What Is WordPress and Why It Is Very Popular?

WordPress is one of the most popular Contents Management Systems aka CMS in the world. Many readers ask why it is so popular and what it is. It was Matt Mullenweg who, first of all, gave it a practical shape. About more than 35% of hosted websites in the world use WordPress.

So, it is a great website-building platform in the world. Many bloggers, freelancers, digital consultants, and eCommerce site holders use this platform to build and manage sites.

Page of Contents

• What Is WordPress?
• Who founded WordPress?
• Is WordPress an Open-Source Platform?
• Why WordPress is very popular?

What Is WordPress?

WordPress may be defined as a great Content Management System(CMS) which is used to build websites. The software is a CMS, that supports a wide range of editing functions including text editing, media uploading, website building, third-party theme installation, plugin installation, setting up web applications, etc. So, in simple terms, WordPress is a site building platform that site owners use to build, edit and customize sites.

Who Founded WordPress?

It was Matt Mullenweg who founded WordPress, first of all. Matt is also behind WordPress.com, the commercial version of the same software. The two platforms are not the same. There exist a lot of differences in usability, customization, control, user experience, plugin installation, theme installation, SEO features, and other aspects. The first version of the software was very simple. But later on, as days are gone, many developers and contributors joined the platform and made it more developed, compatible, easy to use, and available for everyone.

Is WordPress an Open-source Platform?

WordPress is an open-source platform which means that the software is available, free of cost. If you want to use this software, you can do that free of cost. You don’t need to pay a charge to use it. As the software is licensed under GPLv2, there is no restriction on its usage. You can download and install the software on your web server to build and customize your site.. Many bloggers, webmasters, and site owners use this software.

Why WordPress Is Very Popular?

WordPress is the most popular Content Management System(CMS) in the world. A recent survey says that about 35$ websites built on this platform outrank others in usability, performance, flexibility, user-friendliness, and editing interface. Go through the following points and you can understand why it emerges as the most powerful site builder platform in the world.

The Software is Open-source: The WordPress software is open-source and licensed under GPLv2 which implies that it is available for everyone. The community who developed and contributed to this software made this free for all. That’s why many renowned sites, bloggers, and even government websites are launched on this platform. If you purchase any site builder platform aka a website builder, it will cost you either on a monthly or yearly basis and you have to pay a few hundred or a thousand per year. But using this software does not take charge of you. You can download, install and even modify the software.

Do you want to use the software? Of course, you can use it and you do not need to pay a charge as it is based on open-source. But prior to using this software, you have to register a domain and purchase a web hosting plan.

Domain name is the important part of your website that every time a user needs to type on his browser’s tab while he is going to visit or access your site. There are many domain registrars in the world. I have good experience with Namecheap and I recommend using it. Besides, you can use Domain.com for more advanced features.

Also, you need to choose and buy a web hosting plan. Web hosting is like the house where all your belongings remain. Your site’s files, folders, directories, and all content including themes and plugins stay within your web hosting. When you purchase a web host, the company allocates to your site some storage space which may be either HDD or SSD.

You can choose any web hosting having good reputation and providing best customer service, however, I recommend using Bluehost, HostGator, or GreenGeeks.

Easy to Use: The software is very easy to use. You don’t need to be a trained past master or tech-savvy. Regardless of your past experience, you can download, install and handle the software with ease. Even you don’t need to learn to code. The tool offers easy-to-use blocks like:

• Paragraph
• Preformatted
• Quotation
• Media upload files like image files, audio files or video file
• Social sharing button or embedding features
• Third-party as widget
• HTML
• Navigation menu etc.

Flexibility in Use: The WordPress software is easy to use, as it is flexible. The editing interface allows you to add posts, modify them and add variety to the texts.

The editing interface lets you:

• Bold texts
• Italicize
• Add background color
• Add text color
• Insert links
• Add inline images
• Add inline codes etc.

The software is integrated with Block editor which lets you add all these features to texts and blocks.

The editor has two versions (1) Visual Editor and (2) Code Editor. You can switch between the two editors as you like. This is the great editing flexibility that the software offers you. You can add codes and even turn them into HTML if needed. The modern block editor offers you a lot of editing features.

Media Upload: The software supports media uploading in various formats. You can use .png, .jpg, .pdf files in the media section. Also, you can upload audio and video. The tool also lets you customize the images in various thumbnail sizes. If needed, you can decrease the size of the images. The maximum image size allowed to be uploaded in the media is 512MB. Uploading smaller image files is recommended for better site speed and page uploads.

Compatible with third-party Themes and Plugins: WordPress allows you to upload third-party themes and plugins. You can upload almost any theme and plugin. The theme gives your site a good outlook and template to your site including posts and pages. You can manage the navigation menu, customize them, and do other editing options. There are about 50000 plugins and more than 9000 themes in the WordPress directory. Based on your needs, you can upload and install plugins and themes. This is a great advantage of using the software.

Seo-optimized: Search engine optimization or SEO is a must-have for best site performance and making your site visible in the search results in the search engine result pages(SERPs).

The CMS platform lets you manage:

• Permalink
• URL slug
• Category
• Post excerpt
• Meta description
• Focus keyword
• Breadcrumb
• H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, or H6 tags
• Post or page titles
• ALT tags for images
• Hyperlinks like internal links or external links
• Links as do follow or no- follow
• Redirect URLs etc.

Even with an SEO plugin, you can optimize your post metadata like meta description, keyword density, URL length, title analysis and optimization, content analysis, link building, link optimization, etc. Even you can control your posts post’s meta robots.