Every one of us that has the slightest interest in creating a website or in digital entrepreneurship is overwhelmed with the bombarding messages about WordPress Hosting, and all the “create a website, and start making money” type of content of the affiliate marketers around the world. And those of us, who are not exactly tech-savvies are still asking the question “Is WordPress only for blogs?”.
Honestly, this is a reasonable question.
If you have no idea how to create a website but you need one, you’ll probably end up watching videos on how to create a website.
Every self-proclaimed digital marketing guru is saying “create a blog with WordPress and start making money”.
But you don’t need a blog. You need a business website.
So, is WordPress only for blogs?
What is WordPress?
In our WordPress Tutorials, we’ve covered the basics of WordPress. There are explanatory articles on what is WordPress, and how to change everything – from the theme to the menu elements.
And, although it has been explained already, let’s find out what is WordPress, once again. In short.
WordPress is a Content Management System. Mean, that it is a piece of software, that helps people like you and me, to create a website without any technical knowledge.
By using any CMS (and there are a lot of them) you’ll be able to build a website, where every new piece of content will be added on top of those published before.
Thus, it is obvious that the CMSs and which include WordPress, are created mainly for blogs.
Yet, maybe they are capable to help us build another type of website. If only we are creative enough.
Or are they?
How to Create a WordPress Website
Building a new website from scratch is a play game when using WordPress or any other CMS (yet, I would highly recommend WordPress because it is the easiest and most versatile when you are not able to code).
What you need to do, to create a website is to just Install WordPress to a domain name, so that when you search for the domain in your browser, the server will have something to give you back – a fresh new WordPress installation.
Once that is done, you’ll have a WordPress website. What you need to do is to choose, install and activate a WordPress theme, add plugins, and, overall, customize your new website.
As of now, the important part is that you have a website.
What Websites Were Created With WordPress
The number of WordPress-based websites increases every year. In fact, it increases every day. And while the list is increasing, there are, of course, websites that deserve to be mentioned.
Like the website of:
- The White House (yes, the White House in Washington DC. The real one.)
- The Walt Disney Company
- The New York Times Company
- Ogilvy & Mather South Africa
- The Obama Foundation
- Angry Birds
And Snoop Dogg.
And those are just a few of the hundreds that the team of WordPress decided to use as a Showcase.
Funny enough, the WordPress.org website is not created with WordPress.
If you want to find out whether a particular website is created with WordPress, you can use online tools like Built With.
On the other hand, if you are like me, and you can detect whether a website is created with WordPress, but you are unable to understand what the theme of the website is, or what the used plugins are, you can use the Scan WP Chrome Extension.
Is WordPress Only for Blogs
Well, let’s get to the question already. Is WordPress only for Blogs?
No.
Our website is created with WordPress. The website of our friends at AtSpace is created with WordPress as well.
And if that is not enough to persuade you, you need to know that most e-commerce shops are created with WooCommerce, which is a WordPress plugin.
In fact, WordPress is a great tool to create your first online shop.
You know what, let me give you a link to our article on How to Create an E-commerce Website Using WordPress.
Conclusion
WordPress is by far the most used CMS in the world. Why? Probably because it is easy to use and comprehend. Probably because it is easy to install, and customize. Probably because it is versatile enough for everyone that needs a website to be able to create what he needs by using the same Content Management System.
I am not absolutely sure whether WordPress is the best way to create a website. In fact, I believe that, if you are an experienced programmer, it will be way better to create something on your own. Mainly because, it will have only what you need, and if something is missing, you can simply add it to the code.
Yet, most of us are not experienced, programmers. Furthermore, we are not programmers at all. That is why using WordPress is the way to go.
Create any type of website that you might want, from a blog to a social network(yes, it is possible), from an e-commerce shop to the website of the White House.
WordPress is like the panacea, that we, the creative, but not technically literate people were craving for.