Last updated on January 7th, 2025 at 11:13 pm
[This article is a part of the WordPress Basics series. This series will help you understand WordPress enough to be confident to use it for your business or hobby without being too overwhelmed with technical stuff.]
If I have a friend who wants to use WordPress to run her business website, this is a plain and simple WordPress introduction I’ll give her.
By the end of the post, she will understand what it is, the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, the benefits of WordPress, and what she has to do to get started building a website.
The what
- WordPress is a free tool you can use to build and manage your website. It’s also known as a CMS or Content Management System. Frankly, it’s a system you can use to manage your content online. WordPress powers over 40% of all websites worldwide.
- The system itself is free to use. But to make a functioning website that people can view online, you need a unique website name (domain name) and a web host who stores and serves your content. In most cases, you have to pay for those. Hence the term, self-hosted WordPress site; a WordPress site you pay for the web host yourself.
- WordPress is open-source software, meaning its code is publicly accessible for anyone to view, edit, or improve. This means web developers can customize the site’s functionality. For typical users, it means they benefit from an open-source community that creates themes, plugins, and updates to keep the system evolving.
WordPress.org VS WordPress.com
- In a nutshell: WordPress.com is built on the same software as WordPress.org, but while WordPress.org is free and self-hosted, WordPress.com is a paid service that charges for hosting and premium features. (The WordPress that we focus on is the .org.)
- The relationship between the two stems from one fact: Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of the open-source WordPress project, later launched WordPress.com as a platform to simplify website creation by offering managed hosting and handling the technical aspects like updates and security.
The how (to set up your site)
- 5 steps to do: Get a domain name, buy a web hosting plan, install WordPress in your web host account, choose a theme (your site’s appearance), and plugins (your site functions). [Dive deeper into the steps here.]
Keep in mind
- Despite the free-to-use nature of WordPress and plenty of free tools, you can end up paying for premium tools especially when your site gets more complicated. That’s because they help your site function way better and have a dedicated tech team who can solve your specific issues more quickly.
- Despite the flexibility WordPress offers, it comes with a responsibility to maintain your site to keep it secure and speedy. The tasks include backing up your files and database, updating themes and plugins, optimizing your media, fixing errors, etc. Your options: take time to get the hang of it or hire someone to do it.
The why (you’d choose WordPress): 3 main reasons
- Cost: WordPress is more affordable than other paid platforms for building your site. Some get away with using free tools and only pay for the web host and domain.
- Flexibility, control & ownership: WordPress is flexible and gives you total control and ownership of your site. It allows you to host with any web host, install any tools, or edit anything on your site without restrictions, which is opposite to many paid platforms.
- Scalability: With its flexibility, WordPress can be adapted to your business needs no matter how simple or complex.
There you have it, a plain and simple introduction to WordPress. I hope this article concludes the overview of WordPress as a tool you use to create and run your website.