If you’re looking for a free blog or website provider, you’ll probably have come across WordPres...s as an option for your new website. WordPress is a content management system (CMS) used by millions of bloggers all over the world. In fact, it’s the most popular CMS on the web, with well over 12 million independent installs.

Each instance of WordPress can host a network of blogs, providing your hosting plan offers the disk space and bandwidth capacity for you to do so. Each blog can be independently administrated, with one Super Admin account holding the keys to the network at large. This makes it a great choice for anyone running multiple sites on the same hosting account.

The primary strength of WordPress is its flexibility: it can be adapted, extended and modified to suit almost any purpose. The front end of WordPress is built around a customisable template system, but several areas within those templates can be accessed very easily through the administration menus. Changing the header layout or the contents of the sidebar is often a case of drag and drop with no coding required, and many code changes can be carried out by someone with only limited HTML and PHP knowledge. Plugins to extend the software can turn WordPress into an events listings website, an e-commerce store, a subscription-only membership resource or a discussion forum.

WordPress has thrived on the popularity of social media, with various plugins making it incredibly easy to integrate WordPress with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. Embedded videos appear automatically, and RSS feeds can be customised to automatically post on social networks when new content appears. Plugins can also be added to optimise WordPress for SEO, and a customisable link structure helps to get your important post titles and keywords right up there in the title bar.

WordPress can be installed on Windows or Linux servers, and many hosting providers offer a one-click install through Fantastico, making it easy to set up with no technical background. Even a manual install involves only a few steps once a MySQL database has been created. It’s free to download and install; more basic (but still free) pre-fabricated blogs can be created at WordPress.com. But hosting your own copy of WordPress (from WordPress.org - the .org is significant) is the best way to ensure your CMS can be extended and adapted to suit your needs.

WordPress runs on PHP

WordPress requires PHP support to run, so if you’re planning on installing it on your own web space, you’ll need to check that your host supports PHP and will allow you to create a MySQL database. Most hosts will allow you to use PHP 4 or a flavour of PHP 5; in reality, any of these will do. PHP 5.2 is a common default, and there’s no need to change it unless you have some other reason.

Although WordPress can be installed on IIS, running WordPress on a Linux server is more usual, and if you go with Linux you’ll have vastly more support material to refer to. You’ll also find that discussion forum posts are often more relevant to Linux installs, so when you need help, it’ll be easier to come by. If you plan on adapting your installation of WordPress, or you’re not technically minded, a Linux install offers a steeper learning curve but will be easier for you to manage as time goes on.

The installation procedure through Fantastico is usually completely painless; the manual install requires a little more technical know-how. You’ll need to follow the instructions carefully to ensure it goes off without a hitch. You’ll also need to ensure that your host provides access to phpMyAdmin if you’re installing manually. Even beyond the install, it’s useful to know that you can get into the database easily enough to make quick edits. If you’re not familiar with manipulating MySQL from the command line, take the easy option and ensure phpMyAdmin is installed from the off.

WordPress is lightweight

WordPress is designed to be scalable, so even the most basic hosting plan is usually fine. Out of the box, WordPress can be extended to run several blogs from the same database, but you may need to check that your host will accommodate this. Some may impose bandwidth restrictions, and if you upload lots of media, you might find that disk space becomes tight on cheaper plans.

Every few months, it’s wise to optimise your MySQL database (a quick check-the-box task in phpMyAdmin), and it’s also a good idea to look into installing a WordPress caching plugin if you’re on a basic plan. This will keep your host happy, because it will prevent your database dragging a shared server down. If that happens, your database will be taken offline.

WordPress is adaptable

WordPress plugins are bundles of PHP which extend the functionality of your install, allowing you to turn your WordPress install into almost any type of platform. Free plugins are readily available on the WordPress.org website, although some will be more reliable than others. Check out the user feedback before you waste time setting up something that hasn’t been supported for several years.

It can be tempting to download a slew of plugins on day one, but different plugins are written by different developers, and they may not interact well. It’s always a good idea to activate the most important plugin first and test your site before you activate another.

WordPress plugins - and its very source code - can be adapted and hacked to suit the purpose of your site, providing you know a little PHP. If you hack a plugin to fit, you just need to be aware that updating the plugin or the version of WordPress (depending on the hack) will cause your adaptations to be overwritten. For that reason - and many more - it pays to run regular backups. Plugins can do a reasonable job, but for a foolproof backup, run regular content and database backups through Cpanel, Plesk or whatever your host provides to manage your web hosting account.