What is WordPress? What are its advantages? How can I create a website using it?

WordPress is the best way to create a website for both professionals and beginners, as it provides many technical advantages and offers many benefits that no other method that allows creating and managing a website can provide, in addition to being very easy and smooth to deal with.

But what exactly is WordPress? What advantages does it have that make it the best way to create a website? How can it be used to create a professional website? We’ll answer all these questions and many more in this comprehensive guide to the WordPress content management system.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a free and open source tool that allows users to create all types and sizes of professional websites easily and quickly. On a more technical level, WordPress is known as a content management system for websites written in an open source, server-side programming language called PHP.

A content management system ( CMS , short for Content Management System) is a program that supports the cooperation of a number of users who have multiple and different privileges to publish and manage digital content on the Internet to achieve certain goals, by allowing them to write and format texts, and upload media files such as photos and videos, And carry out many similar actions.

WordPress components

WordPress and content management systems generally consist of two main sections:

Content Management Application ( CMA , short for Content Management Application), is the section that allows content creators to enter content into WordPress without the need to know coding or programming languages, that is , it can be said that it is represented by a graphical user interface (GUI).
Content delivery application ( CDA , short for Content Delivery A application ), is the section that works anonymously to transform data entered by content creators into a website that can be viewed by visitors through Internet browsers.

It is not necessary to delve into learning more about these two sections at the beginning, but it is useful to know that they constitute WordPress in order to facilitate dealing with problems that could hinder work on the system in the future.

The difference between the WordPress.org website and the WordPress.com platform

When talking about WordPress, one can get confused between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, and because we answered the question above (What is WordPress?), we must clarify the difference between these two things to make the answer more clear to you:

WordPress.org : It is the official website for the WordPress content management system. The system can be downloaded from it for free. It includes many templates and plugins that help change the appearance of the site and add more functions that are not available by default to the program.
WordPress.com : It is a platform that is not completely free to use and allows the creation of websites based on WordPress. You can register for it and start creating a WordPress website directly without the need to purchase web hosting or any other requirements, but it does not allow you to benefit from the full benefits of the system.

It is worth noting that when only the word WordPress is mentioned, it means the software that can be downloaded from WordPress.org, not the WordPress.com platform.

We have detailed more about the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com and highlighted the cases in which each is useful in a separate article entitled ( The difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org… How and when to use each ).

Features of WordPress system

In fact, WordPress has many technical and non-technical advantages that provide many benefits to users, and the best evidence of this is its use by more than two-fifths of existing websites, as according to W3Techs, 43% of websites are managed by the WordPress content management system.

The most prominent features of the WordPress content management system include, but are not limited to, the following:

Free and open source

The freeness of WordPress and its being an open source system are among the most prominent and useful advantages of WordPress, as this prevented any company or entity from monopolizing it, and enabled users to use it without paying money. It also greatly contributed to its development indirectly, as a large number of developers cooperate to improve The system and contribute to developing its functions.

We would like to draw your attention here to the fact that although WordPress is completely free, you may need to pay some money for web hosting and a domain name to create a professional website, and perhaps some other elements. You can see the article ( How much does it cost to create a WordPress website? ) for more. Details about this topic.

easy to use

Although the WordPress system is one of the most powerful tools for creating websites, it is easy to use even for beginners who know little about websites and ways to create them. In fact, in order to create a website using it, you will only need to follow a few simple steps. Which does not require more than a few clicks and entering a few words.

Also, after creating a website using WordPress, it is also easy to manage, as you can install and update updates, plugins and themes, change settings, manage content, and do other tasks through a simple interface that includes many useful, easy-to-use tools.

Easily customizable

Most people who manage their websites using WordPress do not have experience in designing and programming websites. However, they are able to customize the design of their site exactly as they want thanks to the presence of many free and ready-made templates that can be installed on the site, in addition to the customization tool that enables changing the layout and shapes. Various parts of the site.

But the great customizability is not only related to the WordPress system itself, but also to the template used, as some templates do not provide high customizability, while other templates provide this feature, and the Astra template is one of the most prominent free templates that allows you to customize your site as you want by specifying colors. Sizes, shapes and many other properties.

Search engine friendly

Optimizing a website to be search engine friendly is one of the most important things for its success, because search engine compatibility ensures a high ranking in search results for website pages, and with the use of effective strategies in targeting popular keywords, this will guarantee a large number of visits.

The code written with WordPress is highly compatible with SEO, so WordPress sites usually tend to rank higher in search results than other sites built using other tools. There are also many plugins that allow the creation of highly SEO-compatible content, the most important of which is the All in one SEO plugin, which we explained in detail in the article ( Explanation of the All in one SEO plugin to improve your WordPress site’s SEO ).

Very safe

Website security is related to many factors, including the web hosting used, the actions that the user does or does not perform, the software used to manage the website, in addition to the accessories associated with it such as plug-ins, templates, etc., and to ensure that you do not suffer from security problems on the website, all These items have a high level of security.

WordPress plays its role in the security of the site with high quality, and the security of the program continues to improve with the release of each update, and although it is not 100% secure like all other content management systems, the vast majority of successful hacking attacks are the result of not following security instructions. Recommended basic.

Expandable

The WordPress system does not provide by default all the functionality that all website owners of all types and sizes need, but nevertheless you can do almost anything you want on a WordPress website without the need for programming experience, thanks to free and paid plugins that add functionality to It is not available in the system by default.

In fact, the ability to extend the functionality of the WordPress system can be considered its most valuable feature, because without it the program would be very limited, and beginners would not be able to do everything they want on their websites, as they would then need to use programming languages to add new functions to the program.

It is also easy to download and activate plugins on the WordPress website, as there is a special section in the backend that enables the user to do this. You can search in the plugins section on the program’s official website through that section, then click on the installation button to install the component on your site. that simple.

Having a huge community

Since the WordPress content management system is very popular, there are many explanations on how to use it and solve problems that you may encounter while managing a site based on it on the Internet, so most of the time you will not need to hire someone to solve problems or teach you how to use the system, but you can You can search, read and learn on your own.

WordPress explanations on the Internet are not limited to the English language in fact. Rather, they are available in a large number of languages around the world, including Arabic. Our WordPress website in Arabic is one of the best sources for these explanations, as it provides high-quality explanations suitable for beginners and experts, and supports the ability to comment below each. An article to facilitate the provision of specific assistance to website owners in the Arab world.

Disadvantages of WordPress system

Although there are a large number of technical and non-technical features of the WordPress content management system, like any other program, it suffers from drawbacks. The most important drawbacks of WordPress include:

The need to install a large number of plugins to manage some types of websites with high professionalism, and managing and updating these components on a continuous basis may be cumbersome and difficult.
The possibility of plugins and themes not being compatible with each other if there are a large number of them on a WordPress site, as well as compatibility problems sometimes occurring after updating some elements.
A large number of basic functions that all websites need are not integrated into the system by default, such as the backup function, and this causes many obstacles for WordPress website owners.

The WordPress content management system also suffers from some other defects, but all the defects it suffers from do not stand in the way of creating a professional website whose pages rank at the top of search results by relying on it, so these defects should not prevent you from using it to create your successful website.

Comparison between WordPress and other content management systems

In fact, there are many content management systems on the Internet, and it is difficult to compare them all with WordPress in one paragraph, but there are two programs that accompany WordPress in topping the lists of the best and most popular content management systems: Joomla and Drupal , so we will compare them in The following table is with WordPress.

System name	WordPress	Joomla	Drubal
Ease of use	It is easy to use, requires no programming experience, and is highly suitable for beginners.	Easy to use, it can be used without writing any code, but it is more suitable for developers because it has a lot of options.	It’s easy to use to add content to a website, but it’s still more suitable for developers, or people who want to create a heavily customized site.
Design options	There are thousands of ready-made free and paid templates that you can use to define the look of your site, and modifications to the template can be made through the template editor tool very easily.	There are many themes that can be used to change the look of a site, but it is not as powerful as WordPress in this regard.	It is difficult to change the appearance of the site, as it is not similar to WordPress in this respect.
Expansion potential	Many functions that are not available by default can be added to the system by installing free and paid plugins on it.	Joomla can be expanded, but not as much as WordPress, as there are many more plugins available for WordPress than for Joomla.	There are a large number of add-ons that can be installed on the system, but installing these add-ons may be difficult for beginners.
Help and support	WordPress has a huge community that is willing to help everyone when they face any problems, and there are a lot of explanations about it on the Internet since it is a very popular system.	It’s similar to WordPress in this respect, in that it has a huge community ready to help.	It is similar to both WordPress and Joomla in this respect.
the cost	WordPress is completely free, and is available to anyone on its official website, but you will need to purchase web hosting, a domain name, and perhaps some other items to create a site using it.	Joomla is also completely free, but you will also need to pay for hosting, domain, and many other items.	Drupal is free, just like WordPress and Joomla, but you will also need to purchase hosting, a domain, and other elements to create a site using it.

A table comparing WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal

Requirements for creating a website using WordPress

WordPress does not enable you to create a website by relying solely on it, but there are many requirements that you need in addition to it to be able to create a website, and the most important of these requirements are:

Web hosting : It is the element that stores website data and sends it to visitors when they request it so that they can view and interact with its pages.
Domain name : It is the website address that allows visitors to access site data. They can enter it in the address box in the browser and go to the site.
WordPress: It is a free content management system that is installed on the hosting in order to facilitate the creation and management of a website.

You may also need many other elements to create a professional website using WordPress, and not all of these elements may be free, but some of them may be paid, as we mentioned earlier above.

How to create a website using WordPress

The WordPress content management system allows you to create all types and sizes of websites, including blogs, business websites, online stores, business galleries, multilingual sites, encyclopedias, magazines, and more.

Therefore, we cannot explain in detail how to create a website here, but we can explain the main common steps that this process goes through. The details of these steps may differ depending on the type and purpose of the website, and some sites may need more additional steps.

The main steps for creating a website using WordPress include:

Determine the main purpose of the site.
Purchase a domain name and web hosting.
Installing WordPress on hosting.
Install and activate the appropriate template.
Install and activate the necessary plugins.
Add content to the site and publish it.
Promote the site to get visits.
Invest in the site to achieve its goal.

We would like to draw attention to the fact that although you may need to seek the assistance of an expert in some rare cases to carry out some exceptional tasks, in the normal case you can perform all the steps yourself if you are prepared to research and learn from the Internet, and we have explained in several detailed articles how to create a Specific types of websites, some of which are described in the following list:

There are also many other explanations that help in creating and managing all types of websites in the various sections of our site, and you can use the search engine on the site to reach what you want.

Frequently asked questions about the WordPress content management system

Is WordPress suitable for beginners?

Yes. The WordPress content management system is one of the easiest programs to create websites, as it does not require any programming experience, so it is well suited for beginners who want to start their own websites.

Can I program a website with the specific specifications I want on WordPress?

If you have experience in coding and programming languages, you can of course use your experience to create and adapt your website that you created through WordPress as you want, as you can make the necessary modifications to the code to change certain aspects of the site, and you can also create a custom template and then install it. And activate it on your site if you do not want to use a ready-made template.

Can WordPress be installed locally on a computer?

The WordPress content management system can be installed on your computer locally instead of on web hosting, but the purpose of doing this is not to create a website, as in this case your site will not be available for others to visit, but rather to test or create plugins and themes.

Is it possible to create an integrated online store using WordPress?

In fact, yes, WordPress provides the ability to create an integrated online store based on e-commerce add-ons such as WooCommerce and others, and we have explained in detail how to do that in a separate article entitled ( WooCommerce explanation for creating an integrated online store – step by step ).

What languages does WordPress support?

WordPress supports a large number of languages, as it has been fully translated into more than 65 languages, including Arabic of course. However, not all plugins and ready-made templates are available in all languages, and you may have to use them in a foreign language or Arabize them and then use them on your site. Email.

Thus, we have finished introducing you to the WordPress content management system and its advantages and disadvantages, comparing it with the most famous content management systems similar to it, explaining the requirements for creating a website using it and how to do that, and answering the most frequently asked questions about it. We would like to point out in conclusion that regardless of With the specifications of the website you want, you will definitely be able to create it using WordPress, whether you are a beginner or a developer.