Wordpress Web Hosting Service

Wordpress is one of the most popular open blogging applications available; it is based on the very popular and also open source PHP scripting language and MySQL database server. Wordpress is also used by many web developers in conjunction with a wide variety of plugins and themes to expand its uses far beyond those of a standard blogging platform; Wordpress also has the ability to be used as a standalone CMS (content management system) which means that it can be used for the management and as the basis of a standard website rather than as a blog hosting platform. As Wordpress is based on PHP and MySQL, web developers can use the system on either Windows web hosting packages or Linux web hosting packages which offer support for PHP web pages and scripts as well as at least one MySQL database; Wordpress can also be used on other platforms that PHP and MySQL are supported on. Wordpress can be installed very easily whether you have any basic technical knowledge or not since it is more or less just a case of creating your database, uploading the application and following the installer instructions; however, depending on the form of web hosting that you have chosen this process may be even easier since some scripts auto-installers include Wordpress as part of their repositories.

There are many third-party plugins available for Wordpress which will allow you to expand the uses of the application but at the same time can help you to make it much more dynamic; for example, one of the most popular plugins is the ‘All in One SEO Pack’ which will assist you with making your Wordpress based blog or website much more search engine friendly, whilst other plugins such as the ‘WP Super Cache’ have been designed to optimize the performance of your Wordpress based blog or website. Wordpress can be customized design wise through the use of the template system so that you can create a system which reflects what you want your site or blog to look like; if you don’t feel like designing your own website or blog then there are also many third-party themes for you to choose from which you can use with your Wordpress based website or blog for free. Wordpress is the perfect platform to start with if you are looking into starting your first website since it means that you are able to do so without having to worry about the management of your website; the Wordpress administration panel is very intuitive to use and makes even the hardest tasks simple.

What are the benefits of using Wordpress?

Wordpress is one of the most advance blogging and CMS platforms available which makes it ideal for use in a number of different scenarios as using Wordpress to power the core of your website or blog will provide you with an easy to use and very expandable platform. The main benefit of using Wordpress is the fact that you are provided with a simple, all-in-one solution which you can then customize to meet your requirements without having to do much since there is no need to alter the core of Wordpress in any situation; you can develop your own plugins or make use of many of the third-party plugins that are available from the Wordpress website without having to make any changes to the application. Wordpress is one of the most SEO friendly blogging and CMS platforms available which will benefit you when it comes to optimizing your Wordpress based website or blog to ensure that it does as well as it can in search engine listings, and in most situations achieving a high search engine ranking is something that is high on most web developer’s lists; on top of this there are also many plugins that are available which you can use to aid you with the optimization of your Wordpress based website or blog. Wordpress is a PHP and MySQL based application meaning that it is very simple to install and setup which will benefit those who feel that they have little technical knowledge, and at the end of the day Wordpress can be setup without the need for any technical knowledge; all you need to do is create a MySQL database and then run the installation/setup wizard and then the job is done. In summary, the main benefits of using Wordpress include:

  • All-in-one solution – Wordpress is an all-in-one solution which can provide web developers and content publishers with a highly customizable platform that can be developed to meet their requirements without the need to change the core of the application – you can develop your own plugins for Wordpress to make sure that the application meets your own exact requirements, or on the other hand there are many different plugins that have been developed by third-party developers that you can install that will allow you to make the most of the application – the same can be said for themes, and all in all Wordpress can be developed and themed to suit your own exact specifications
  • SEO friendly – Wordpress is a very SEO friendly web application and this is a factor which will aid you with the optimization of your website or blog and will also help you to achieve your long term SEO goals, one of which should be to make sure that your website or blog receives a high search engine ranking – if you wish to make the most of Wordpress SEO wise then you should make sure that you have a permalink structure setup since this is one of the features of Wordpress which can be of importance to you if you wish to achieve a high search engine ranking – however, there are also many third-party plugins that are available for free which have been developed to aid those who are using Wordpress in any medium with the optimization of their installation to help them achieve a high search engine ranking
  • Simple to install – Wordpress is very easy to install regardless of whether you have any technical knowledge or not since the documentation provided is very in depth which makes it easy for anyone to install Wordpress in any web hosting environment – it is simply a case of creating a MySQL database, uploading the contents of the Wordpress folder and running the setup wizard in order to link the two together – however, if you find it hard to install Wordpress then most web hosting providers will do it for you since it is such a simple task, but failing that most web hosting packages come with some sort of script auto-installer (Fantastico being a good example) that will install popular applications such as Wordpress into your web space for you in a matter of seconds.

The benefits of Wordpress show that it is one of the most dynamic web applications to work with and although it has been designed primarily as a blogging platform, any Wordpress installation can be developed so that the application can be used as a standalone CMS for the management of a website.

What are the disadvantages of using Wordpress?

Although Wordpress is a very powerful blogging platform and the perfect CMS system for most situations, in some cases there can be disadvantages to using the application which you should be aware of. One of the main disadvantages to using Wordpress is the fact that the application can be very resource intensive even in the most basic of situations where the installation of the application doesn’t receive many visitors or is used very little, and this can cause problems since some web hosting providers are forced to ask certain Wordpress hosting customers to consider a higher end form of web hosting for their requirements; there are some ways in which you can work around this including using the ‘Super Cache’ plugin which will reduce the number of database queries that Wordpress makes as this is generally where most of the resource consumption stems from. As an application Wordpress is quite large meaning that it can take a while to upload the entire contents of the Wordpress folder to your web space, and if you’re trying to get your blog or website setup quickly then this may be an issue for you; however, if you have your own VPS server or dedicated server you may find it of benefit to download the application directly to your server since your server should be able to offer you a faster connection. In order for Wordpress to be able to function correctly you will need to be using a web hosting service which can offer support for PHP based web pages and scripts, but you will also need to make sure that you have at least one MySQL database available so that Wordpress has somewhere to store all the information that the application requires; although PHP and MySQL are two common features with most web hosting services, in some cases your shared web hosting package may not support either or you may not have either installed on your VPS server or dedicated server. In summary, the main disadvantages of using Wordpress include:

  • Resource intensive – Wordpress as an application can be rather resource intensive on the server that is hosting it meaning that you should be careful when choosing your web hosting service if reliability is something that is going to be important to you – if your installation of Wordpress happens to become too resource intensive then you may find that your web hosting provider suspends your web hosting account to stem the problem – one way of getting around this problem is to be cautious of the number of plugins that you have installed with your Wordpress based website or blog since one of the main causes for Wordpress being resource intensive is the number of database queries that the application runs on each page load and this can be reduced by reducing or watching the number of plugins that you have installed – another way around this would be to consider your own VPS server or dedicated server
  • Size of the application – due to the complexity of Wordpress and how the application functions it is rather large in file size which may cause problems for some when attempting to upload the application using traditional methods such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) – there are several ways in which you can avoid having to upload Wordpress directly to your web space using traditional file transfer methods, i.e. with shared hosting packages you can normally make use of a script auto-installer which will setup complex applications such as Wordpress for you within a matter of seconds, if you are using VPS server hosting or dedicated server hosting then you can download the application directly to your own server and when servers can typically provide a faster connection this can be a very effective alternative
  • Technologies used – although PHP and MySQL are both common features of most web hosting services, in some situations there may be something which could prevent you from using either and Wordpress requires both if it is to be able to run properly – most free web hosting services don’t offer support for either PHP or MySQL as is the case with some of the cheaper shared hosting services that are available meaning that you should make sure that you know what you are getting for your money prior to purchasing a web hosting package – if you have your own VPS server or dedicated server then you should double check that you have both PHP and MySQL installed as in most cases neither will be installed upon receiving the login details for your dedicated web hosting service.

The disadvantages of using Wordpress are unlikely to affect you if you are using the application properly and your web hosting service is able to support the application properly. Wordpress is one of the most dynamic applications available meaning that you can develop it to meet your requirements properly, and this is easily done since Wordpress is an open source application that is free to use.

In conclusion, Wordpress should be one of the main systems for you to consider if you are developing a new blog or website. Since Wordpress can also be used as a CMS you should consider using it for new website projects since the application can be customized so easily you may find that using Wordpress can save you both time and money. The good thing is that PHP and MySQL are supported by most Windows and Linux web hosting packages meaning that Wordpress should function without any problem on your web hosting package regardless of the platform that you may be using.