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 everything changed. Now, it’s getting more and more difficult to tell if a site was built with a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like the WordPress CMS, or if it’s been built using a website editor tool. 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 many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System 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 areas that many website owners are concerned with, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but for a fraction of the cost of getting option ”A” built.
If you decided to go with web site “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an attractive, professional-looking and fully functional website that will typically turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS application suitable for all types of businesses.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no technical knowledge to use, yet it offers a range of helpful features that make your web presence highly effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, 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 considering 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 quite inexpensively?
Is Your Site Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard wonderful things about all of the great benefits of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, or some other content management system.
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 Source Code For A TellTale WordPress Footprint
If you know how to bring up 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 a tell-tale footprint …
(Viewing your page source code using the Firefox browser)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you visit a site that you like, and you’re wondering if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the site loads on your screen, search for the words “wp-content” either manually …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to locate “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon discuss.
As the point of this article is to 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 searching through the source code.
Simply Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, some web developers, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you can’t tell what CMS application was used to build it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your website if your web site has been built with WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing the net late at night and need to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the site template has not been customized, you can typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice displayed at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site runs on WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a some sites that will tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP
(IsItWP.com)
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that lets you easily check if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really quite easy. Just paste the address of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
It will search through the URL files and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site does not run on WordPress, you will get a message like 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 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 – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer.com)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Chrome web browsers and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress-powered, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what type of 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 to install and easy to use web browser add-on.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your browser menu, next to the site URL identifying which software is installed on all the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
To visit the website, 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, go here:
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, go here:
We hope you have found the above the information in this tutorial useful.
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