What is WordPress?
WordPress is a software tool that started as a blogging system, and later evolved to
become a complete content management system. You can create anything, from a simple blog
to multi-layered sites, using WordPress, and it provides immense flexibility to work freely on
your imagination. There are a large number of plugins, themes and widgets to help you enhance
the fundamental WordPress framework to suit your requirements. As WordPress is based on
the open source model, you can find help from a vibrant community on almost anything.
WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
When you first get into the world of WordPress, you might get confused about these two
options. Which one should you choose when you are starting out? Let’s find out.
WordPress.org is a free, open source, self-hosted tool that helps you create beautiful websites.
It is free to install, but you need to find a service to host your website, and register a domain
name for your site. Even though you have to pay for the hosting service and domain name, it is
really a cost effective and flexible solution.
One of the obvious advantages of creating a site on WordPress.org is that you will be the sole
owner of your website. You will be in complete control of all your data, and there is no
dependency on any other external companies or agencies. That means you will be able to
display ads on your site if you wish to do that, and you do not have to share the resulting
revenue with anyone. You are absolutely free to keep the site as a hobby blog or transform it
into a money making endeavor, according to your choice.
Moreover, you can make use of all the available plugins, themes and widgets in the WordPress
community to enhance your site’s features. Within no time, you can change it into an
eCommerce store or a membership site. Fundamentally, you are free to do whatever you want
to do with your site, of course within the legal regulations.
WordPress.com, on the other hand, is a hosted blogging platform that has free and paid plans.
You can register with WordPress.com and start a blog for free, but your site will be a subdomain
of wordpress.com. That means, the domain name will have WordPress.com appended to it – for
example, http://yoursite.wordpress.com. On the free plan, your readers will see ads placed by
WordPress.com, which you have no control or ownership of. The revenue generated from the
ads go directly to WordPress.com. Similarly, there are restrictions for using plugins and themes,
which will be lifted when you opt for one of their paid plans.
Even though both options have its own merits and demerits, as a beginner, it is recommended
to opt for the WordPress.org plan, as it gives you great flexibility and a great range of options. In
this tutorial, we will be walking you through the basic steps of getting started with a WordPress
site.