What is WordPress and why I use it

When building websites, I choose to only work with WordPress.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is separate from domain & hosting. It’s a software platform that is installed onto your Hosting. Think of it like buying a piece of land that already has a foundation on it. And not just any foundation, but a foundation that you can build a monster house on with easy to read blueprints. Because most of the ground work is done, you don’t have to dig to install amenities or spend a ton of money getting blueprints. It just saves a lot of time & money to already purchase a land with a foundation, then to purchase land with no foundation and start from scratch. WordPress is the foundation for a website that is extremely powerful and versatile. WordPress is simply a software platform.

What is a WordPress Template?

If WordPress is the foundation- then the framing of the house (the walls) are the template. There are hundreds of layouts for a house. Once a Framing (or the template) is chosen- this is where the customization comes into play. You can paint the walls your favorite color, hang the pictures and put your furniture in exactly where you want it. These are the things that make a home, not the actual structure of the home. Same goes for a website. Once we pick a suitable Template, we customize it to your needs. By adding in your content (the words on the page) and photos, we make it your own. Simply put a WordPress Template is the structure for the website, that works off of the platform of WordPress.

But, why would I want to use a Template? Shouldn’t my website be unique?

Some may argue that a website template is more cookie cutter and not as unique. In some sense, they are right- there are some restrictions of what you can do within the structure of the template. But, even with a custom build website, there are restrictions. Just as every house needs to have 4 walls and a roof- most websites including “custom” ones need to have the same structure as well. Having a unique website from your competitors is very important, and completely within reach with a Template.

Think of it like buying a car…. 99% of us don’t own a completely unique company car. Of course you can pay to have a custom car built for you, like the Batmobile, but not all of us have Bruce Wayne budgets for such a  project. Wouldn’t it make more sense to buy a standard car and then customize it to your businesses needs? Get a custom paint job, install graphics or even custom rims. But ultimately leaving the structure of the car in tact.

The same goes with websites- yes you can build it from scratch- but using WordPress is more cost effective, without skimping on the style and still being effective. After all, it’s not the structure that makes your website- it’s the content inside of it and how you customize it.

Isn’t WordPress just for blogs?

Not at all. Basically WordPress can create 2 types of content: static pages and posts. A Post is an entry listed in chronological order, this is used with blogs. A Static Page is not listed in chronological order, this is a website page.  If you’ll looking to create a website with a blog- then you have a one-stop shop. If you want just a blog or just a website, WordPress can easily manage that as well. If you choose to add a blog or  a website at a later date you’re all set. WordPress supports both blogs and website pages.

 

Why is WordPress more Cost Effective?

To put it simply, because most of the labor is already done. When you hire a website designer who doesn’t work off of a platform like WordPress and templates- you’re paying more for their labor to build the html code for your website. So much of their time goes into building the structure of the website, that their not able to spend as much time customizing it and adding features like flash sliders that set you apart from your competition. It’s like spending all your money on having a contractor build you a house, rather then using  a fraction of that budget on a interior decorator.

Also WordPress is more cost effective, in that it’s a platform that you can easily build off of. If you decide that in a few months that you want a different look for your website, you simply change your WordPress Theme, the structure and the content remains the same. Also, because the backend of the site is so user-friendly, you can easily change content on your website without having to know HTML or special coding knowledge.

In the next article I will discuss differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, stay tuned! (

 

Authored by: Tish Briseno