Understanding WordPress – without the jargon.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is free software for running a website or blog without knowing how to program. You edit texts, images and pages in an editor in your browser, a theme defines the look, and extra features – contact form, appointment booking, shop – come as plugins.

According to W3Techs, more than 40 % of all websites worldwide run on WordPress. That is more than a number: there is a guide for almost every question, a plugin for almost every task and someone in every town who knows their way around it. You are not tied to anyone.

WordPress.org or WordPress.com?

The name stands for two different things, which regularly causes confusion:

• WordPress.org is the software itself. You install it on your own web space and decide everything: theme, plugins, domain, where your data lives.
• WordPress.com is a service by a US company that runs this software for you. Convenient at first, but depending on the plan with restrictions on plugins, ads and domain – and the data is not in your hands.

Whenever this guide talks about WordPress, we mean the first option: your own installation on web space in Germany.

What do I need for my own WordPress website?

Three things, and all three come with a regular web hosting plan:

• A domain – the address people find you at, such as your-company.com.
• Web space with PHP and a database – WordPress is written in PHP and stores its content in MySQL or MariaDB. The WordPress project recommends a current PHP version (8.3 or newer) and MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 and up.
• An SSL certificate – for the padlock in the address bar. Without an encrypted connection browsers warn your visitors, and Google ranks the site lower.

With us, all of that is included: domain, database, free certificate, and you choose the PHP version per domain yourself.

What does a WordPress website cost?

The software itself costs nothing. Running costs only arise for hosting and domain – with us from €2.99 per month, with one domain included in the plan.

On top of that, if you like: a paid theme (usually a one-off 50 to 100 €), individual premium plugins and – the biggest item – time. Building the site yourself mostly costs evenings. Having it built costs once; the running costs stay the same small amounts afterwards.

The first steps

With a plan from us you are online within minutes:

1. Choose and order a plan – once paid, the web space is set up automatically.
2. In the customer center under Web space → Applications, choose WordPress, enter the domain and a title.
3. The login details appear on the page. Sign in at your-domain.com/wp-admin, pick a theme, write your first page.

Step by step with pictures in the guide “Installing WordPress”.