When I told my family and friends I was naming my business WP Custom Websites, the first question everyone asked was “What does WP stand for?” After giving the answer (hint “WordPress”), the second question everyone asked was “What is WordPress?”
WordPress is a software tool to manage, create and publish websites.
Software that manages digital content is referred to as a Content Management System (CMS). The beauty of a CMS is, in theory, anyone can use them to create a website without specialized technical knowledge. You don’t need to be a computer programmer or know anything about writing software. The CMS provides the infrastructure to build your digital content.
Which WordPress?
Yes, there’s more than one form of WordPress.
WordPress.com is a hosted blogging service. They manage your WordPress installation so you don’t have to. There are restrictions however and is not the solution for bloggers who want to monetize their sites or most businesses.
WordPress.org is referred to as self-hosted WordPress which means you install WordPress in your own hosting account and build your website. It’s all yours and you can use any features in the WordPress ecosystem without restriction. This is the version of WordPress this article is discussing.
Why WordPress?
WordPress is by far the most popular and widely-used CMS today. During the State of the Word 2020 address on 12/17/20, data showed WordPress usage grew to 39.3% of all websites on the internet!
Other CMS choices do exist. Options include Drupal, Joomla, Shopify, Squarespace and Wix. To put things in perspective, WordPress compromises the lion’s share or 62% of the CMS market share. (Source isitwp.com)
What makes WordPress so popular?
- It’s free. Need I say more?
- It’s open-source software which means anyone can access the code and modify it. This encourages innovation through collaboration (think “two heads are better than one” exponentially).
- It’s user-friendly.
- It’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) friendly. In other words, it lends itself to helping your website rank in search engine results.
- It’s customizable. Functionality is added and extended by adding plugins and installing a website template called a theme. There are over 50,000 plugins in the WordPress repository and thousands of WordPress themes to choose from.
How do I create a website with WordPress?
In a nutshell, you can create your own website with WordPress by following these steps:
- Purchase a domain
- Purchase a hosting account and set it up using your domain
- Install WordPress (only if WordPress wasn’t automatically installed by your hosting provider)
- Customize WordPress…
Step 4, “Customize WordPress”, is an extreme over-simplification. It’s equivalent to saying “build a house” to someone with no knowledge of how to implement any of the systems and in what order.
WP Custom Websites is your WordPress resource when you don’t have the time, inclination or interest in learning WordPress and being your own webmaster. Book a free consultation with WP Custom Websites to break free from your website headaches!
