WordPress
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About
WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that has evolved from a blogging platform. It allows users to create and modify websites and blogs by providing the basic structure. WordPress is currently hosting 14.7% of the top million websites in the world. And 22 out of every 100 new active domains in the US are running WordPress. The software is the most used CMS in the world. On December 2nd, 2011 the current software WordPress 3.2 has been downloaded 13,580,533 times. In addition to the software the community offers thousands of different tools to customize your blog. Users can add Widgets, interactive features like a calendar in the sidebar of your blog and themes. WordPress runs a themes directory where users can search for free and paid-for themes and use them for their own blog or website.
History
On May 27, 2003 Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress announced the first release of the WordPress software. At that time WordPress started as a blogging system which has evolved to a full content management system over the years. Mullenweg wanted to share picture of a economics summer camp in Washington DC with his friends in Houston. He decided to use the only open source blogging software: b2/cafelog. With the help of WordPress co-founder Mike Little, Mullenweg developed the software to what we call WordPress today. In 2005, they launched Automattic, a startup uniting passionate open-source developers. The company operates for profit and developed the WordPress.com web service on the basis of the WordPress software. The WordPress software is free and available to a wide array of people. However, the company makes money through personal domains and optional features such as extra bandwidth, extra hard drive space, etc.
.com or .org
Many users that are getting started with WordPress do not know the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. They only know that the web application is used for creating blogs.
WordPress.com is simply a free blog that uses the WordPress software and is managed and hosted on the companies' servers. The general structure of the blog is in place and the user only needs to add content and personalize the blog. However, the free blog address is a subdomain of wordpress.com rather than your own domain.
WordPress.org is the website where users can download the WordPress software which needs be installed on your own server. You can use the software to build your own blog with your own domain.
Advantages of WordPress.com
- With a wordpress.com domain it is free
- It just takes a few steps to setup a blog or website
- The WordPress team takes care of upgrades, spam, backups, security, etc
- Blogs are on hundreds of servers, so timeouts are unlikely
- Posts are backed up automatically
- Tags and follow functions allow to find similar blogs and to share your blog with others
Disadvantages of WordPress.com
- The number of themes is limited and you cannot create custom themes
- The code behind the blog is not accessible
- Plugins are not available
Advantages of WordPress.org
- Ability to upload themes
- Ability to upload plugins
- Great community
- Complete control to change code if you’re technically minded
Disadvantages of WordPress.org
- Third party servers are required and cost money
- Requires more technical knowledge to set up and run
- You are responsible for stopping spam
- You have to handle backups
- You must upgrade the software manually when a new version comes out
- With huge traffic your blog can be subject to downtimes
Website Tutorial
The following video is a short tutorial on how to create a website for your business with WordPress in a few simple steps.
Businesses Use
The advantage of WordPress is that despite being designed as a blogging tool, it is very easy to run your website on it. Here are some reasons why WordPress can be a good option for businesses:
- SEO – With search engine optimization (SEO) websites can get better rankings on Google search. The WordPress software is already preconfigured to guarantee a solid ranking which generates traffic on your website and enhances your business.
- Content – WordPress is already set up and you can easily create and edit pages without any coding knowledge and without the need to consult a webmaster.
- Extensions – WordPress had a big community of developers creating themes and plugins that enable businesses to extend their website with features like polls and contact forms.
- Support – Due to its open source nature, WordPress fascinates many developers who offer help in support forums and blog about problem solutions.
- One-click-installation – Most providers allow for quick installation of the WordPress software.
Notable Users
On the WordPress Publisher Blog the company posts information about famous companies using the software for their Websites. Many companies take advantage of the prebuilt software, thousands of plugins and large community. Examples for Corporate Blogs are UPS and Logitech.
Conclusion
WordPress is a very powerful platform to create both, a blog or a website. Wordpress.com enables to individuals to establish a web presence in a few steps. But also businesses will enjoy the pre-developed interface at little or no costs. For more advanced users and web developers, the Wordpress software can be downloaded at Wordpress.org. For beginners I strongly recommend the online Wordpress platform, especially because it is always possible to move to an externally hosted solution at a later point of time.
See Also
References
Automattic (2011). About Us. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from: http://automattic.com/about/
BuiltWith Trends (2011). Content Management System Distribution. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from: http://trends.builtwith.com/cms
Campbell, D. (2008, November 23). Why Use WordPress to Power Your Small Business Website?. Retrieved November 24, 2011, from: http://www.expand2web.com/blog/why-use-wordpress-to-power-your-small-business-website/
Lupo, T. (2010, October 25). The Complete WordPress-as-a-CMS Guide: Benefits, Tips, Common Questions and Inspiration. Retrieved November 25, 2011, from: http://www.inspiredm.com/wordpress-cms-guide/
Mullenweg, M. (2003, May 27). WordPress now available. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from: http://wordpress.org/news/2003/05/wordpress-now-available/
Rao,L.(2011, August 19). WordPress Now Powers 22 Percent Of New Active Websites In The U.S. Retrieved November 22, 2011, from: http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/19/wordpress-now-powers-22-percent-of-new-active-websites-in-the-us/
Warner, A. (2009, September 10). The Biography Of WordPress – With Matt Mullenweg. Retrieved November 25, 2011, from: http://mixergy.com/the-biography-of-wordpress-with-matt-mullenweg/
Wilson, J. L. (2011, September 6). 20 Best WordPress Plugins. Retrieved November 24, 2011, from: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367049,00.asp#fbid=rnyMvQktCmV
WordPress (2011). WordPress 3.2 has been downloaded [...] times. Retrieved November 24, 2011, from: http://wordpress.org/download/counter
WordPress (2011). WordPress Widgets. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from: http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Widgets
WordPress (2011). Free Themes Directory. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
WordPress (2011). WordPress.com, WordPress, and WordPress.org. Retrieved November 25, 2011, from: http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
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