WordPress.org or WordPress.com?
September 6, 2008 by yelena
Filed under Building Better Blog, Burning Questions, blog
Q: I’m thinking about starting a business blog. Should I be using WordPress.org or WordPress.com? And what’s the difference anyway?
A: When I first started my blog, I would inevitably get a “deer in headlights” look any time someone mentioned hosting services, FTP transfers, HTML and similar techno-speak. There was also the issue of money. Third-party hosting is not terribly expensive, but it’s not free either. And I was trying to stick to my ”no-budget” budget.
So when I first read on WordPress that you can start a WordPress.com blog in less than 1 minute (nothing to install) and for free, I was totally sold! I started my first blog right there and then. It was easy to maintain, very powerful, and considering very little effort that I put promoting it, attracted an ok traffic. And did I mention it was absolutely free?!
However, based on my personal experience, I would strongly recommend you to go with a self-hosted blog instead. As it turns out, with a WordPress.com blog, you can’t
fully brand a blog;
have a short and professional-looking URL (it will always be http://yoursite.wordpress.com)
upload useful plugins and widgets that make life easier for both you and your readers;
install Google Analytics or any other third-party analytics program to track your performance;
explore all the options for monetizing (making money from) your blog.
After a few months of hitting these kinds of road blocks with my first blog, I decided to get over my fear of techno-speak and get a self-hosted blog instead. Luckily, many hosting services now offer one-click WordPress installation through Fantastico Deluxe. With this service installing a self-hosted WordPress blog is very easy and quick.
Technorati Tags: WordPress.com blog, business blog, WordPress, WordPress.com
Related posts:






Haley on Mon, 8th Sep 2008 6:34 pm
Another really good host is Hostmonster.com. They are actually the same people that run Bluehost.com so you get the same stuff. But I was able to search for a promo code for hostmonster and get hosting for 3.95 or 4.95 a month for 3 years. That’s an amazing deal.
Haley
Skye Hussain on Wed, 5th May 2010 10:30 pm
Our home business in our village is a small catering service. The profit is good in the food and beverage business. .”
Olivia Smith on Mon, 24th May 2010 10:50 pm
Copyrighting is very important specially if you wrote original articles both online and offline.’,~
Abbie Hunt on Wed, 30th Jun 2010 9:28 am
Monetizing websites, blogs, etc is a good way to earn some passive income.*`-
Oscar Turner on Mon, 12th Jul 2010 9:36 pm
Copyright is really needed to protect your own works. in china, they are not even concered about it.:~
Alexandra Gibson on Thu, 7th Oct 2010 2:23 pm
i love to make money that is why i focus both in online and offline business investment~”,