When you read articles on blogging you get this word ‘WordPress’ so frequently. Here in this small post I will explain in very simple language what exactly WordPress is.
WordPress is basically a blogging platform, a technology, a software or place that anyone can use to make a blog. Any person with or without the knowledge of any coding or programming language can make a blog in just a few minutes. The popularity of WordPress can be understood by the fact that as of December 2011, version 3.0 of WordPress had been downloaded over 65 million times. A major percentage of websites and blogs on internet are made on WordPress platform. So WordPress is not for making just blogs but any online content including a website, an online portfolio, photo gallery etc. You can call it a CMS (Content Management System).
So How much does this Wodpress Cost?
Nothing. It’s free and that’s the best thing about WordPress. WordPress is an Open-Source Software (A software that is made by voluntary work of a community around the world, and is available for free use. Linux, Android and Open Office are some other popular examples of Open Source software). So anyone who has the knowledge of web programming can contribute to further development of WordPress and related tools. And anyone with no knowledge of HTML, PHP, SQL and other such technical things can use it freely for blogging.
How can I use WordPress?
OK. So now you are interested in starting a blog with WordPress and want to know about how you can use it. That’s great! It’s much more easier than you think. Let’s start with the basics. If you search internet you will find that there are two WordPress websites- WordPress.com and WordPress.org. I will write a separate post about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. but for the moment, the simplest way to explain the difference is as following:-
- WordPress.com is completely free (except certain upgrades) for making a blog while WordPress.org will cost you some money.
- Free WordPress.com blogs like www.blogname.wordpress.com while the WordPress.org blogs look like www.blogname.com (that’s why they cost money).
- Starting and maintaining a blog on WordPress.com needs no or very less technical knowledge while WordPress.org needs some technical knowledge.
- You don’t have much control over the design and layout over your blog on Free WordPress.com while WordPress.org gives you complete control over your blog (again that’s why it costs money).
So How do I make my new free WordPress Blog
Just go to WordPress.com and create a new account by signing up. Choose your brand new WordPress blog name and you are ready to roll! You can check this Complete Guide to making a WordPress Blog (To be Published very soon).
And What if I want the WordPress.org
Wow! You seem really excited about blogging. That’s really great! You will need a domain name and web-hosting to get started with WordPress.org. You can get the domain name and web-hosting from WordPress itself or from other companies. There are so many. You can check this Complete Guide to making a self-hosted WordPress Blog’ (To be Published very soon) for a detailed tutorial on starting a blog or website with WordPress.org.
You can also check Wikipedia, WordPress.com and WordPress.org if you interested in knowing more. Or you can simply ask me in the comment section below. 🙂 Thank you for reading.