WordPress - Much More Than Just a Blogging Tool
I get a lot of “normal” people, as I like to call the non-tech geeks, who’ve heard of WordPress but think it’s just a platform for blogging. This assumption is completely wrong and if you don’t want to take my word for it and / or would like to get a better idea of what WordPress really is, read on.
First off, there are actually two ways to use WordPress. The most common way is through wordpress.com, which lets you sign up, pick a theme, and start a blog very easily. Not unlike Google’s popular Blogger site. The second way is to use wordpress.org, which lets you download the actual CMS (content management system) and install it onto your server.
WordPress.org VS WordPress.com - The Main Difference
The main difference here is that when using wordpress.com you are limited to their themes and cannot change anything beyond what they allow. Sure, it’s much easier for the novice to set up a quick blog and start using it right away, but it’s not going to be very helpful for the small business who doesn’t want to look like another generic blog site. WordPress.org allows us to use the backend system of wordpress.com on our own server. Meaning, we can customize the websites we make as much as we want. If you don’t want a blog anywhere on your website, we can do that!
Why We Use WordPress.org
We use WordPress because it’s faster to get a site up and running and it’s easier for our clients to make updates themselves.
When a client wants a website, they usually have a specific look in mind and it usually resembles the look of their competitor’s website. WordPress makes it creating a website faster because we can use any wordpress.com theme as a starting point and customize it from there. And, like most content management systems, multiple people can be working on the same site at the same time.
WordPress is by far the easiest to use for clients that have no experience with a CMS. All they have to do is login and they can make as many changes as they want without ever incurring an hourly charge from their a web design company.
Hopefully I’ve helped you understand what WordPress is and what it’s capable of.