Can't Decide Between Free Wordpress Blog Or Self-Hosted Wordpress Blog? This Is A Must-Read For You
This is a question I get all the time and many bloggers undoubtedly get all the time. Should I use the free Wordpress blogging platform or should I host my own Wordpress blog?
To be clear, a free Wordpress blog can be obtained by simply signing up for one at Wordpress.com. The username you use to join becomes your blog name. As an example I have a username "howdoyoustartablog". This translates to my free wordpress blog site "howdoyoustartablog.wordpress.com"
The self-hosted Wordpress blog would be on your own domain on your own site you would install the Wordpress software on. The Wordpress software would then be the blogging system that manage the content of your website. These days, installation is quite easy with most hosting companies. Most use push button software such as Fantastico Deluxe or Simple Scripts to install Wordprses. (You can check out my website and watch a free video and watch before your eyes as I set up a blog and post to my blog all in about 10 minutes. More info on that is in the resource box of this article)
So now to address the question: which is the right one for you?
FREE WORDPRESS BLOG PLUSSES AND MINUSES
PLUS setup is entirely free
PLUS easy to install and set up (software install is already done for you by Wordpress)
PLUS maintenance is free (setup, upgrades, spam, security, backups are all done by Wordpress)
PLUS server reliability (servers hosting site are actual Wordpress.com servers)
PLUS with a blog as part of the Wordpress community there may be an additional traffic boost from the Wordpress community
MINUS a free Wordpress blog does not allow you to update or upload a non-Wordpress provided theme
MINUS cannot change or edit any of the php programming (useful for adding almost unlimited site functionality and customization)
MINUS cannot upload any plugins. The Wordpress plugin community is huge by the way
MINUS no ad placements allowed. In fact, Wordpress will place their own ads on your blog
MINUS Site will be a Wordpress brand MINUS no content .ownership. Blog is still a Wordpress site .
SELF HOSTED WORDPRESS BLOG PLUSSES AND MINUSES
PLUS can upload your own Wordpress themes or non-Wordpress.com themes. There are thousands upon thousands of third party themes you can choose from.
PLUS can change the php Wordpress code as desired. This will allow nearly unlimited functionality in your site. There exists a large community of Wordpress developers with many out-of-the-box scripts to add function to your site.
PLUS can upload plugins! iPhone's motto is "There's an app for that". Wordpress's motto should be "There's a plugin for that".
PLUS as you can edit the code and themes, you can add your own ad placements and ad monetization. This is a huge reason people blog in the first place is to earn money through ad placements
PLUS your own brand/domain name
PLUS you can have ftp access to your site which allows you to be able to load separate landing pages and downloads outside of your Wordpress site.
MINUS you need to set up yourself (though most hosting providers provide push button installation through "Fantastico Deluxe" or "Simple Scripts". Plus my free video walks you through this process.
MINUS monetary cost to set up your site. Domain names PLUS hosting fees can vary from $5 to $15 a month.
MINUS you need to do your own site maintenance including spam control, security, and backups for example. There are plugins to help you but it is a process you still need to do on your own
MINUS make sure and find reliable servers. You don't want slowness or crashes to bother your site. Most hosting companies these days to stay competitive offer some pretty good server reliability
In summary, if you want just the most basic blogging features of the traditional blogging sense, a free blog is for you. If you plan to monetize it even with adsense, then you will want a self-hosted paid blog. Moreover, if you want to add your own custom look and feel, you will want a self-hosted paid blog. You also have access to many free Wordpress themes as well. And finally the world of plugins is the big kicker. Think about apps for the iPhone. There is a quote that whatever you want, "there is an app for that". Plugins are much the same from security to SEO to driving traffic to membership sites to just about anything.
That is why in most situations, (but not all situations), I recommend a self-hosted paid blog.
I hope this has been helpful. And please do contact me if you have any questions or post them here on the blog. And if you are thinking about starting a blog, check out my free video which walks you through the simple setup of a hosted blog in about 10 minutes with a hostmonster account. Information is in the resource box of this article. Thanks for reading!
Questions and Answers
Article Tags:
starting a blog
,start a blog
,how do you start a blog
,blogging
,blog
,wordpress
,using wordress
We are the ONLY ones that not only fully install your wordpress blog with tons of the latest plugins we also FULLY customize your wordpress blog with our custom security code which helps stop exploits, DDoS, and other various attacks. We are the complete and total package!
A fresh look at some of my reasons for suspicion - and a continuing battle against the organised group of bloggers.
7 Steps Important to Make Best Strategy Blog to Development for Your Business Online
Getting into social media marketing is a smart idea for any business owner. No matter whether your business is online or offline, this still remains true. With so many businesses reaping the benefits of social marketing, it's a shame to see so many others losing out. Just looking at it from this angle highlights the value of using a blog for your business. A blog can give any business an immediate benefit when it comes to social media.
Getting into social media marketing is a smart idea for any business owner. No matter whether your business is online or offline, this still remains true. The web environment for business is focusing on social marketing so much that it becomes imperative. Just looking at it from this angle highlights the value of using a blog for your business. A blog can give any business an immediate benefit when it comes to social media.
If you want to see real results from your online marketing efforts, a blog for any business is the perfect choice. Seriously, you can build the simplest blog and do well depending on your business. When you have your blog running, you can focus on some serious marketing for it. A blog will support just about any kind of content format, so a video blog will work very well indeed. This article will look at some simple strategies for building up a blog for your business.
Even though I "knew" that there were many different ways to start a family, I didn't really truly "KNOW" this until after our own fertility challenges. Meaning being truly aware of the various ways families can be started besides the "traditional" way of boy meets girl, boy marries girl, and the-birds-and-the-bees happen and the baby arrives. These new stories include IUI, IVF, adoption, and maybe even other ways I'm not exposed to. Read my first hand experience with infertility challenges.
You have probably read in the papers or have seen it romanticized in the movies: people are making a lot of money online. But just how realistic is it to make money online? The concept is simpler than you think. The implementation is actually not that difficult to understand either. There are just some few basic ideas to how to start and run a business online, and most of the time it involves blogging. Read this article and get the skinny on making money online.
You can think of a blog as more than an online journal but an online journal that you want to share with the internet community. Some have used this as a soapbox to express opinioins, some have used it as an outlet for creative or comedic writing, and some have used it simply to share family updates or life updates. As blogging software continues to evolve, more features are available to the modern day blogger including video galleries, photo galleries, and more!
In this article I will discuss reasons for starting a business blog and tips for getting you started. You can distribute information, attract new customers, and also improve your own knowledge about your business. There are a large number of reasons why blogging will be great for your business. Here are a few to start you off with!
Discuss this Article
