It used to be that 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 everything changed. Now, it’s getting increasingly 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’s “under the hood”.
(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 tool 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 things that many website owners care about, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website 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 turns out to be fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a much cheaper cost than the cost of getting option ”A” built.
If you chose option ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an attractive, professional-looking and fully functional website that will usually turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using traditional website editing applications … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS application suitable for most business needs.
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 offers a range of helpful features that make your web presence extremely effective when it comes to getting your content published, 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 currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, yours is also a WordPress site.
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?
How Can I Check If A Website Was Built Using WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard or read wonderful things 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 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 TellTale The TellTale WordPress Footprint
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 a tell-tale footprint that the site was built using WordPress …
(View the web page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you come across a site that you like, and you would like to know if the site is built using 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 words like “wp-content” either by scanning the code visually …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to locate “wp-content” in the source code, it does not mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon discuss.
As the point of this post is to help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your site is built using WordPress other than looking through the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, some website development agencies, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you used the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build you a website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your web site if your site has been built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who built your website, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing the net late at night and you really would like to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the web templates have not been modified, you will often see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message displayed at the bottom of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built with WordPress or not …
Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Uses WordPress
Here are a couple of tools that can tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WordPress Checker
(IsItWP.com – WordPress Website Checker)
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that can tell you very quickly if a website was built using WordPress or not.
Using this site is really simple. Just paste the URL of the website into the search field and click the button next to it.
It will go and search through the URL pages 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 does not run on WordPress, 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 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)
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browser and would like to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress-driven, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension to add to your 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.”
Wappalyzer is also a very easy to install and easy to use browser extension.
After installing the Wappalyzer extension on your browser, icons will show up in your browser menu identifying which software is being used by the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This site is built using WordPress!)
To install Wappalyzer 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 you have found this tutorial useful.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum
