Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and revolutionized web publishing. Now, it's becoming more and more difficult to tell if the website was built with a "blogging" content management system (CMS) like WordPress, or if it's been developed using some other website editor tool. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of website design and also being able to tell what's under the surface.
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the areas that matter to most website owners, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the site up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this ...
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a much cheaper price than the cost of getting option "A".
If you picked website "B" above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you an attractive, professional-looking and fully functional website that could cost far less to build than websites built using a website building application ... and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world's most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use content management system suitable for most business needs.
Whether your reason for having an online presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no web design skills to use, yet it offers a range of helpful functions that make your web presence more effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site's functionality, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, yours is also a WordPress site.
And if you don't have a website yet, or are thinking of getting a website built, then wouldn't it be great to be able to show your web developer an existing site with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get a similar site built quite inexpensively?
Is Your Site Powered By WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you've come to our site because you've heard about WordPress, and you're now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, or some other website application.
Here are a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are built with WordPress:
Check The Page's Source Code For Obvious Tell-Tale The TellTale WordPress Footprint
If you know how to search the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for obvious telltale footprints ...
Suppose that you are browsing online and you visit a site that you like, and you wonder if the site runs on WordPress ...
First, bring up the site's source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the source code, you can search for "wp-content" either by visually scanning the code ...
Or use the browser's "Find" function ...
This will quickly tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not locate "wp-content" within the source code, it doesn't mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site runs on WordPress, as we will soon discuss.
As the point of this post is to try and help non "techies", however, below you will find a number of easy ways to check if your web site is powered by WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Simply Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, some website developers, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it's been built with WordPress.
If you used the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build you a website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your site if your website runs on WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay ... what if you can't reach the person who built your site, or what if you've come across a website that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you really need to know if it was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the theme templates have not been customized, you will typically see a "Powered by WordPress" notice displayed at the bottom of the site ...
If the simple methods above aren't helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites ...
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of tools that will tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not ...
IsItWP.com
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that can check if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is really easy. Just type the URL of the site into the search field and click the button next to it.
It will go through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you which version of WordPress it is currently using ...
If the web site has not been built using WordPress, you will see a message similar to the one below ...
To visit this site, go here: Is It WP? - WP Site Checker
WhatWPThemeIsThat.com - WordPress Theme Checker
What WP Theme Is That is another free web tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme a site is using (including parent and child WP themes).
This is a great resource if you have come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WordPress theme the site uses.
Using this tool is very simple. Just enter the site's domain name into the field and click the search icon or hit "Enter." The tool will then not only confirm if a site is powered by the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the WP theme being used on the site and list any plugins detected.
Tip: You can use this tool to see if your competitors are also using WordPress, and if so, see which plugins they are using ...
Note: A message like the one shown in the screenshot below will appear below the site URL if the site is not built using WordPress ...
Go here to use this tool: WhatWPThemeIsThat.com - WP Theme Checker
Wappalyzer - Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser and want to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress-driven, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what software is installed on the sites while you are browsing.
According to their website ...
"Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more."
It's also an easy extension to install.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will show up in your web browser menu, in the URL field identifying which software is being used by the sites you visit ...
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on your browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
Go here to visit the website: Wappalyzer.com
We hope that you have found this the information in this tutorial useful.
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Disclaimer: This site is not associated with WordPress or any of the WP-related products reviewed on this site. We may derive a financial benefit from sales of products advertised, reviewed or linked to from this site. All details on this page have been supplied from the plugin's own website and websites that provide Premium WordPress Services
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