It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell blogs and websites apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference between what applications are being used to build the two. 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’s under the surface.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS tool 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 website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of these options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a tiny fraction of the cost of getting site ”A” built.
If you went with option ”B” above, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an expensive-looking website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS platform that is ideally suited for all types of businesses.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no knowledge of coding to use, and offers an array of helpful add-ons that make your web site highly effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, 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 the WP CMS.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting one built, then wouldn’t it be great to show your web developer an existing website 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 a much smaller cost?
Is My Site WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard about all of the great benefits 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 ways to tell if sites are built using WordPress:
Search The Source Code For Tell-Tale WordPress Footprints
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 telltale footprints that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing the page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you visit a website that you like, and you wonder if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
After the source code of the site loads on your screen, you can search for the words “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not find the words “wp-content” in the page source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the point of this post is to try and help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easy methods you can use to check if your website is built using WordPress other than looking through the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many web 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’re not sure what application was used to build it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your site if it runs on WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing online and you really would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the site template has not been customized, you will typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message showing in the footer section …
(Powered by WordPress)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website runs on WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a some online applications that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(Is It WP – WordPress Checking Tool)
IsItWP.com is a free tool that lets you easily check if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is very simple. Just type the address of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will search through the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site is not a WordPress web site or blog, you will get a message similar to the one below …
To use this tool, 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 Theme 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
(Wappalyzer)
If you use a browser such as Firefox or Chrome and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a useful extension to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what type of software is installed in the sites you are visiting.
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 and use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your web browser, icons will display in your web browser menu allowing you to see which technologies are installed on the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Visit the website 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:
We hope that you have found the above the information in this tutorial useful.
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