If you are planning to build up your website, there are high chances that the name “WordPress” would have crossed your mind.
And why shouldn’t it?
WordPress is the most flexible and powerful content management system out there. It powers more than 30% of the total sites on the world wide web. It is a prestigious platform; each developer wants to be associated with.
With WordPress, you know, there’s nothing that can go wrong anywhere.
Over 1.3 billion sites are built using WordPress. I mean, we are talking in billions.
It is that famous and is growing at an even higher pace than ever.
It is sure that as technology grows, WordPress will grow with it.
WordPress is the best site hosting platform that lets you develop a site that is not just fast and user friendly but is extremely elegant and attractive. Plus customization as per your needs if fluent with WordPress.
The competition is cut-throat, so you better hurry up with your website.
Make sure you hire a WP developer to get things done. Since WordPress is a free portal, all you have to invest in is a developer.
There is nothing more comfortable and efficient than building your website on WordPress; however, if you are skeptical, this article may help you.
This write up will cover:
- What is WordPress
- How is it different from others
- Advantages of WordPress
- Steps to get started with it
- Tips for hiring a WordPress developer.
So fasten your belts and let’s get started!
WHAT IS WORDPRESS?
WordPress is a world-famous Content Management System (CMS) platform that lets you build and maintain a website with very little to no knowledge of any codes.
You can customize any and every element of your website using WordPress, easy, and trouble-free.
The first version of it was created in 2003 by Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg. The main idea was to provide a simple platform for people to develop and maintain a blog on the internet.
However, over time, it transformed into a robust, powerful, and flexible tool that allows users to build a whole website.
What is noteworthy and mostly misjudged by people is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, one is used for creating and hosting a free-of-cost site and has limited abilities, the other one is more powerful, respectively.
In this article, we will focus on WordPress.org.
HOW IS WORDPRESS DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS?
The first thing to remember is that WordPress is an open-source platform. If you don’t know what it is, it refers to a free platform for all to use. It is not restricted to any trademark or copyright; hence, it can be downloaded and modified by anyone who wishes to use it.
Another factor adding to its name and fame is that a community of Dedicated developers maintains it.
Also, the CMS is coded in the most popular scripting language, a.k.a PHP, making it even more efficient for any PHP developer to execute her/his skills.
Reasons for what makes WordPress the right choice for users:
- You don’t have to pay anything, WordPress is free!
- You can create free and low-cost tools to enhance your WP site performance.
- As I said before, WordPress is designed and maintained by its community of dedicated resources. Hence, it has almost all features required for website owners.
- You are free to modify and customize coding using WordPress. You also have a lot of freedom in choosing how to communicate with the software.
Read More: 5 CMS to Quickly Scale-up Your Business
Since WordPress is an open-source platform, dedicated WordPress developers all over the world have formed a community to keep it updated and also make sure it functions flawlessly.
As we discussed earlier, WordPress hosts more than 1.3 billion websites in the world.
The stats make it clear how incredibly popular the platform is. It’s popularity contributes to online material you can obtain just by searching.
There are plenty of blogs on WordPress, online documentation, forums, and even dedicated courses and resources that you can find on the internet.
With WordPress, there are high chances of someone else doing what you’re planning to do before you. Hence, it is recommended to Hire WordPress Programmers to help you execute your plan after and better.
See, WordPress is not just something you can start with, without having any experience in developing. However, the best thing about WP is that it scales with its users.
As your knowledge spectrum grows in the platform, you will be able to execute more and more customization into your website with WordPress.
Even if it’s creating a basic blog or designing complex websites, all can be done with the fantastic CMS.
They say “sky is the limit” and WordPress proves them right.
ADVANTAGES OF WORDPRESS:
Building a website with WordPress comes with numerous benefits like:
1- Cost-effectiveness:
Gone are the days when you had to invest a hefty amount into building up your website. With WordPress, it is possible to create a dynamic and smooth functioning website in a limited budget. Designing and development with WordPress are very cost-effective. Not just that, the maintenance expenses are relatively affordable, since you don’t really need a developer for maintenance.
2- No geographical boundaries:
You can update your site from anywhere, anytime. As long as you have a functioning internet connection, you are good to go.
3- SEO Friendly:
Websites built on WordPress often use constant and straightforward codes, which makes them ideal for Google indexing. Hence, WordPress websites are SEO friendly.
SEO components of each page of your website can be efficiently customized to give you total control over each element of your website.
You can choose which page you need to boost in google search engine and then work on that particular one.
4- Easy to Use:
The world will agree that WordPress is the most accessible website hosting platform to execute your ideas on.
Adding new pages, blogs, images, media, etc. regularly, is pretty easy with WP. Since the technology is effortless, the time spent on formatting is majorly reduced.
5- No need of FTP or HTML editing:
It is a self-contained system. Hence there is no need for any HTML software like Dreamweaver or Adobe Contribute. You can easily create a new blog or post images, multimedia, or upload any document without needing additional HTML or FTP software.
6- The website becomes 100% customizable:
WordPress is the fuel to your site; it boosts the value of your site just with an association. An added benefit to the “Prestigious” brand affiliation is that WordPress allows you to create a fully customizable website.
This can be done better when you hire a WP developer; using her/his skills; you can create a site that will definitely outshine, enhancing your brand image on the internet.
7- Ready to go, built-in blog:
As we discussed earlier, WordPress was originally built as a blogging platform. Hence, the blogging capabilities it has are laudable. They are built-in and straightforward to integrate.
Other features that are simple to execute are commenting capabilities, setting up RSS/ email subscriptions to your blogs, and automatically adding your recent blog to your site’s other pages.
WordPress also helps in extending your brand reach by making your site more dynamic and interactive.
8- Great Plug-ins:
WordPress has some excellent plug-ins that let you execute almost anything that you want for your website.
You can add amazing features like event calendars, twitter feed, video gallery, etc. to your website and enhance the user experience it provides.
Also, these plug-ins are mostly free to use, and those which are not, are very affordable to install.
Some popular plug-ins provided by WordPress are:
- Yoast SEO: Improves your on-site presence
- Akismet: Protect your site against comment spams
- Smush Image Compressor: Compress your high-quality image, so it takes less space.
- WordFence: Secure your site from external threats
- Jetpack: the plugin offers a wide array of different extensions like optimizing the image, improving site performance, site security, and a lot more.
These are the significant advantages you will acquire when you choose WordPress as your website hosting portal.
Things that you can create with WordPress:
We have provided the popular plugins you can use to build them up.
- Online portfolios can be created using Contact Form 7, Elementor, Visual Portfolios, etc
- Blogs are a WordPress default functionality
- Affiliate Marketing websites can be developed using plugins like Affiliates Manager.
- Community hubs can be built using BuddyPress
- An E-commerce store can be developed with WooCommerce
- A forum can be built with bbPress
HOW TO GET STARTED WITH YOUR WORDPRESS WEBSITE?
I hope now you have a clear picture of why WordPress is the right platform for your website.
Let’s now move to what steps you must follow to create a wordpress website.
1- Choose a Domain Name:
This is the most simple and essential part of creating a website. A domain name is the unique web address used while hosting your site.
You need to choose a catchy yet straightforward domain name that hooks your audience’s attention and makes them remember it.
If you have confusion regarding choosing the right domain name, you can hire WordPress developers who are dedicated to selecting the right name for your website.
2- Purchase Hosting Plan:
You will need a place to save your websites’ data and files, and that place is the webserver.
The server transmits information you want to send out on the web to anyone who visits your domain. So, you will have to purchase a hosting plan. A lot of them are available, capable of catering to your specific needs and website requirements.
3- Install WordPress:
Now that you have a domain name and a hosting server, you are ready to install WordPress.
4- Customize your site using plug-ins:
It is okay to take baby steps. Make sure you choose a quality theme first and then select the plug-ins to help you implement the features you want.
Remember, plug-ins can always be installed with time as per your needs.
5- Start creating your content:
There are mainly two types of content in WordPress: Pages and blogs, although there are some plug-ins and themes that we equip you with more options.
Both pages and blogs use the same novice-friendly editor, and putting in the first few contents is pretty easy.
Do remember to add a contact option to maintain communication with your visitors.
Read More: Steps for Updating Your WordPress Site’s PHP Version
If you have a lot on your plate right now, there is always an option of hiring a dedicated WordPress developer to off your load.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A WORDPRESS DEVELOPER?
If you are a first-timer with WordPress, there is no need to worry. You can simply hire a WordPress developer to do the work.
However, you have to make sure you are hiring the right person, who will be more dedicated than you are in developing your website.
Here are some tips you can follow to make sure you give your website to the right person’s hands:
– Outline your requirements:
We all know that WordPress is not the same as it used to be some years ago.
It is no longer restrained to build just a simple site; you can quickly build a powerful complex website with WordPress. Hence it is essential to know what you need to know.
Just hiring a WP developer would not be enough to get your work started. You would need to have an accurate picture in your mind.
You need to tell your dedicated resources about each requirement you want her/him to fulfill.
Do you want to create a blog? Or an e-commerce platform? Or a magazine?
You should be sure of everything.
– Use references:
Imagine you have shifted to a new locality, now to learn about the local restaurant you would have to ask your friends or neighbors, right?
The same is the case with hiring a WordPress developer. You can go with the references of your friends or a trusted developer you have worked with in past projects.
If you are still not satisfied, you can expand your research by engaging yourself through local meetups or LinkedIn, since it is a tried and tested way to hire a dedicated developer.
– Don’t rush up things:
After you have made a list of your potential developers, make sure to look at their holistic values.
You have to give careful consideration to their portfolio and to the reviews they have on sites like GitHub, Dribble, etc.
– You should analyze:
- Their previous work
- Well presented and detailed case studies about the past work
- Their contribution towards the WordPress community
- Topic relevance with blogs
- Their knowledge of themes and plug-ins
- Other publications
Once you analyze all this, you will obtain a more refined list of developers for your WordPress site.
– Learn about their past works:
If you are not a tech-savvy person, there are very high chances that you will have no clue about codes and technical terms.
Here the best thing to do is to review the projects they have completed in the past.
You can look for:
- Previous projects related to yours
- Success rate with previous projects
- How many projects have they completed successfully in the past
- If their previous employer recommends them
Hire the developer with service on his mind:
Many developers have experience in freelancing or businesses, hence genuinely know the value of time. Rest assured, they would not waste any time on anything unnecessary, and this could be a massive benefit for your website.
If you need your business to be a total blast, the best thing for you to do is to hire a service-minded developer.
A developer would make sure you receive what you need.
Check the fundamental elements:
Before you hire a developer, make sure you have obtained answers to the following questions:
- Does the developer have a proper answer to your questions?
- Will they be able to provide you the status update?
- Can the developer explain her/his ideas elaborately for you to understand better?
- Is the developer fluent in your language? Will you be able to maintain constant communication?
Review the Code:
If you have excellent technical skills, there can be nothing better than to review your developers’ code. It is an efficient way of checking the quality of work.
You can also make other developers check your hired resource’s code based on logic errors, the number of tests conducted, security, full implementation of all cases, and performance issues.
This is the best way possible to get a clear picture of your developer’s abilities.
There are many great sites on the internet, such as hireindependentdeveloper.com, which can make your work a bit less hectic and a lot easier.
You can simply go to their site, get a list of refined developers, and get on with the website work.
Since WordPress is coded in PHP, finding a developer should not be a tough task.
Hire the right resources from the right platform and get rid of all your WordPress worries.
Let your dedicated developer make sure your website outshines.
