Wordpress Bootcamp: Learning The Basics Of Wordpress (2016)

Chapter 1. Why Learn WordPress?

Many people think that WordPress is just another blogging platform. This misconception is due to the fact that in the past, WordPress is really for blogging. But through the years, WordPress has evolved as a dynamic content management system (CMS). Although you can still use this CMS to create a basic blog, it now allows you to build a fully functional website.

The best thing about WordPress is that it is quite flexible and easy to use. This is the primary reason why WordPress is the most popular CMS today. About 23% of websites that are active today on the internet are powered by WordPress.

Because of its versatile features, popular brands are using WordPress to power their websites such as eBay, The New York Times, Disney, Facebook, Time Magazine, CNN, LinkedIn, Sony, and Google.

Let’s take a glimpse at why you should learn and use WordPress

WordPress Gives You Freedom

Basically, WordPress is a free software. You have the freedom to download, install, modify, and use it any way you can. You can build any type of website. It is also an open source platform, which means that the source code is readily accessible for anyone to study, modify, and experiment with.

Millions of people around the world are using WordPress, and every day, new people are creating websites powered by this outstanding CMS. The main reason why people can easily adapt to WordPress is because it is very easy to use and learn.

You can Easily Manage WordPress

WordPress features a built-in updater, which makes it easy to update your plugins and templates through the admin dashboard within the WordPress. It will also notify you if there’s an updated version of WordPress, which you can easily update through several mouse clicks. All content are safe if you set up regular backup.

You can Extend WordPress through Themes and Plugins

It is interesting to take note that most people who are using WordPress are neither programmers nor web designers. In fact, thousands of individuals have started using WordPress without any fundamental knowledge of website design.

The main reason why WordPress is such a dynamic platform is you can choose from literally thousands of free themes (web templates) to improve the look of your website. Hence, you can give your website its design and feel according to its purpose. You can find any WordPress theme for just about anything. You can learn more about this in Chapter 2.

WordPress also offers superb flexibility and could be extended through plugins. Similar to themes, you can use thousands of plugins to enhance your website. These plugins can enhance the functionality of the WordPress and could add a whole new platform to your website. You can learn more about plugins in Chapter 2.

WordPress is SEO Friendly

WordPress has been developed using high quality and standard compliance code that produces semantic markup that makes your site search engine friendly. WordPress design and themes are very search engine friendly, and it is possible to make it even more attractive for SEO by using SEO plugins.

WordPress Could Integrate Various Types of Media

WordPress offers a dynamic platform, which allows you to use different media types. It features a built-in support that allows you to handle video, audio, and photo content. It also supports embedding features that allows you to embed videos from external sites such as YouTube and Vimeo.

WordPress Offers Reliable Security Features

Web security is one of the fundamental elements of WordPress, so you can securely run any website through this platform. But with the vastness of the World Wide Web, it cannot be certain. Internet intruders are out there who want to get inside as many websites as they could. The good thing is, WordPress is open for security plugins to avert any form of security threats.

The Different Ways to Use WordPress

You can use WordPress in numerous ways. Many business websites are running on WordPress and serves as a crucial aspect of their sales generation. You can use WordPress as the following:

Blog (Personal or Business)

Online Arcade

CMS

Portfolio

Gallery

Online Store

Membership portal

Video curation site

Rating site

And many more!

I hope this Chapter answered your question about why you must use WordPress. The best way to learn WordPress is start using it. In the succeeding Chapters, you can learn basic elements of WordPress every day.