings, dating sites, Q&A sites, knowledge bases, and simple resume sites.
In short, WordPress can be used to create almost any type of website.
You just need to find the right WordPress theme or plugin to help you do this.
WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
If you are new to WordPress, you may be confused by the fact that there are two versions of WordPress located on different domain names.
WordPress.org – a free version that requires external website hosting (the most popular).
WordPress.com – a paid version that also includes website hosting (less recommended).
The free version of WordPress found at WordPress.org is more popular because it is much more flexible. There are no restrictions on how you use the self-hosted version of WordPress, so you can customize your site however you like and maintain full control over your site’s content.
With the free version of WordPress, you need to purchase a web hosting package to keep your website online 24/7.
In the past, building a website with the free version of WordPress (self-hosted web hosting) required the website owner to handle most of the administrative tasks for the website. In addition to installing WordPress, the website owner had to manage updates for the WordPress website and for the WordPress themes and plugins installed on the website. The website owner also had to maintain backups of the website and secure the website to prevent hackers from entering the website.
While weekly maintenance remains an essential task for most WordPress users, the arrival of managed WordPress hosting companies has removed the need to do everything yourself as they handle most of the administrative tasks for you.
In contrast, WordPress.com is a paid WordPress hosting service, where the client is quite limited and dependent, like any closed-source system, and is less recommended in my opinion.
WordPress themes and plugins
WordPress has a built-in template system that allows you to change the look of your website in seconds. These template designs, known as WordPress themes, can completely transform your website.
There are thousands of free WordPress themes on WordPress.org and WordPress.com to help you launch the perfect website. A free WordPress theme might be enough, but if you’re willing to invest, there’s the option of opting for a premium WordPress theme for an additional fee, which typically has better design quality and provides a more refined user experience with more options and features.
You’ll find thousands of premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest theme library, but you may also be able to find smaller WordPress theme stores that are a better fit for you, like MeridianThemes.
In addition to a template system, WordPress also has a plugin architecture that allows you to plug additional code into your site. This is why the possibilities with WordPress are almost limitless.
WordPress developers intentionally designed the core version to be lightweight, so that website owners can build the website they want by installing plugins on top of the barebones version of WordPress. In other words, you only need to enable the additional functionality you need.
You can take, for example, a WordPress plugin for email marketing.
WordPress isn’t specifically designed for email marketers, but by enabling a WordPress email marketing plugin, you can collect emails for online advertising services.
Similarly, many choose to use a more advanced drag-and-drop page builder like Elementor.
The WordPress.org plugin directory lists thousands of free WordPress plugins.
There are WordPress plugins to improve SEO, deal with spam, automate website backups, improve website security, integrate social media, add contact forms, add pricing tables, and more…
Some WordPress plugins will add important functionality to your website.
For example, WooCommerce and other lightweight digital downloads can be used to build an e-commerce website and bbPress allows you to add a discussion forum to WordPress.
One of the coolest things about WordPress is that you can install and activate WordPress themes and plugins directly from your WordPress admin area. Updates can also be made there, which greatly reduces the time it takes to update your WordPress sites.
It is recommended to explore the WordPress themes and plugins available in the market as this will give you a better appreciation of how powerful WordPress is.
What you need to launch your own WordPress website:
Anyone, regardless of experience, can launch a WordPress website.
However, if you are new to the world of computing, you may want to consider launching your WordPress website with HostCenter.
The process is simple, all you need to do is purchase a WordPress website hosting package and create a hosting account www.hostcenter.co.il. Host Center will assist you in installing the website for free at no additional cost, and will also provide you with free Elementor Pro for the first year and other benefits and tools to manage your website.
You can then choose whether you are building a blog, a business website, a professional website, or an online store.
Next, you will be asked to enter basic information about your site such as a name and description.
From there, you’ll just need to activate a WordPress theme and start publishing content.
In summary, to use the free version of WordPress, you will need to do three things:
- Purchase a domain name
- Purchase a storage package
- Install WordPress
Many hosting companies offer “free” domain names to new customers, including Host Center. For every hosting package purchased for over a year, you will receive a free domain.
However, it is possible to register domain names yourself.
The cost of a domain will depend on what domain extension you need and where you buy it from.
The hardest part of purchasing a domain name is finding a suitable and available name.
Once you find a good, suitable domain name, the actual process of purchasing the domain only takes a few minutes.
Now that you have purchased a domain name, you can choose a suitable hosting company to host your WordPress website.
At Host Center, the oldest company in Israel in the field of website and server hosting, you can purchase a hosting package that suits your website and your needs.
The last thing you’ll need to do is install WordPress,
The WordPress installation process is simple, but the vast majority of web hosting companies install WordPress for you, so all you have to do is customize your WordPress site.
I do believe that all WordPress users should learn how to install WordPress manually at some point.
However, I highly recommend that beginners choose a web hosting company that installs WordPress for you so that you can focus your time on getting to know the platform.
Is WordPress right for you?
WordPress is a versatile solution that has established itself as the most popular website platform on the Internet. It is a convenient and recommended content management system that most website developers use.
To determine which website platform is right for you and your project, there are many factors to consider, including your experience, your budget, and what you’re trying to create.
Alternatively, two other popular open source content management systems are Joomla and Drupal. We recommend checking them out.
WordPress themes and plugins mean that WordPress can do almost anything, although that doesn’t mean it’s always the best solution.
So be sure to check out all your options so you choose the right platform for your new website.
In conclusion,
I hope you enjoyed this overview of the WordPress platform.
I also hope you have a better understanding of what WordPress can do and understand the differences between the free version of WordPress found at WordPress.org and the paid version at WordPress.com.
WordPress is also the most popular solution on the market, which attracts many developers to the platform. New WordPress themes and plugins are released every day, and the platform is well supported by every web hosting company.
Thank you for reading.
The article was translated from English to Hebrew by Yahav Bengiat and Google Translate.
The article was written by Kevin Muldoon and all rights reserved.
Kevin Maldon is a professional blogger with a love of travel. He regularly writes about internet marketing on his personal blog and actively talks about technology on YouTube.
