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What is WordPress and Who uses WordPress?
WordPress Is a Flexible, Customizable Software Used for Websites, Blogs and Combinations of Both. It Is Also Very Economical.
More than 50% of the top 100 sites in the world use WordPress . From NASA to Ford Motor Company the businesses using WordPress are concrete proof of its quality.
Notable users of WordPress include well known news organizations, Fortune 500 businesses, political figures and celebrities. Here are a few of them.
New York Times, Forbes, Reuters, CNN, GM, UPS, Ebay, Sony, VW, Katie Perry, Jay-Z, Mashable, TechCrunch, and many more.
Who Created WordPress?
Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little first introduced the earliest versions of WordPress in 2003. Matt attended the University of Houston before leaving in 2004 to work for CNET.
In 2005 Matt left CNET to found Automattic, (yes, it is spelled with two t’s) the company behind WordPress as well as many other related companies. He is also a successful musician, traveling the globe. You can visit his website and see photos of his travels and read more about WordPress.
WordPress is Open Source.
Open source means the software is free. There is no charge for the software. It can be shared with everyone for free.
Anyone can modify the software and share that too. They can also make custom changes to it and then market it. It is like getting a recipe from someone, sharing it with others, perhaps changing it and even charging for it.
WordPress.com At wordpress.com there is a hosted version that provides free hosting. But free hosting version does not have a custom domain and will have ads on your site. There is a paid service at wordpress.com too where you get a custom domain and the ads are removed. The versions at wordpress.com have fewer customizations available than wordpress.org and most business sites use the wordpress.org version.
WordPress.org. There is a self-hosted version from wordpress.org. which has the most options for customizing and for ecommerce. A domain will run about $10-$12 per year and web hosting (providing a place to store the files online) will run less than $10 a month. This wordpress version has the most number of customizations available and is best for business needs and ecommerce.
What types of sites use WordPress?
All kinds of sites use WordPress. Traditional websites, blog sites, and combination sites can be created with wordpress. Ecommerce sites, marketers, businesses, online stores use WordPress. People who want a mobile device friendly site use WordPress. WordPress mobile responsive themes are built for easy viewing on both computers and mobile devices.
Multisites use WordPress such as CNN blogs.
Sites that add or update information frequently use WordPress. Adding new content is easy in WordPress so sites that plan to update frequently use it. The blog shows the most recently added articles. The categories group the articles under topics to make it easy to look them up. Some blogs are thousands of pages long and have been continually updated for many years.
People who do not use code languages use WordPress. Menus and icons are used instead of code so people use it who want to create their own sites but who do not know how to write html, css and other code languages. You use a text box similar to an email box to add the text, photos, videos and other content. Click publish and your update is done.
Web developers who write code use WordPress too. With one click you can access the site code and rewrite the code or add to it. WordPress developers can take a theme and customize the code.
Marketers use WordPress because it has good search engine optimization. It comes with seo built into it. Plus the average person who does not write code can easily add plugins and other customizations to increase the seo. Landing on the front page of search engine results is often easier with WordPress. Search engines like sites that add new content regularly. Since WordPress makes this easy to do it’s a favorite for those who seek top ranking with search engines.
You can create a traditional business website or a blog. You can also create a combination site with both.
Thousands of themes are available to meet an infinite number of needs from business to art and entertainment.
Why do people use WordPress?
Mobile Responsive WordPress themes work on both computers and small screen smartphones. WordPress will detect the device used by the visitor and automatically reformat for easiest viewing. For example, on the small screen of a smartphone WordPress re-formats so the labels in the horizontal menu bar are listed vertically so the user will not need to scroll sideways to see them. The content is also reformatted into one long column. The user can just scroll down instead of having to scroll sideways too. Studies show people using small screens do not like to scroll sideways and find that view to be confusing as well.
WordPress has great search engine optimization built into it. Whether you are creating a site for local search or for global searches WordPress helps you get to the top of the front page of the search engine results.
You can add additional search engine optimization with plugins and other customizations. Search engines like sites that add or update information frequently and WordPress makes it easy to do this.
Premium themes and add ons are available to add even more features and functionality.
How Do People Generate Income By Using WordPress?
WordPress developers offer a variety of services from design to coding.
Theme creators sell premium themes.
Plugin creators sell plugins and create custom plugins when needed.
Businesses profit from having an internet presence.
Content creators write copy, create videos and audio, write ebooks, and record screencasts.
WordPress hosting is another way people generate income.
WordPress site designers build websites and blogs.
WordPress tech support is another related field.
Membership sites and subscription sites also provide income.
WordPress ecommerce including selling online from a WordPress site.
WordPress book authors sell books and ebooks from their sites and from other book sellers.
WordPress Training in the form of online courses is offered.
Affiliate Marketers add links to companies in order to earn commissions.
How do mobile devices view WordPress?
The goal for a good easy viewing experience is to eliminate having to scroll sideways to see what is on the rest of the site that is not showing on the smartphone or small tablet.
Studies show people do not mind scrolling down when using a mobile device. But scrolling sideways on a smartphone gives a confusing view of the site.
Where do you get Help?
There are thousands of sites on the internet with free WordPress help. Type your question into a search engine box and you will see all the results. You can also type in WordPress and follow it with the words help, forum, how to, or other keywords related to your issue.
If you need help when you are installing WordPress you can call the free telephone help lines at the domain registrar or the web host.
If you go to a WordPress developers forum they will be talking about code. But you can search for beginners help if you do not use code.
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