Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed everything. Now, it’s getting more and more difficult to tell the difference between blogs and websites. 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 type of web application is actually powering the site.
(Can You Tell Which Application Websites Are Built With?)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System application like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the areas that matter to most website owners, such as 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 actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but for a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option ”A” built.
If you selected web site ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create a stunning website that could end up costing you far less to build than websites built using website-building software … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful CMS application suitable for businesses on a budget.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no knowledge of HTML to use, yet it offers a range of helpful tools that make your website more effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, 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, your site is also driven by WordPress.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting one 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 something similarly built for very little cost?
Is Your Web Site Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve read about all of the great benefits and advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on WordPress, 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:
View Your Source Code
If you know how to check 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 tell-tale footprints that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing the page source code in the Firefox web browser)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across a site that you like, and you would like to know if the site uses 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 the words “wp-content” either manually …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not see “wp-content” in the source code, it doesn’t mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site runs on WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this post is to help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easy methods you can use to check if your site is built with WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, a number of website development agencies, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you can’t tell what CMS application is driving it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your web site if it was built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing online and want to know if it was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the web template has not been modified, you will typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice shown at the bottom of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the simple methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site uses WordPress or not …
Sites That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some online applications that will tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can check if a website was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really simple. Just add the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will search through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site was not built using WordPress, you will get a message like the one shown in the screen shot 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 – Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome))
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Chrome browsers and want to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a useful extension to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify 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 a very easy browser add-on to install and use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will show up in your web browser identifying which software is being used by all the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This website is built using WordPress!)
To install the Wappalyzer extension, go here:
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 that you have found this tutorial useful.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group