Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the two apart.
Then WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s getting 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 website design and also being able to tell what kind 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, regarding the things that the majority of website owners care 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 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 website, but at a cost that turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting option ”A” above built.
If you chose website ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an attractive, professional-looking and fully functional website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using a web building tool … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS platform that is ideally suited for all businesses and non-technical users.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no programming skills to use, yet it offers a range of helpful add-ons that make your website extremely effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, 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, yours is also a WordPress site.
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 site 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?
Does My Blog Run On WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using the WordPress software, 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 a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are built using WordPress:
View Your 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 obvious telltale footprints that the site was built with WordPress …
(How to view your page source code using the Firefox web browser)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you come across a website that you like, and you would like to know if the site was built on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for the words “wp-content” either by scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to see the words “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon discuss.
As the focus of this article is to help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easy ways to check if your website is built using WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, a number of web developers, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you paid a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your web site if your web site was built with WordPress.
That was easy, 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 surfing online and want 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 customized, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing below the footer area …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – site footer area)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site uses WordPress or not …
Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that will tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WordPress Website Checking Tool
(IsItWP.com – WordPress Checker)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that lets you easily check if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super simple. Just type in or paste in the URL of the site into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will then search through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the web site is not a WP web site or blog, you will see 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
(Wappalyzer)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Chrome browsers and would like to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great extension to install on your 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 to install and very easy to use browser add-on.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your browser menu allowing you to see which technologies are being used by all the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon shows up on the browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is 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, 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 the above the information in this tutorial useful.
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