Blogs have become the most popular forms of communication in the last decade allowing people to express their creative side, provide information in a condensed form and even share information among group members at work, among a million other things.
Writing a blog however is only half the battle. You must have a program that allows you to create and share your ideas and custom website design can often be quite expensive. However, one of the fastest-growing forms of blogware is the free Open Ware program, WordPress.
How much is WordPress?
Wordpress is completely free to use in its basic forms, and users rave about the ease with which you can set up and publish blogs or websites in only a few minutes. When some people think of WordPress they think it’s just for personal blogs however many of todays popular websites for news, sports, politics and more are built using the free WordPress platform.
Where do I get WordPress for my website?
WordPress.org is the platform hosting the free program WordPress. You can easily download the program from here to start building the foundation for your new website. Although remember that even though WordPress is free you still have to pay for items like graphic design, stock photos, website hosting and more. While WordPress is free starting a website can run from $100 to $10,000 or more simply depending on your needs.
You can also use WordPress from its own hosting site, WordPress.com. It is a free platform which allows you to set up and host your blog on their site, with some limitations. WordPress.com may be the best choice for someone who is new to blogging and who simply wants to try it out with little to no obligation.
Why use WordPress.com to host a website?
WordPress.com has distinct advantages over downloading WordPress on a third-party server. For first time users the setup instructions are easy and most people can have a blog/website started in minutes. Upgrades, security, and backups are taken care of for you and WordPress.com utilizes hundreds of servers, so you can be confident your blog will have little to no downtime. WordPress also hosts tags and blogs of the day, so your blog can get more exposure including a “friend surfer” feature so that you can locate others with similar blogs. Your blog is also protected by secure socket layer (SSL) software, so that no one can “hack” your site.
What are the disadvantages to using WordPress.com for hosting?
On the other hand, there are disadvantages to WordPress.com for the serious blogger. You cannot run custom themes, which limits your options in choosing a theme for your blog. Code is always set behind your blog and cannot be changed. You also cannot run plugins. There are VIP versions of WordPress.com, but they are very expensive and designed for large blog users such as companies.
Downloading WordPress onto a third-party website also has advantages, especially if you already have a website on a host. Many web hosting sites can be obtained for less than $10 per month, so the cost to get a website is not significant. Once you have hosting space, you can download WordPress for free along with number of the free themes and plug-ins available and you can also change the code behind if you are so inclined.
Unfortunately, with a third-party site, you will be responsible for more of the upkeep on your blog than if you use WordPress.com (such as security, backups and updates) but you ultimately have much greater control over the design and independence of your website also.
One reason WordPress has become wildly popular is its ease of use, and the fact that it is always free. Millions of blogs, personal website and company websites use the WordPress platform as a foundation at no cost.
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