What is WordPress? A Beginners guide 2023
Have you ever thought of the world-famous CMS WordPress. In this Beginners guide, you will learn all the basic of WordPress (CMS) and how you can use it as a beginner.
Affiliate disclaimer
In view of our full transparency, some of the links below are affiliate links. If you make purchase thorough it, we may earn a little commission at no extra cost to you.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) software used to build, design, and maintain websites. In technical terms, WordPress is written in PHP and run on MYSQL or MariaDB database. WordPress also offers features like plugins, themes and file management.
When was WordPress Developed?
WordPress began in 2003 when Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg created a blogging tool which is a fork of B2/cafelog Little and Mullenweg sought to create a better blogging platform, built on the original B2 code base, It has a more robust features and more consistent development.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
If you’ve ever searched WordPress on Google or other search engines, you will have come across two websites in the search result with the same name: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. This might be a little confusing for beginners since both websites have the same name. The difference is in the domain extension, it’s purpose and users.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a hosting company that uses a website builder based on the WordPress content management system used for all the website it hosts. Unlike its selfhosted counterpart WordPress.org, WordPress.com hosted, which means that it manages the webservers that stores its user’s website files.
Users using the free version of wordpress.com must use a free subdomain, like (yourwebsitedomain.wordpress.com). To use a custom domain name, you must upgrade to paid plan.
WordPress.org
WordPress.org offers you the free Open-sourced content management system software to run a self-hosted version of WordPress.
To create a selfhosted WordPress website, you first have to register your domain name and purchase a webhosting plan. The type and quality of hosting plan you choose will determine the overall performance of your website.
In addition, users have more control over the webserver configurations they purchase from a Webhosting provider by using a self-hosted website. The self-hosted version of WordPress allows users full potential of WordPress. Users can search and install any WordPress theme or plugin they want. Even use custom ones they’ve made themselves. The self-hosted version of WordPress is an excellent choice for users who want high flexibility, customization and plan to build their website.
WordPress features
WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that offers you lots of features for full customization and scalability of your website. Let’s check out a few of the features offered by WordPress CMS.
Easy to use Admin Dashboard
WordPress admin dashboard also known as the admin area, allows administrators and authorized contributors to modify content on the website and also perform maintenance.
The default way of accessing the WordPress dashboard is by going to your website address with a /wp-admin example: To go Smartblogger.com.ng admin area, I will type Smartblogger.com.ng/wp-admin and login by typing my username and password set during WordPress installation.
The admin dashboard contains all the website management features such as content editor, theme customizer, plugins and widgets Which we’ll discuss late in this guide.
The settings menu, which allows users to configure WordPress can also be accessed from the admin dashboard.
WordPress Content editor
WordPress content editor or simply text editor is where users can add, edit and publish WordPress pages and post. Using wordpress’s content editor is easy if your already familiar with word processors like Microsoft word, google doc and WPS.
The newer version of WordPress content editor, Guternberg simplifies content creation on WordPress even more.
Guternberg content editor allows users to add blocks–content components that include various text and media formats and design elements. For example, users can easily add an image or video by inserting the appropriate block.
Users can also assign Tags, featured image and meta description of the page or post from the sidebar section settings.
WordPress Theme Customizer
WordPress theme editor or customizer allows users to customize their current theme or design template. Users can make various Such as uploading a logo, customizing the navigation menu and setting a custom homepage and blogpost page.
Different themes have different degree of customization. Choosing a theme that meet your customization degree can be a tedious process. Checkout My top ten FREE WordPress theme. Although a free theme does not offer you the customization and functionality of a premium theme, these handpicked themes are pretty good for a basic website.
And if you want additional features, you can install a page builder plugin. Page builder plugin add drag-and-drop functionality to the theme editor, which makes website creation process a lot easier for beginners. Some examples of page builder plugins are Elementor and Beaver builder
WordPress Widgets and plugins
WordPress plugins are add-ons that extend a WordPress website functionality. Using a WordPress plugin gives users features that aren’t present in the core WordPress software. lots of WordPress plugins have been created by the WordPress development community. thousands more has been created outside the WordPress community. You can also create your own plugin too.
WordPress official plugin directory currently contains over 58,000 plugins. There is a WordPress plugin for virtually any situation. Among these plugins include those for strengthening website security, speeding up a website, increasing search engine optimization (SEO), adding forms and lots more.
WordPress has free and premium plugins too. Like free themes, Free plugins offer basic functionality, while premium plugins have more features and have customer support.
Below is A list of the best WordPress plugins to use on your website.
- WooCommerce: An open-source WordPress plugin that adds Ecommerce functionality.
- Elementor: This is a drag and drop page builder that offers premade design elements thus simplifying the process of designing a WordPress website.
- Yoast Seo: This is an Seo plugin that adds SEO indicators to the WordPress text editor which helps articles rank higher on search engine results page (SERPs)
Widgets add extra content and structure to a website. WordPress has several default widgets such as archives, recent post, gallery. Users can add more by installing a widget plugin.
What are the types of websites that can be created with wordpress
WordPress is a highly flexible CMS that can be used to create all kinds of websites. The possibilities WordPress offers are seemingly endless.
Below is a list of the most common type of website you can create with WordPress.
Blogs
Blogs is one of the most popular websites built using WordPress CMS. WordPress Itself started as a blogging tool, and today lots of blogs built and managed using WordPress CMS.
Portfolios
WordPress is also used to build a portfolio website. lots of Artists, photographers, musicians, writers, and other creative professionals have online portfolios made with WordPress website.
There are many portfolio themes available in the official WordPress directory and also from third-party theme repository. Premium themes for portfolios usually include additional features such as premade image galleries, lightboxes, and grid formats.
Business websites
WordPress also powers lots of businesses online ranging from small enterprises to large companies. Companies also build websites on WordPress CMS to access lots of user or clients online in a less complex method of creating a website.
WordPress enables you to Create a professional-looking business website in a straightforward way. This is achieved due to is variety of free and premium themes and plugins designed to meet various functions.
News websites
WordPress is also a one stop platform for news websites. Popular websites like The New York Times, BBC America and MTV News are built on WordPress. These websites have amazing design and layout with a good loading speed.
Ecommerce/Online store
WordPress is also a great solution to online stores. Popular ecommerce sites like Walmart use the power and flexibility of WordPress to create a stunning and mobile responsive website. Popular WordPress eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce makes creating an eCommerce website easy.
Forums/Online community
WordPress is also the platform of choice to create an online forum. With many forums theme and plugins WordPress makes the process of creating a forum website very easy.
Charity Organization Website
WordPress also makes creating a charity website trouble-free. WordPress a great platform for many charities, church organizations, and other nonprofits organizations. With WordPress features like donation plugins and themes, charity organization chooses this platform to create their websites.
Pros and Cons of WordPress
WordPress makes website creation process easy. WordPress offers tons advantages but, there are still some downsides to it. Below is the list of the pros and cons of using WordPress.
Pros of WordPress
- Low setup and Maintenace cost. Because WordPress is a free open-sourced CMS, WordPress users only need to pay for Domain name and webhosting
- Easy installation and update process. WordPress installation is super easy as most web hosting service offer instant WordPress installation tools. WordPress Update Process is also very easy and can be done Automatically via the WordPress dashboard.
- Custom design. WordPress Enables Users to create a custom website design in a hitch free process. Due to the availability of thousands of themes and plugins making a website to your particular taste is easy.
- Simple to manage. WordPress allows Users to write and edit posts, upload and edit images, manage users, add custom menus, or install themes and plugins without the need for programming knowledge.
- Custom functionality. With WordPress users can Make use of plugins to add Extra features to WordPress their WordPress website.
- Free access to WordPress community. WordPress has a free global community. In case you encounter an issue, WordPress community is a great option to seek help. WordPress has other support forums with helpful WordPress experts. In case of any issue you encounter, search for WordPress forums to help you with solutions.
- Open-source software. WordPress is an open-source content-management system (CMS), Because its source code is open to the public. Lots WordPress developers work to improve the core code, and thus new plugins and themes are created meet emerging needs.
Cons of WordPress
- Security vulnerability. Because WordPress powers almost half of websites on the Internet, this makes WordPress website a major target by most hackers. Using a WordPress security plugin can reduce the vulnerability.
- Third-party content. Since most WordPress themes and plugins are developed and managed by third-party developers, some may contain improper codes and can develop bugs on your site. To avoid this always read the description and reviews of plugins and themes Before installing a new plugin or theme. Check out the top ten recommended free wordpress themes
- Low page speed. Because WordPress requires plugins for additional functionalities Use of Too many plugins may slow a website down. uninstall unnecessary plugins to speed up your websites.
Final notes WordPress
WordPress is a great platform to build a website without any programming knowledge. Before choosing a theme or plugin make sure you check its review and Developers, A poorly coded theme or plugin might bring vulnerability to your website. You can check out my guide on how to build a professional WordPress website from scratch.
Share to your favorite social media.
What is WordPress? A Beginners guide 2023
Have you ever thought of the world-famous CMS WordPress. In this Beginners guide, you will learn all the basic of WordPress (CMS) and how you can use it as a beginner.
Affiliate disclaimer
In view of our full transparency, some of the links below are affiliate links. If you make purchase through it, we may earn a little commission at no extra cost to you.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) software used to build, design, and maintain websites. In technical terms, WordPress is written in PHP and run on MYSQL or MariaDB database. WordPress also offers features like plugins, themes and file management.
When was WordPress Developed?
WordPress began in 2003 when Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg created a blogging tool which is a fork of B2/cafelog Little and Mullenweg sought to create a better blogging platform, built on the original B2 code base, It has a more robust features and more consistent development.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
If you’ve ever searched WordPress on Google or other search engines, you will have come across two websites in the search result with the same name: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. This might be a little confusing for beginners since both websites have the same name. The difference is in the domain extension, it’s purpose and users.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a hosting company that uses a website builder based on the WordPress content management system used for all the website it hosts. Unlike its selfhosted counterpart WordPress.org, WordPress.com hosted, which means that it manages the webservers that stores its user’s website files.
Users using the free version of wordpress.com must use a free subdomain, like (yourwebsitedomain.wordpress.com). To use a custom domain name, you must upgrade to paid plan.
WordPress.org
WordPress.org offers you the free Open-sourced content management system software to run a self-hosted version of WordPress.
To create a selfhosted WordPress website, you first have to register your domain name and purchase a webhosting plan. The type and quality of hosting plan you choose will determine the overall performance of your website.
In addition, users have more control over the webserver configurations they purchase from a Webhosting provider by using a self-hosted website. The self-hosted version of WordPress allows users full potential of WordPress. Users can search and install any WordPress theme or plugin they want. Even use custom ones they’ve made themselves. The self-hosted version of WordPress is an excellent choice for users who want high flexibility, customization and plan to build their website.
WordPress features
WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that offers you lots of features for full customization and scalability of your website. Let’s check out a few of the features offered by WordPress CMS.
Easy to use Admin Dashboard
WordPress admin dashboard also known as the admin area, allows administrators and authorized contributors to modify content on the website and also perform maintenance.
The default way of accessing the WordPress dashboard is by going to your website address with a /wp-admin example: To go Smartblogger.com.ng admin area, I will type Smartblogger.com.ng/wp-admin and login by typing my username and password set during WordPress installation.
The admin dashboard contains all the website management features such as content editor, theme customizer, plugins and widgets Which we’ll discuss late in this guide.
The settings menu, which allows users to configure WordPress can also be accessed from the admin dashboard.
WordPress Content editor
WordPress content editor or simply text editor is where users can add, edit and publish WordPress pages and post. Using wordpress’s content editor is easy if your already familiar with word processors like Microsoft word, google doc and WPS.
The newer version of WordPress content editor, Guternberg simplifies content creation on WordPress even more.
Guternberg content editor allows users to add blocks–content components that include various text and media formats and design elements. For example, users can easily add an image or video by inserting the appropriate block.
Users can also assign Tags, featured image and meta description of the page or post from the sidebar section settings.
WordPress Theme Customizer
WordPress theme editor or customizer allows users to customize their current theme or design template. Users can make various Such as uploading a logo, customizing the navigation menu and setting a custom homepage and blogpost page.
Different themes have different degree of customization. Choosing a theme that meet your customization degree can be a tedious process. Checkout My top ten FREE WordPress theme. Although a free theme does not offer you the customization and functionality of a premium theme, these handpicked themes are pretty good for a basic website.
And if you want additional features, you can install a page builder plugin. Page builder plugin add drag-and-drop functionality to the theme editor, which makes website creation process a lot easier for beginners. Some examples of page builder plugins are Elementor and Beaver builder
WordPress Widgets and plugins
WordPress plugins are add-ons that extend a WordPress website functionality. Using a WordPress plugin gives users features that aren’t present in the core WordPress software. lots of WordPress plugins have been created by the WordPress development community. thousands more has been created outside the WordPress community. You can also create your own plugin too.
WordPress official plugin directory currently contains over 58,000 plugins. There is a WordPress plugin for virtually any situation. Among these plugins include those for strengthing website security, speeding up a website, increasing search engine optimization (SEO), adding forms and lots more.
WordPress has free and premium plugins too. Like free themes, Free plugins offer basic functionality, while premium plugins have more features and have customer support.
Below is A list of the best WordPress plugins to use on your website.
- WooCommerce: An open-source WordPress plugin that adds Ecommerce functionality.
- Elementor: This is a drag and drop page builder that offers premade design elements thus simplifying the process of designing a WordPress website.
- Yoast Seo: This is a Seo plugin that adds SEO indicators to the WordPress text editor which helps articles rank higher on search engine results page (SERPs)
Widgets add extra content and structure to a website. WordPress has several default widgets such as archives, recent post, gallery. Users can add more by installing a widget plugin.
What are the types of websites that can be created with wordpress
WordPress is a highly flexible CMS that can be used to create all kinds of websites. The possibilities WordPress offers are seemingly endless.
Below is a list of the most common type of website you can create with WordPress.
Blogs
Blogs is one of the most popular websites built using WordPress CMS. WordPress Itself started as a blogging tool, and today lots of blogs built and managed using WordPress CMS.
Portfolios
WordPress is also used to build a portfolio website. lots of Artists, photographers, musicians, writers, and other creative professionals have online portfolios made with WordPress website.
There are many portfolio themes available in the official WordPress directory and also from third-party theme repository. Premium themes for portfolios usually include additional features such as premade image galleries, lightboxes, and grid formats.
Business websites
WordPress also powers lots of businesses online ranging from small enterprises to large companies. Companies also build websites on WordPress CMS to access lots of user or clients online in a less complex method of creating a website.
WordPress enables you to Create a professional-looking business website in a straightforward way. This is achieved due to is variety of free and premium themes and plugins designed to meet various functions.
News websites
WordPress is also a one stop platform for news websites. Popular websites like The New York Times, BBC America and MTV News are built on WordPress. These websites have amazing design and layout with a good loading speed.
Ecommerce/Online store
WordPress is also a great solution to online stores. Popular ecommerce sites like Walmart use the power and flexibility of WordPress to create a stunning and mobile responsive website. Popular WordPress eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce makes creating an eCommerce website easy.
Forums/Online community
WordPress is also the platform of choice to create an online forum. With many forums theme and plugins WordPress makes the process of creating a forum website very easy.
Charity Organization Website
WordPress also makes creating a charity website trouble-free. WordPress a great platform for many charities, church organizations, and other nonprofits organizations. With WordPress features like donation plugins and themes, charity organization chooses this platform to create their websites.
Pros and Cons of WordPress
WordPress makes website creation process easy. WordPress offers tons advantages but, there are still some downsides to it. Below is the list of the pros and cons of using WordPress.
Pros of WordPress
- Low setup and Maintenace cost. Because WordPress is a free open-sourced CMS, WordPress users only need to pay for Domain name and webhosting
- Easy installation and update process. WordPress installation is super easy as most web hosting service offer instant WordPress installation tools. WordPress Update Process is also very easy and can be done Automatically via the WordPress dashboard.
- Custom design. WordPress Enables Users to create a custom website design in a hitch free process. Due to the availability of thousands of themes and plugins making a website to your particular taste is easy.
- Simple to manage. WordPress allows Users to write and edit posts, upload and edit images, manage users, add custom menus, or install themes and plugins without the need for programming knowledge.
- Custom functionality. With WordPress users can Make use of plugins to add Extra features to WordPress their WordPress website.
- Free access to WordPress community. WordPress has a free global community. In case you encounter an issue, WordPress community is a great option to seek help. WordPress has other support forums with helpful WordPress experts. In case of any issue you encounter, search for WordPress forums to help you with solutions.
- Open-source software. WordPress is an open-source content-management system (CMS), Because its source code is open to the public. Lots WordPress developers work to improve the core code, and thus new plugins and themes are created meet emerging needs.
Cons of WordPress
- Security vulnerability. Because WordPress powers almost half of websites on the Internet, this makes WordPress website a major target by most hackers. Using a WordPress security plugin can reduce the vulnerability.
- Third-party content. Since most WordPress themes and plugins are developed and managed by third-party developers, some may contain improper codes and can develop bugs on your site. To avoid this always read the description and reviews of plugins and themes Before installing a new plugin or theme. Check out the top ten recommended free wordpress themes
- Low page speed. Because WordPress requires plugins for additional functionalities Use of Too many plugins may slow a website down. uninstall unnecessary plugins to speed up your websites.
Final notes WordPress
WordPress is a great platform to build a website without any programming knowledge. Before choosing a theme or plugin make sure you check its review and Developers, A poorly coded theme or plugin might bring vulnerability to your website. You can check out my guide on how to build a professional WordPress website from scratch.
Share to your favorite social media.
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be sharing your post to my social media page.
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be sharing your post to my social media page.