WordPress Is Easy To Learn & Use If You Master These 10 Easy Concepts!

Is WordPress easy to learn? Yes, it’s easier than you think! However, it can appear perplexing and difficult if you don’t understand how WordPress works or the differences between the two versions of WordPress. In this post, you can find out everything you need to know about WordPress, how it works, and whether it’s easy to learn. Let’s get this party started!

WordPress is easy to learn as long as you have a useful guide to show you what it’s all about.

Yes, WordPress is easy to learn and use. WordPress is as easy to use as a word processor, so learning how to use it well is simply a matter of learning its point-and-click interface. These WordPress fundamentals will also not take you long to learn. And as you go deeper and deeper into WordPress, you’ll find that it evolves and expands a long like you, allowing you to learn as much as you want about WordPress.

And if you’re just starting started with WordPress, you can feel perplexed or frustrated. This is why it’s so important to nail down WordPress’ basics early on. Do you understand what WordPress is and how it works?

If not, let us discuss…

Here are some crucial ideas to become acquainted with while you learn WordPress:

In a nutshell…

• WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that allows you to create, manage, and publish digital content such as articles, photographs, videos, and more. Understanding content management systems (CMS) fundamentals is essential for mastering WordPress.
• WordPress Themes: A WordPress theme is a file collection that affects your website’s appearance. Understanding how to select, customize, and install a theme is essential for creating a website.
• WordPress Plugins: WordPress plugins extend the functionality of your website by adding features such as contact forms, SEO tools, and social network integration. Install, configure, and use plugins are all skills you should learn.
• WordPress allows you to create two major forms of content: posts and pages. Pages are static pages such as Home, About, and Contact, whereas Posts are often used for blog entries.
• WordPress menus enable you to create customized navigation systems for your website. Learn to create, manage, and personalize menus.
• WordPress widgets are small content blocks that can be added to your website’s sidebar, footer, or other widget places. You should learn how to use widgets to make your website more functional.
• WordPress allows you to create many users and assign them roles such as administrator, editor, author, and contributor. Understanding user management is critical for security and collaboration.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website so that it appears higher in search engine results. To boost your website’s exposure on search engines, you need learn how to employ WordPress SEO plugins and best practices.
• WordPress backups and security are essential for safeguarding your website against data loss, hackers, and other risks. To keep your website safe, you should learn how to back up your website regularly and install security measures.

These are some of the most important topics to understand before starting WordPress. Many more tools and functionalities will become available as you delve deeper into WordPress.

What Exactly Is WordPress?

You’ve undoubtedly heard of WordPress. But are you aware of what it is and why it is so popular?

WordPress is most likely best recognized for blogging. At least, that’s how it started in the beginning. However, it has grown far beyond blogging and can currently power a huge range of websites. This is because WordPress, at its heart, is a powerful CMS (Content Management System). CMS platforms enable work groups or people of any skill level to quickly and simply submit consistent-formatted content to their website. No coding or technical skills are required.

However, WordPress’s actual power lies in its customizability and flexibility. WordPress gained popularity in its early days not just because of its ease of use, but also because it is open source.

This implies that more technically proficient users can go into WordPress’s background code and customize it in various ways. Furthermore, a significant community of developers has grown around WordPress, adding and publishing all kinds of add-ons and extensions, expanding the power of WordPress.

Because of WordPress’s open-source philosophy, ease of use, and huge developer community, you and I can use it to run various websites, from personal blogs to massive e-commerce websites.

The two main components that give WordPress its power are plugins and themes. Let’s have a look at each of them…

What Exactly Are WordPress Plugins?

WordPress plugins, to put it simply, are add-ons that extend the behavior and capabilities of your website. Plugins may handle anything from contact forms and photo galleries to integrating your social network feeds and even running an online store or membership website.

If you wish to feature something specific on your website, you can simply add it using a WordPress plugin.

Some plugins will be visible at the front end of your WordPress website, where visitors can interact with them. A contact form is an excellent example. Plugins can also be used behind the scenes to handle site security and data backup.

And, astonishingly, there are tens of thousands of plugins accessible, with new ones being released on a regular basis. Most plugins are free, but others are premium (or purchased). Or, in other cases, a plugin works on a freemium model, in which a basic version of the plugin is offered for free, but to gain greater capabilities, you must purchase the full version.

If you can’t find a plugin that does what you need, you could hire someone to build a bespoke plugin. You could also build your own plugin. In the past, I’ve employed developers to build custom plugins for me, and the beautiful thing about this is that you can obtain the exact features you’re looking for, whatever they may be.

That’s all there is to WordPress plugins. If you can think of it, there’s probably a plugin. What about the other important part of WordPress, themes?

What Exactly Are WordPress Themes?

Themes are an additional aspect of WordPress that you should be aware of. Themes govern all of your website’s design components. So your WordPress website’s theme controls everything from fonts, colors, stylings, page layouts, and more.

So, if you’re as passionate about design as I am, you’ll want to learn more about themes and how they function.

The wonderful thing about themes is that they work like templates; simply install and activate a new theme, and the entire appearance and feel of your website changes instantly. Because WordPress is so popular, tens of thousands of themes have been created and released for public use. Most plugins are free, but others need payment.

The best themes allow you to personalize and customize them. Hestia is an example of a powerful, adaptable theme that will allow you to personalize it.

You might also delve deeper into the realm of WordPress themes and learn how to build your own. And it’s far simpler than you might believe. Divi, a theme and a page builder plugin in one, is a wonderful place to start. Divi has an extremely user-friendly visual drag-and-drop interface that allows you to build layouts and designs quickly.

That’s it for WordPress themes. And now that you’ve learned a little more about WordPress, I’m sure you’re wondering…

Is WordPress Simple Enough for Beginners?

WordPress is easy to learn, which is one of its finest advantages. WordPress is simple to get started with. In truth, the fundamentals can be learned quickly. One of the reasons WordPress has become so hugely popular is because of this.

Before WordPress, it took a long time and a lot of effort to build websites. Only designers and developers who fully understand HTML, CSS, and compliance requirements can effectively build websites.

And, while we had web design software like Dreamweaver long before WordPress, they were more like word processors. You’d select File > New and then build your web pages from scratch each time.

However, WordPress has mostly removed these technological limitations. WordPress may be used to build and administer a website by anyone with any skill level, including those with only basic computer knowledge.

And, because WordPress is a content management system, you don’t start with a blank page. You begin with a completely built website that is ready for your content and adjustments. This simplifies the process of getting your website online.

What’s more, as a newbie in site design, you can keep things simple by sticking to the basics of WordPress. Run your website with its point-and-click interface and add new content as needed. Perhaps that’s all you need to know about WordPress – and that’s perfectly good! You can also go deeper and deeper into WordPress if you choose. Perhaps you’d like to learn more about custom theme design. Who knows, maybe you learn HTML and CSS to go along with your WordPress talents! The point is, you can take this as far as you want.

In fact, WordPress may serve as an entryway into the greater world of web design and running online projects in many ways. And as you learn more about WordPress and web design, they will expand and evolve alongside you, leading you as far as you want to go.

WordPress themes and plugins are two areas of WordPress that are difficult for novices to learn. Because they are uncontrolled, they might be difficult to learn. This makes it feel like the Wild West out there. As powerful as themes and plugins are, documentation might be ambiguous or non-existent at times.

When you install a new plugin, for example, you may find yourself messing around for a while as you learn how it works. So there may be some trial and error, which can be annoying at times.

However, this is not a reflection on WordPress. It’s due to poor documentation on the side of the plugin or theme developer. WordPress is quite easy to use on its own.

So, with that out of the way, I’d like to go over some of the reasons why you should use WordPress. Let us investigate…

Why Should You Use WordPress?

There are numerous compelling reasons to utilize WordPress. I’ve compiled a list of some of the most compelling reasons to use WordPress. Hopefully, this has helped you decide whether WordPress is right for you.

WordPress is free right out of the box. As in, there is no fee! And this is true for both WordPress.com and WordPress.org (the distinctions between these two versions of WordPress will be discussed later).

Because WordPress is free, anyone can get started using it right away. However, as we will discuss later, depending on how you wish to utilize WordPress, you may incur certain costs. For example, if you wish to run a self-hosted WordPress website, you’ll need to pay for your website’s domain name as well as web hosting. Sit tight, because we’ll go over this again shortly.

Meanwhile…

WordPress is easy for beginners but powerful for developers: As previously noted, WordPress is a simple platform to get started with. It’s quite easy to set up and use. Most web servers include what are known as one-click auto-installers. So you won’t need any programming or web development knowledge to install WordPress–just a few mouse clicks and you’ll be up and running. Beginners don’t need to know anything about code or web design to use WordPress on a daily basis. WordPress is just like using a word processor like Microsoft Word. WordPress has an easy-to-use point-and-click interface, so if you have basic computer abilities, you’ll be good.

However, WordPress is powerful enough for more technical people to adjust, change, and customize. Developers can go into the heart of WordPress and access its source code. This enables anyone with the necessary skills to totally customize WordPress and make it do whatever they want. This is due to the fact that WordPress is modular and open source.

Consider WordPress to be like Lego bricks: anyone can use it to build whatever they wish. As long as you have the necessary skills, you can delve into WordPress’s background CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and other features. Or, if you like, you may be blissfully ignorant of the technical stuff and simply utilize WordPress’s easy-to-use interface. Again, it is the flexibility of WordPress that has made it so popular. It can be as huge or as small as you want, as technical or as basic as you want.

You can build any type of website you want using WordPress: Because of its power and flexibility, WordPress can be used to build and run any type of website you can think of. Other web design platforms and software are frequently limited and unable to handle many types of websites. WordPress quickly grew to be able to handle a wide range of website types, despite the fact that it was initially developed as a blogging tool.

WordPress can now be used to build any type of website you want, from a simple, one-page personal site to a portfolio website to showcase your work, to a comprehensive online store, news website, and even a big corporate site. WordPress can handle anything you can think of! In fact, I have a video where I define and outline the five various types of websites you may build with WordPress for your business. Take a look at The Five Different Types of Business Websites You Can Create.

WordPress is, at its core, a Content Management System (CMS). A CMS is simply a platform or framework that allows non-technical users to easily contribute content, which is subsequently formatted and presented in the same uniform manner. This is ideal whether only one individual is working on a website or if a team is engaged.

And, as previously noted, WordPress is a very configurable CMS. WordPress’s built-in editor is straightforward and easy to use for writing and publishing content. The good news is that you already know how to use it; it’s that simple! So you don’t need any coding skills or anything else highly technical to get started with WordPress.

You learned before that themes are in charge of the design of your WordPress website. Consider themes to be the design that sits atop the WordPress CMS system. Dress-up is a theme. It’s merely a matter of a few mouse clicks to install a new theme on your website. When you activate a new theme on your website, all of your old content instantaneously conforms to the new layout — the entire look of your website transforms in a matter of seconds. Remember that, in addition to using free or paid themes, you may hire someone to create a custom theme for you or even learn how to build themes yourself.

Easily extend the capabilities of your website: We’ve already discussed WordPress plugins, so you’re aware that they extend the capabilities and usefulness of your website. So, maybe you want to add a portfolio gallery or a contact form to your website. Or perhaps you would like to build a comprehensive membership website or add an e-commerce buying cart to your site. Plugins make it possible to do all of this and much, much more. There are already over 50,000 plugins available, so you have plenty of alternatives. Remember that, much like themes, you can always engage a developer to build something customized for you if necessary.

WordPress is a popular and commonly used web design platform. It is a component of the open source movement. This implies that WordPress is supported by a huge, devoted user base both online and offline. WordPress has tens of thousands of developers and millions of users globally. WordPress forums, blogs, workshops, meet-ups, and conferences may be found almost anywhere.

WordPress is now the most popular CMS platform, accounting for approximately 60% of the market. And, astonishingly, WordPress powers 30% of all websites on the internet. So you’re in excellent company with WordPress!

All of this implies that finding support and assistance if you get stuck with WordPress is easy. You can acquire answers from YouTube, forums, blogs, and other readily available online sites. If you ever need assistance with your website, there’s an army of WordPress developers on sites like UpWork.com and Freelancer.com. As a result, being a WordPress user entails being a part of a vast, supportive community.

So these are some of the most important reasons to use WordPress. It’s easy to understand why WordPress is so popular and well-liked when compared to alternative site creation programs like Dreamweaver, Wix, or SquareSpace.

So, at this point, you’re probably wondering how WordPress works. We’ll get to that later.

How Does WordPress Work?

Because of its adaptability, WordPress may be used in a variety of ways. You’ll primarily use WordPress.com (a hosted alternative) or WordPress.org (a self-hosted solution). Furthermore, you can install and run WordPress straight on your PC. However, this third choice becomes more complicated, and I don’t want to cause any confusion because WordPress does not work like classic site design software, such as Dreamweaver.

Traditional web design software works more like a word processor, where you simply open, edit, and save files. And using those tools, you would build a website on your computer and then transfer it to your live web server once it was finished.

However, WordPress works in a very different way. WordPress, unlike software that runs on your computer, runs directly on your live web server. So, with WordPress, you would connect into your website and work there, live on the internet.

You construct the files that will constitute your website using a standard application like Dreamweaver. However, it is your website with WordPress.

WordPress features a front-end and a password-protected back-end to do this. Your WordPress website’s backend is where you do all of your work. It is here that you will build new pages and articles, deal with photos, and customize the look and behaviour of your website. The front-end of your website is what your visitors see when they navigate to it. They might not even be aware that your website is running WordPress.

This is how WordPress works. It will not be used to open or edit files. Instead, it is the platform for your website. Remember that WordPress is, at its core, a totally configurable and expandable CMS. That is why there is no comparison between traditional methods of constructing websites, such as Dreamweaver, and a far more current approach, such as WordPress.

But how much does WordPress cost? This is a difficult topic to answer because it is entirely dependent on how you want to manage WordPress. In the following section, we’ll go deeper into this.

Is WordPress a free platform?

Is WordPress free? Is certainly a huge topic on your mind. And the answer is, sort of!

WordPress, as previously noted, is available in two flavors: WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Both are free to use out of the box. However, depending on how you chose to utilize WordPress, you may incur certain expenses.

Fortunately, no matter how you use WordPress, the charges are modest. Here are the specifics…

There are no upfront expenses if you choose to run a hosted WordPress.com website. WordPress.com, on the other hand, has constraints and limitations. WordPress.com websites, for example, incorporate advertising and a branded domain name (yourdomain.wordpress.com) by default. To remove these restrictions, you must upgrade to a premium account. In a later section, we’ll discuss WordPress.com’s limits in more detail.

Self-hosted WordPress websites are free of advertisements and branding, but you must pay for hosting and a domain name. However, as previously stated, these expenses are not unreasonable. A domain registration costs around $10 per year, and web hosting can cost as little as $5 per month. The costs are therefore not huge. A long the way, you might incur a few more costs, like premium themes and plugins, but they are all entirely optional.

So, obviously, going with a hosted WordPress.com website is the cheapest option straight away (because it’s free!). However, it’s difficult to predict which option, hosted or self-hosted, will be less expensive in the long run. You’ll need to decide what kind of website you want to run and what you want to do. You can then calculate your long-term costs. Depending on your requirements, even after paying for WordPress.com upgrades, one WordPress flavor may be less expensive than the other.

But, in my opinion, nothing beats a self-hosted WordPress website. There is plenty of reliable, low-cost hosting accessible. You may have a completely adjustable self-hosted WordPress site with a custom name and no advertising for a few bucks per month… running precisely the kind of website you want. There are three hosts that I use and recommend if you’d like some WordPress web hosting recommendations. Depending on your requirements, one of these will be ideal. You can find out more about it right here.

What Is the Dofference Between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

A often asked question is, “What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?” Remember that WordPress.com is the hosted version, and WordPress.org is the self-hosted version. Which of these two WordPress flavors is best for you will depend on the type of website you want to build, your budget, and your level of interest in learning web design.

I’ll explain the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org in more detail below.

What Exactly Is WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a free web hosting service that allows anyone to create and manage a website. As a result, this is referred to as a hosted version of WordPress because WordPress.com is a service that handles hosting for you.

WordPress.com provides a free, but limited, hosting solution.

As a result, WordPress.com is a straightforward solution for non-technical users with few requirements. WordPress.com manages your website for you, so you don’t have to worry about security, technical issues, or site management. Simply concentrate on the content you intend to put online.

In this sense, WordPress.com is more of a publishing platform than a whole website. WordPress.com is also incredibly easy to get up and running quickly. Simply sign up for a free account, and your site will be available on the internet in a matter of minutes.

It couldn’t be easier to get started publishing content online.

However, not everything is perfect. WordPress.com, in reality, has numerous limitations. As previously said, your site will contain advertising by default, and you must utilize a branded domain name (remember, yourdomain.wordpress.com). Furthermore, WordPress themes and plugins are extremely limited. This implies that the look, functionality, and behaviour of your site will be limited. Furthermore, running any type of online business with WordPress.com can be difficult, if not impossible.

Many of these restrictions can be lifted, but only by upgrading to a paid account, as you might expect.

Understanding that WordPress.com is a company is important. They make the majority of their money from advertising and paid upgrades. However, if your demands were basic and you didn’t require any extra capabilities, you could run your website for free on WordPress.com and focus your time on the content you want to produce.

What Is WordPress.org?

What about WordPress.org? It’s not easy to understand how to get started with WordPress if you go to wordpress.org. This is due to the fact that, unlike WordPress.com, which is a commercial site, WordPress.org is a resource and support site for the free WordPress software.

WordPress.org, unlike WordPress.com, is a resource and support site.

While you can download WordPress for free at wordpress.org, this is not the best place to get started with WordPress. Instead, you’d start with your host and install WordPress with a single click. This is why this version of WordPress is referred to as self-hosted: you are responsible for your own hosting.

And you’ll find a number of important support materials and tools on WordPress.org to help you get the most out of this self-hosted version of WordPress. In the WordPress Codex, for example, you’ll find rich and exhaustive documentation. You can get all the information you need regarding WordPress’s technical aspects right here.

WordPress.org also hosts the WordPress forums, which serve as a gathering place for the WordPress community. This is a fantastic site for finding answers, troubleshooting issues, and learning about what’s ahead for WordPress.

WordPress.org also serves as a repository for WordPress plugins. There, you’ll find over 50,000 plugins that can help you extend the capabilities of your self-hosted WordPress website. You’ll also find the main WordPress theme library, which contains thousands upon thousands of themes for you to select from. Unlike WordPress.com, you can use any theme or plugin with a self-hosted (WordPress.org) website.

In fact, this self-hosted version of WordPress is extremely powerful, adaptable, and unrestricted. You have complete control and ownership of your website here. You are free to use and customize WordPress however you see fit. In addition, unlike WordPress.com, you will have complete access to your website’s source code. If necessary, you (or someone you employ) can acquire access to the root PHP files, CSS, JavaScript, and even the database that powers your website.

The disadvantage of a self-hosted WordPress.org website is that you will be responsible for registering a domain name and configuring your web hosting. Fortunately, I have tutorials on all of this to assist you. Check out Easy Steps To Set Up Your Business Website Address Using NameCheap to register your domain name. Also, check How To Set Up Simple, Easy, Low-Cost Web Hosting With Web Hosting Hub for a walkthrough on how to set up web hosting.

So, while a self-hosted WordPress installation gives you more freedom, it does take a little longer to get up and running. On the other hand, there will be no limitations to what you can accomplish, build, or run with your website. This is why I recommend that you use a self-hosted WordPress website.

If you’d like to see a more in-depth comparison of these two WordPress flavors, see my video Understanding WordPress.com Versus WordPress.org: An In-Depth Comparison.

After discussing the distinctions between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, I’d like to address a few other often asked WordPress questions. Let’s start with one that I’m sure you’re thinking about…

How Long Does WordPress Learning Take?

Do you want to know how long it will take to learn WordPress? The good news is that you can nail down WordPress’ fundamentals in no long time — say, eight to ten hours. It does not take long to get started with WordPress.

And if you kept working with it, you’d be very comfortable with it after about a week. WordPress is easy to learn since, once again, it was created with non-technical users in mind.

Beyond the basics, how far you want to take WordPress is entirely up to you. Remember that WordPress can be as large or as tiny as you choose. This is all you need to know if you only want to know the fundamentals. However, if you wanted to delve deeper into WordPress, you could.

Perhaps you’d like to start creating layouts with a website builder plugin like Elementor. Perhaps you’d want to start creating custom WordPress themes or plugins. Getting a handle on these more sophisticated WordPress issues would, of course, take a little longer.

However, you can get up and running with WordPress quickly.

Is Learning WordPress Worth It?

Is it thus worthwhile to learn WordPress? As the most popular and powerful web design platform in use today, I believe learning it is well worth your time.

I have no regrets about learning WordPress; in fact, when I initially started with it in 2007 or so, it dramatically revolutionized the way I build websites. When I saw how powerful and customizable WordPress is, I quickly dropped all of my previous web design tools and switched over to it totally. I no longer build websites without WordPress!

Even if you don’t have high technical ambitions – perhaps you’re a hobbyist or simply want to run a few web projects – learning the basics of WordPress is well worth your time. In addition, whether you’re an employee or a freelancer, knowing WordPress provides you with a set of valuable, marketable abilities.

In fact, in another post titled Is It Difficult to Learn HTML? In this episode of The Straight Goods, I discuss combining WordPress and Elementor with HTML and CSS. With a little Photoshop, you’d have a powerful toolbox of talents!

And the best part is that it doesn’t matter whether you learn WordPress and Elementor first, or HTML and CSS. Learn one set of web tools first, then the other set.

So, in terms of WordPress, what is the quickest way to learn WordPress? We’ll get to that later…

The Most Efficient Way to Learn WordPress

So, where can you begin to learn WordPress quickly? Despite the fact that the internet is replete with WordPress videos, blogs, and forums, this may be the slowest way to learn WordPress.

The issue isn’t collecting information; it’s getting organized information. This is why I believe that attending a workshop or taking an online course is the quickest and most efficient method to learn WordPress. I like online courses since I can complete them at my own speed from home (or anywhere).