It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and revolutionized web publishing. Now, it’s getting more difficult to tell the difference between what software is being used to build the two. 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 application like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the areas that matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the site up-to-date, managing 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 site, but for a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option “A” above.
If you went with option ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful CMS suitable for all types of businesses.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no programming skills to use and manage, and offers an array of helpful tools that make your website highly effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world 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 a website built, then wouldn’t it be great 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?
Is Your Web Site Powered By WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve read or heard wonderful things 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 a site has been built with WordPress:
View Your Page Source Code
If you know how to search 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 the page source code using Firefox)
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 uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the source code, search for words like “wp-content” either by scanning the code visually …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to locate “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site runs on WordPress, as we will soon discuss.
As the focus of this post is to help non “techies”, however, we have listed below 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 Website Developer
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, some web developers, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you can’t tell what CMS application is driving it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your site if your website 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 the net late at night and you would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the site templates have not been edited, you can typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice showing in the footer section of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
If the simple methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built with WordPress or not …
Sites That Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WordPress Site Checker
(Is It WordPress? – WordPress Checking Tool)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that can check if a site was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super easy. Just type in or paste in the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will then go through the URL pages and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site does not run on WordPress, you will get a message similar to the one shown in the screenshot 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.com)
If you use a web browser like Firefox or Chrome and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting use WordPress, 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 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 Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will display in your web browser menu, next to the site URL identifying which technologies are being used by all the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as the above screenshot 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, 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, go here:
I hope that you have found the above tutorial useful.
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