When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell blogs and websites apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. Now, it’s becoming 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 type 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 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, in terms of the things that many website owners are concerned with, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be fairly 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 went with web site “B”, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create a professional-looking website that will usually end up costing you far less to build than websites which are built using a website development application … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS suitable for all types of businesses.
Whether your reason for having an online presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no web design skills to use and manage, yet it offers an array of helpful features 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, enhancing your site’s functionality, scalability, 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 website could probably be powered by WordPress too.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting a website 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 your business to a smaller budget if required?
Is Your Web Site Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using 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 some simple ways to tell if sites are running on WordPress:
Check The 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 an obvious tell-tale footprint …
(View the page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you come across a web site that you like, and you wonder if the site is built using 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, you can search for words like “wp-content” either manually …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to locate the words “wp-content” in the source code, it does not mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site was built using WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the focus of this article is to help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easy methods you can use to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than searching through the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many web developers, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you’re not sure what application was used to build it, just ask your developer or whoever built your site if your website has been built with 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 site that you really like while browsing online and you really would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the templates have not been modified, you will typically see a “Powered by WordPress” message showing below the footer area …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – footer area)
If these simple methods 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 Uses WordPress
Here are a some tools that will tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP
(Is It WordPress? – WordPress Website Checking Tool)
IsItWP.com is a free tool that can tell you if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is really quite simple. Just type the address of the site into the search field and click the button.
It will then 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 the site is currently using …
If the web site is not a WordPress web site or blog, you will get a message similar to 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 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 – Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome))
If you use either the Firefox or Chrome web browser and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting were built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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.”
Wappalyzer is also an easy web browser add-on to install.
After installing the Wappalyzer extension on your web browser, icons will display in your web browser identifying which technologies are installed on all the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s 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, go here:
We hope that you have found the above 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