Presentation of WordPress
WordPress is a CMS (Content Management System). It is a platform that allows everyone to create blogs and websites. Created in 2003, WordPress is now the most powerful and most used platform to create websites. According to Google, there are 74,652,825 websites created with the CMS! It is also very important to know that this tool is completely free! It is even an open-source project where everyone can contribute. Today there are thousands of plugins, widgets and free themes available for free.
There are two versions of WordPress. Be careful not to mix the two since these versions are totally different.
Two different versions
WordPress.com
Online version of the platform. The home page is shown above. It’s completely free to use, but there are more limitations than Wordpress.org. If you create your blog on this platform you will have many limitations, at least to spend a minimum of money, that is to say $ 129 CAD / year.
- You will have publicity and you can’t even make money with it
- A limited number of theme from the one on their online gallery (there are 190 available for free). You can create one yourself or download one via a website that offers free themes.
- No plugins either
- No FTP access to your files
- Storage space for your photos and articles is limited
That makes a whole bunch of limitations, right?
WordPress.org
Always a free version, but you’ll need a web host (I use OVH) and a domain name to run your website, which costs money. If you are a computer novice, I wrote an article containing everything you need to have a nice steady install of WordPress for you blog using OVH France as host. I did some research and this is the cheapest I’ve found so far, with $ 53 CAD per year. I have been using this provider for a couple of years and I have no complaints to make.
The best with this version of WordPress downloaded online is that you are free to do what you want on your website (thousands themes and plugins are available, and more) !
You also have access to Google Analytics (to analyze the behavior of your visitors! It was only available to the business version of WordPress.com version which is $ 389 CAD per year! That’s too much when you can have it for free!) And the wonderful plugins that make all the difference on a WordPress blog. This is what can make your blog a real website.
Who uses WordPress ?
Several popular websites use WordPress! For example, TechCrunch, Katy Perry, The Rolling Stones, and more! Wordpress.org has a nice directory of sites built on their platform.
Why I love WordPress
- Open-Source – Free
An open-source project is a project where the source code is available to all. Anyone who wishes to contribute to the project can also do it. - User-Friendly – Everyone can learn how to create a blog
I had the opportunity to develop a professional WordPress blog for a client, and she managed to learn how to use Wordpress even if she hates being at the computer. - Endless possibilities to modify your blog/website
There are thousands of different themes and many different plugins to add lots of features to his blog! - Huge community
You have questions ? Whether simple or advanced questions, you can certainly find someone to help you!
The Quebec community
There are very good Facebook support groups in Quebec:
- Montreal WordPress Community
- WordPress developers and integrators of Quebec
- WordPress Quebec City
Next week I will post an article that compares in depth these two websites to allow you to visualize all the options and limitations that both sites offer.
