What is WordPress and how can you use it

WordPress is the most popular tool to create and manage any website, even a webshop. It is the base of over 455 million (37%) websites globally!

Speaking in technical terms, it is open source software. This means that it is software developed by and for the user community (= users of WordPress). It also means that hundreds of people all over the world are working on it.

Everything you see, from the documentation to the code itself, was created by and for the community and is free for you to use it for anything without paying anyone a license fee.

What can you use WordPress for?

Originally it was just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as a full Content Management System (CMS = an application used to create and manage digital content). You can create and manage any website, blog or webshop with WordPress. It is an easy tool, so you don’t have to be technical to learn and use it.

How do you get it?

First sign up at the web host Bluehost (affiliate link). Then log on to their control panel (= the place where you can manage your hosting account). Select the ‘WordPress OneClick Install’ option and it is installed. It’s that easy.

How do you use WordPress?

To get your website on the internet, it has to be hosted. Hosting means storing your website on a server (= a computer that provides services to other computers) so that it can be accessed over the Internet.

You can host your WordPress website by using WordPress.com or WordPress.org. The difference between these two is as follows:

WordPress.com

• This is the hosted version. It means that your website runs on the official WordPress servers.
• When you’re using WordPress.com there are limitations like not being able to use all available themes (= website design).
• Also a small fee is asked if you want to use your own domain name.

WordPress.org

• This is the self-hosted version which means that your website needs to run on the servers of a web host like www.bluehost.com (affiliate link). We use Bluehost (affiliate link) because they provide great support when needed. Another plus is that one domain name (= address on the internet where you will build your site) is included with their hosting.
• When you are using WordPress.org you have complete control over the design and functionality of your website.
• No fee is asked when you’re using your own domain name.

WordPress.org is the version we will teach you in our courses and tutorials.

How do you learn WordPress?

To help you learn the basics, we created the mini course “7 Quick steps to your own website.”

Coming soon!

At the moment we are working hard on other courses and tutorials which may be useful to you. Are you interested and do you want to receive updates? Sign up below so we can stay in touch.