Instead of manually coding and updating individual pages and creating new blog posts, a CMS acts as a mediator between you and your website files, removing the need for you to contact a developer or learn how to use HTML and PHP. The WordPress dashboard is the launching point to creating pages, publishing posts, and customizing your website. When you break it down, a CMS comprises two parts. The content management application is the frontend interface that enables site owners, marketers, writers, and editors to interact with and manage a website’s content directly, while the content delivery application takes the information from the CMA and inserts it into the template files and other backend systems to produce the interactive website your visitors know and love. Most popular platforms, including WordPress, rely on a database to store and organize website information. Free database hosting is a common component of most web hosting plans, usually in the form of MySQL — the M in the industry-standard LAMP stack. Databases contain the raw information you enter into your website: page titles, blog content, images, and other information. Your CMS theme or template acts as a Mad Lib of sorts, providing the framework of design and functionality and uses your database to fill in the blanks.