What is WordPress and what is it for?

What is WordPress and what is it for? Differences between the .org and the wordpress.com

If you are a regular reader of the blog you will ask what I do talking about WordPress at this point. But we must also take into account the new readers who come wanting to know how to create a blog or start a business online but do not know what WordPress is or confuse it with wordpress.com so this article can not be missing in the Blog.

What is WordPress?

To know what WordPress is and how it works first you have to differentiate between wordpress.com and WordPress the CMS.

Both are closely related to the creation of web pages and blogs but with such obvious differences that make the WordPress CMS the most appropriate option to create a professional blog or any kind of web page.

While wordpress.com is a platform to create free blogs like Wix or blogger (you can see how to create a free blog, its limitations and what platforms are here ), the older brother, WordPress (from the web wordpress.org, which no .com) is a CMS.

How WordPress works: What is a CMS?

A CMS (or content manager) is a software that serves so that a user can easily manage, manage and create a website .

This gives us a great advantage because thanks to a CMS we can manage our websites without having to program or know any kind of code.

In the case of WordPress, the content management system is done internally through mysql databases that, of course, do not need to know or touch anything.

Although WordPress is the most used web CMS , there are other CMS such as Joomla, Drupal, Magento, Prestashop ...

Why use WordPress the CMS

That the WordPress web CMS is the most used is not a coincidence and it is not just because it is an open source CMS.

In fact, among the most important WordPress statistics it can be highlighted that the percentage of websites made with wordpress is very high .

Specifically, more than 30% of all web pages are made with WordPress all over the world, and of the websites that use CMS, WordPress is the CMS used in more than 60% of these web pages (the following is Joomla with only 6%).

The 14 Advantages of WordPress

The advantages of WordPress CMS versus others or even against not using any are many. Here I leave the main ones:

1. It is easy to use . I would venture to say that WordPress is the easiest CMS to use.
2. Very simple installation . If you're worried about how to install WordPress, do not worry. In the majority of hostings to install WordPress it is enough to do a couple of clicks.
3. WordPress is free . You can download WordPress  and use it on as many websites as you want. Of course, except for non-professional websites that you can do in blogger, wordpress.com and other platforms, professional websites and blogs need a hosting to stay. In this article you have much more information about what a hosting is and how to choose the best one .
4. Constantly updated . Unlike other CMS, WordPress is updated quite frequently so, apart from adding features, it also provides   more security to the protected against attacks and viruses . This means that its maintenance is also extremely simple and you do not need to hire any webmaster to do the maintenance of your website.
5. Optimized for SEO . The SEO is vital to appear at the top of Google and WordPress makes things easier.
6. You are the owner of your website. With all the CMS the same thing happens. However, with free platforms like wordpress.com or blogger you must be clear that the web does not belong to you and you can not do with it what you want.
7. No need to know programming or any kind of code. Anyone can make a web page or blog with WordPress .
8. Very fast learning curve . If what you are worried about is knowing how to create a blog with WordPress (or any other type of web page), not only will you get the platform quickly, but from the first moment it will seem quite intuitive.
9. Infinite customization possibilities . Thanks to the infinity of  Plugins  and WordPress templates that you can find, and even Widgets, it is practically impossible that there are two websites with the same design.
10. Responsive . Having the web adapted to mobile is already an obligation and it is surprising to see how some CMS do not make their webs still look good on mobile. Luckily with WordPress this will not happen to you.
11. Creation of a blog in two minutes . Apart from being able to create static pages, WordPress is directly adapted so you can create entries to have a blog from its side menu.
12. Scalability . Did you think that only small websites use WordPress? The great thing about WordPress is that your website can be as big as you want. For example, the BBC America website or Beyoncé's personal website are made with this CMS.
13. Functions for EVERYTHING you look for. Once again, thanks to the amount of WordPress plugins that you can find, it will be practically impossible to find something that you can not do with WordPress.
14. Completely translated . If what you were worried about was knowing if you are going to find a way to find WordPress in Spanish , do not worry. Being the most used CMS, you have it directly in Spanish . Of course, if you feel more comfortable with another language, you also have it with a simple Google search.

What is WordPress for?

Now that you know what WordPress is and what are its advantages, it is important to see what this CMS is for.

As I said in a very general way in this article, WordPress is used to create web pages and blogs .

Virtually, with the WordPress CMS and its thousands of templates, "themes" or themes and plugins to install you can make any type of web.

Here are some examples of websites that can be created with WordPress :

• Corporate Web . If you want to make a website for your company where you report on the services it offers, WordPress is the indicated CMS. From the page menu, you will only have to create the pages you need (Home, Services, Who we are and Contact are the most used), give them a title and add text and images.
• Landing pages or sales pages. Let's say that you have a star product or that you have written a book and you only want to sell that book on your website and promote it with social networks. With WordPress you can base your website on a single product or even to attract clients or subscribers for a course.
• Portfolios . Wordpres allows you to create this type of special webs for artists, artists, photographers, interior decorators, etc. where they show their works where the images prevail.
• Online Store (or e-commerce). Do you want to sell your own products online? WordPress also allows you to create your online store , from upload your products, put the prices you want and manage the payment channels.
• Affiliation store . Affiliate stores are becoming more fashionable and one could say that it is one of the most profitable internet businesses . If you want to promote other products with the appearance of an online store and take commission for each sale you get, WordPress is the CMS you should choose.
• Blog . If something has WordPress is its ability to integrate a blog on any website . Whether you just want to have a blog or want to incorporate it into the types of websites in this WordPress listing, it will be much easier.
• Fusion of several types of webs.
• Anything that you come up with.

Differences between WordPress.org and wordpress.com

Throughout this article you have already been able to make a slight idea of ​​the differences between wordpress.org and wordpress.com . Although not all are differences.

These are its most important similarities : they are from the same company, in both you can make use of the "widgets" and use the same identification system for comments (the Gravatar ).

Regarding the differences , while the first (the .org) is the CMS of which I have spoken here, wordpress.com is a platform to create a free blog that can also be very useful if you are looking to have a blog for Tell what you want but no prospects of making money with him in the future.

The main differences between WordPress.org and the .com are:

• A website made with the WordPress CMS will be 100% owned, while with wordpress.com your website is not yours (the content included) and you will not be able to do everything you want with it.
• Both are free but to use wordpress.org you will need a hosting,  or web hosting, and a domain .
• With WordPress.org you can add a lot of features thanks to the plugins . With wordpress.com you will have to adapt to what is there.
• There are "premium" versions of wordpress.com that, apart from being more expensive in the long run than with wordpress.org, will not allow you to do anywhere near what you can do with the WordPress CMS.
• The templates are much more limited wordpress.com and customization leaves much to be desired.
• If what you want is to earn money with a website or blog , wordpress.com greatly limitsthis aspect (it does not let you post advertisements or promote sharpening products) so the only viable option is to use the WordPress.org CMS.