Now wait a minute – WordPress is free, isn’t it. Yes, WordPress is an open source program that’s free (for the most part.) But there are different versions of WordPress, with very different limitations.
Let’s look at WordPress.com first. WordPress.com allows you to create your blog and have it hosted on the WordPress site. You can create an account and have your first blog in the blogosphere in a matter of minutes. No programming knowledge is needed and you blog can be visible to the search engines, Technorati and the WordPress blog directory. You have a choice of templates to change the appearance of your blog, it’s layout and even include different widgets.
What’s a Widget? A widget is an add on feature that will enhance the usability or appearance of your page. Some common widgets are calendars, images in the side bar, videos and even social media badges. Available widgets are based on the theme you choose. Not all themes have the same widgets available.
There are several limitations to a WordPress.com site. One limitation, your blog address is www.yourname.wordpress.com. You can have your own domain name attached for an additional charge
The limited number of themes available is another limitation of a WordPress hosted site. You have less than 100 themes to choose from and editing the theme requires knowledge of CSS Stylesheets and purchasing the custom upgrade.
Another limitation is access to plugins. Plugins are like widgets since they add to the functionality of your blog. How a plugin differs is a plugin can be added to any theme. WordPress.com sites do not allow plugins
Finally, your content is not in your control. Your account is controlled by WordPress. You are subject to the terms and conditions of WordPress and if, for any reason, they choose to remove your account, all your content will be lost.
Now let’s look at WordPress.org. WordPress.org is also free but it requires a website hosting account. A large percentage of hosting accounts include a WordPress add on. If not, a free version of WordPress can be downloaded from WordPress.org. To install, you will need FTP (file transfer protocol) to your hosting server. FTP is a program used to upload web pages, images and other files to your server so they will be web accessible.
A WordPress.org site is attached to your own domain name so you have full control of your content and site. Many domain registrars, like Godaddy, also offer web hosting. For someone that doesn’t understand the whole web hosting and domain process, many companies, like 800biz.com, offer a inexpensive package that includes domain purchase and configuration, web hosting and WordPress setup.
Regardless of where you decide to host your site, you can expect to pay a monthly hosting fee, ranging from $9 up. But remember, you get what you pay for – the lower price sites offer less support, no automatic backups, limited access to your site and more. So choose your host wisely.
With a hosting WordPress site, you have hundreds of templates you can choose from, many of which can be modified with your own graphics. You can also modify the colors and appearance by changing the CSS stylesheet.
With your own site, you also have access to the entire Plugins Library. There are plugins for just about everything – social media, search engine optimization, videos, polls, site review, keywords and much more. A word of caution – read the review of any plugin before you install them. Some plugins have not been thoroughly tested and may cause problems with your site.
My favorite plugins are:
- All In One SEO – This adds search engine optimization to your blog post
- Askimet – This helps cut down on the spam comments
- Share to Any (Add To Any) – This is one of my favorite plugins. This plugin lets you or your readers share your blog post to hundreds of social media site and social bookmarking site.
- Socialable – This adds the social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc to your blog, making it easier for people to share your content to their friends and followers.
As you can gather from this information, my recommendation is to host your blog on your own domain. Yes it will cost you a little money. But unless your blog is for personal use only and not business, the small investment a blog and a hosted account requires should be a no brainer. Because you do get what you pay for.
Gary Wagnon and 800biz.com specialize in website design, hosting, search engine optimization and social media marketing for small and medium businesses.