When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. Now, it’s becoming 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 web design and also being able to tell what kind of web application is actually powering the site.
(Can You Tell Which Application Is Powering A Website?)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System tool 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 the majority of website owners care most about, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website 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 expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a cost that is significantly less than the cost of getting option ”A” built.
If you decided to go with web site “B”, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that will usually cost far less to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell the 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 content management system that is ideally suited for most business needs.
Whether your reason for having a website is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no programming skills to use, and offers an array of helpful functions that make your web site 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 currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your website could probably be powered by WordPress too.
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 website 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 for your business quite inexpensively?
The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Runs On WordPress
Do you need to know if a website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, 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 a number of ways to tell if a website is running on WordPress:
View Your Page Source Code
If you know how to access 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 …
(Viewing web page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a web site that you like, and you’re wondering 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 page loads on your screen, search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” within the source code, it does not necessarily mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this article is to help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your site is powered by WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many website development companies, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you paid a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your site if the web site runs on WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing online and you need to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the site theme templates have not been customized, you can often find a “Powered by WordPress” notice displayed in the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – footer area)
If the methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site uses WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a couple of sites that will tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(Is It WordPress? – WP Site Checker)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can check if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is very easy. Just enter the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will then search through the URL 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 was not built using WordPress, you will see 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 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 browse the net using either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browsers and want to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are WP-driven, then Wappalyzer is a great extension to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of software is installed on 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.”
Wappalyzer is also a very easy extension to install and use.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer extension on your browser, icons will show up in your web browser menu identifying which technologies are installed on the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon showing on the browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Visit the site 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, visit the site below:
I hope that you have found this the information in this tutorial useful.
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