Is wordpress hard to master?

Not at all. In fact, Wordpress is actually quite easy to master and get used to. If you ever need help with anything relating to Wordpress I would suggest you go to Youtube because somebody else has more than likely asked your question before.

You can do some testing on a free, hosted one at wordpress.com (very limited facilities and functions, though, compared with a self-hosted installation). Or you can test things by using the free hosting and a free subdomain somewhere like Freehostia, without even needing to buy a .info domain for the purpose.

For me it was so hard that I gave up (on both the occasions I've tried it). I had some other reasons for disliking it, too, but that was a big part of my reason.

I would suggest creating a free blog at wordpress.com and experiment with that. As far as I know it has the same functionality as your own Wordpress installation. Much to experiment for free than to pay for it :-)

If you know how to install a theme, investing in a powerful, yet flexible theme - Headway, Thesis, Genesis - is going to help you get an amazing website that's easier to put together than you'd think.

WordPress is very easy to use in my opinion! You can get a blog or website up in no time.
As for making it more professional maybe payout some money on a professional template or even find a decent one for free.
I was able to use WordPress to make professional looking websites within the first few months of using it!
Good luck

It wasn't that hard for me to learn. In fact id prob wouldn't switch just because I don't wanna learn a new system.

Alexa, what CMS do you use for your sites if any at all??

Wordpress is quite easy to get used to when you want to put up a site quickly.

Personally, I'd go down the free host route, and play around with a wordpress install there.

Having said that, there are still quite a few things you'll need to learn.
I have a video course of approx 58 videos I can let you have free.

If interested, drop me a PM.

Wordpress can seem hard when you first start. But you will only learn by your mistakes.There are thousands of videos on youtube to have a look at, which will help you.We've all started in the same position as you! There are plenty of free themes and plugin to go at. So get stuck in.

WordPress is real easy to learn, of course this comment comes from someone who also builds web sites the hard way, directly in code. A great place to start with WordPress is with the free online version at wordpress.com. But the real power of WordPress comes from having a self hosted WordPress site, where you have access to all of the great themes, plugins, etc. available at WordPress.org Well worth the time to learn. I use WordPress for all of my online streaming sites. My major sales site is built the old fashioned way though.

Yes, I highly recommend that you buy a domain name to test. Godaddy has offers sometimes for really cheap .com, .net etc. You can also use a coupon code from Netfirms for $4.95 domains, promo495

You will also need to get webhosting, which is about $10 per month. Some good companies include Hostgator and Bluehost.

For WordPress themes, you can find a list of free premium themes here ... Best Free Premium Wordpress Themes | CashJournals of DylanC

You don't need to buy any domain name just to learn wordpress. Instead install wampserver or xampp server in your pc, and play with wordpress on it.
Google for tutorials telling how to install wordpress on xampp/wampserver.

Best way to go is to learn some basic html/css and you will have no problem with any theme.

Google...Wordpress tutorials..
there are plenty out there to help you.

Good luck.

-Theo-

Yes, it may take some time to master Wordpress to create professional looking sites. One thing you can do to shorten this curve is to use premium paid themes created by professionals and experts in WP. Once you have professionally coded theme or framework, then you can focus on the customization to make it unique and the way you want it to look.. and if you know CSS and html, you will be able to customize most of the design. If you know php/JS you will be able to customize most of the functionality.

Best thing about most popular CMS like Wordpress is that you will be able to find tutorials and answers to almost any question or situation you may have. So just keep going on the road of becoming master of this awesome software called Wordpress

Regards
Mohsin Rasool

If you are in the process of making your first wordpress site, use your domain for your main site, most hosting companies offer unlimited subdomains, do all your testing there. most of my sites have a test1.----.com, test2.-----.com, test3.------.com where I do all my testing before doing it to my main site.

Hope this helps

No. Most even without web dev knowledge can put together a simple page.

With tools like fantastico and softaculous you can install with 1 click as well and be on your way.

I suggest learning a bit of HTML and CSS as well. That way you can modify the themes a little bit more and make them look a bit more unique.

In my eyes you can do nearly everything you like with a self hosted WP blog. There are som many nice themes and plugins, you really don't need to be a programmer to master it.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me :-)

There are so many Wordpress tutorials on the Net including at wordpress.org, I can't imagine that you can't learn everything you need with a little research.

wordpress is the easiest CMS to master. you can find many videos on the internet that will teach you how to master wordpress

I think it is hard for some because you have to continually learn more things and its time consuming. But since Wordpress is so common its easy to get help. You can always go to Fiverr and hire help for so low.

Unless you want to master it so people can pay you for what you learned... I wouldn't waste your time.

Personally for me, Wordpress is easy to navigate, use and understand.

You know I think that is a very good question I have seen some good answers here too, here my quick two minute take, 90 percent of wordpress users do not really understand how wordpress works. ..

A certain percentage of users purchase a guide or a video product telling them how they can Master Wordpress, but in reality these courses are very "thin" they are superficial, they say beauty is skin deep, well the truth here is that most of these learn wordpress courses only cover the bare operational necessities, wordpress is very deep.

Not only do you need to learn how to use and configure it, but you need to learn how it works, there are many settings and plugins that can help or hurt your wordpress website efforts.

Then there is PHP, what really runs wordpress, if you dont understand at least how wordpress runs, you will never truly "Master" wordpress.

For example customizing themes, requires some programming knowledge, other wise your website will be just like every other website on the internet, where that same theme is installed.

Becoming the Master of a product that literally has thousands of developers, is something that may well be impossible, but that does not mean that you should not try...

Accepting the fact that you may never know everything about wordpress is a good place to start but dont stop there.

Learn more...

Change up your website, alter the CSS, change the images, push the envelop of your theme, learn everything you can about how wordpress actually works.

And on top of that no matter what, If a Guru, or a sheep herder, tells you to use an auto installer to install wordpress, Know right now, that person does not know anything about wordpress.

A while back this guy (who is respected, but not as well respected now)

Recommended, in a wordpress product he was selling to use "fantastico" to install websites, shortly there after, there were a fair few people asking how they could recover from their wordpress websites being hacked.

Now that is the truth, the biggest problem in Mastering wordpress is figuring out who you can trust, because anyone that recommends that you use an auto install script to install wordpress does not know or understand the security risks associated with doing that.

Depending on where you live, find the nearest Wordcamp and go. They try to do them in major cities around the world each year.

Best $40 for two days I ever spent. Period.

No.. it's pretty straight forward, especially if you know some basic coding skills. Besides, WordPress has the most extensive documentation among other software, there is also huge community where you can ask for help if needed.

By the way, it's WordPress, not wordpress, Wordpress, wordPress, etc.

If you are willing to put the time in then no it is not hard to master, my advice learn the basic stuff and outsource the rest

It really depends on what you understand by "mastering WordPress". Some people believe they master WordPress just after customizing their first theme and installing a few plugins.
Like many believe they master Photoshop if they managed to crop 2 images into 1 and add some text.

In my opinion mastering WordPress takes years of experience. I've been creating websites in WordPress since 2005, I put online more then 200 WordPress websites since then, but I still find many things to learn about WordPress.

The notion of mastering something on a professional level is measured by human life cycle. How much effort and time is expected to have put into something before the person can make a living on it - professionally. Usually the time is at least a year or two. A janitor who can learn the basics in two hours is not called professional, it's just a person doing that job. You cannot be called a master on anything that anybody can learn and do easily. Before getting that title you first have to invest your time and effort in it.

Wordpress is incredibly easy to master. You don't even need to learn any code all you got to do is download and install a template. Just make sure that you install the right plugins - some plugins conflict with each other.

Ive been trying to get a website online using WP since June of 2012 and still cant get it to do even that. You need a PHD in Wordpress to make it work from my experience with it. ANYONE that says its easy would be charged and convicted of perjury if they were under oath.

WordPress can be tricky I know a few people who have bought themes and been disappointed when their site just looks blank.

Ideally I think a knowledge of html and CSS helps but isn't essential.

You can do good things with Divi which is as close to WYSIWYG as I've seen on wordpress.

Alternatively get a theme that has dummy data. It's more encouraging to see something that looks like a website and means you just have to edit an existing page