Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming more and more difficult to tell blogs and websites apart. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of web design and also being able to tell what kind of web application is actually powering the site.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the things that the majority of website owners care most about, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the site up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options 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 for a fraction of the cost of getting site “A” above.
If you chose website “B”, 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 other web development tools … and how to tell the two 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 tool suitable for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no technical skills to use and manage, and offers a range of helpful add-ons that make your web presence highly effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site is also driven by WordPress.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great 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 something similarly built for your business for very little cost?
Is My Website WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard or read wonderful things about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other CMS application.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are built using WordPress:
Check Your Page Source Code
If you know how to view 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 telltale footprints …
(View your web page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a website 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 page’s source code, search for words like “wp-content” either by scanning the code …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot find “wp-content” within the page source code, it doesn’t mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon discuss.
As the focus of this post is to try and help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many web development companies, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you hired a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your developer or whoever built your site if the web site was built using WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you would like to know if it was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the templates have not been modified, you will often find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message showing at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
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 can tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(Is It WordPress? – WordPress Website Checking Tool)
Is It WP is a free tool that can tell you if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very simple. Just type in or paste in the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go and search 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 is not a WordPress web site or blog, you will get a message like the one below …
To visit this site, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer.com
(Wappalyzer)
If you use a browser like Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on for your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of software is installed in 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.”
Wappalyzer is also easy to install.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your web browser, icons will display in your browser menu identifying which software is being used by the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Go here to learn more about Wappalyzer:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, visit the site below:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, visit the site below:
I hope you have found this tutorial useful.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)