Okay, let’s assume, you have decided to give blogging a go and you are convinced that WordPress is the best platform to go for. Personally, I believe it is and so do the majority of serious bloggers. If you don’t want to take my word for it I am sure a quick research session in Google will convince you.
Anyway, which is best for you and what is the difference between them?
Well, they are more or less the same in that they are both free and open source. This is great as it means that many talented programmers around the world support it and there are thousands of plugins and themes to provide additional functionality.
Essentially, the key difference is that WordPress.com is freely hosted and you can sign up and get blogging within minutes whereas WordPress.org is not hosted. For WordPress.org, you need to download the software and install it yourself on your own rented server space.
You might be wondering… Why would you want to go to the expense of renting server space when you can get if for free using WordPress.com? Basically, there are numerous limitations with WordPress.com. By downloading WordPress from WordPress.org and hosting it on your own server, you remove these limitations.
The impact of these limitations
If you have read my previous article 4 Success Habits for Promoting Independent Bands, Composers & Producers, you will know of the 4 consistent steps that will help grow your blog. The decision you make now on which WordPress platform to use may impact your blog in several ways.
File Storage
WordPress.com limits the amount of storage available to you. If you are uploading lots of content such as audio, video and photos, this may soon run out. However, by hosting your own version, you are only limited by the amount of space you have purchased from your server provider. This blog uses DreamHost, which provides unlimited storage and bandwidth from $5.95 per month.
Your Domain
If you are going to be marketing your blog, having your own personal domain is important. You can get a personal domain for both versions of WordPress, however, the route to setting it up is very different. Also, there is a small investment needed, but it should not be more than $20 per year.
If you do opt for WordPress.com, you can use their free default domain, but you will always have ‘wordpress’ in your blog url. Example www.yourblogname.wordpress.com
Personally. I recommend getting your own domain regardless of which route you take. Once you register your domain you can keep it as long as you like providing you keep up the annual payments.
Monitoring
If you going to be marketing your blog and want to monitor your web stats, WordPress.com has limited but usable information. This consists of visits, keywords, referrer etc.
However, downloading the WordPress.org version and hosting your blog on your own server means that you can install Google Analytics tracking code, which gives incredibly detailed information for free.
Making Your Decision
Now, of course, it is your decision, but to help you weigh up the options, let me tell you exactly how I came to my decision when setting up www.NewMusicAdvice.com
First off, I knew I wanted my own domain so I went to www.domainspricedright.com and added it to the list of domains I already own. I like this provider as their domains are priced very reasonably at around $6 per year and they make it easy to redirect the domain.
Also, I knew that I wanted to install my own theme, add more plugins and use Google Analytics so it was an easy decision for me to get some hosting and download the software from WordPress.org. Now, I should tell you that I am not a real techie so I always look for a straightforward installation option, which I researched using the providers that WordPress.org recommend. In the end, I opted for DreamHost with their one click install for WordPress. This cost me $95.40 (USD) for a years hosting plus a few extra bits and bobs.
I found the theme for free and edited a few sections, there are lots of free ones out there, just google free wordpress themes. If individuality is important, you can get a custom theme that is exclusively yours from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand depending on the designer you choose. For now, I have decided to leave this as my main priority is getting my blog established; a unique look can come later.
It’s simple: for a total of $ and a couple of hours set-up, I was able publish my first blog post.
I did briefly consider just buying a domain and using the free limited version from WordPress.com, which would have cost $ for the domain and $10 for WordPress’ domain mapping. However, as I mentioned earlier, I wanted to be able to add more plugins and use Google Analytics so overall, this was not a practical solution.
I have to admit though, if you are not sure about blogging and want to try it out with less expense and set-up time, then WordPress.com might be the route you decide to take. It is possible to migrate to your own hosted blog later by using a WordPress feature that allows you to export your entire blog.
Again, it is your decision which version you use, but hopefully the information I have provided here will help.
It all comes down to this… If you are serious about blogging, I believe that the extra time and investment of hosting your own blog is worthwhile. The extra freedom of adding more plugins, themes and Google Analytics makes all the difference to the appearance and running of your blog. Just think about it: if you are looking to promote yourself as a composer, band or artist, I believe it is only a matter of time before you find limitations with WordPress.com. If you do start with WordPress.com, in my opinion, you should at least aim to migrate over to WordPress.org on your own hosted server as soon as you know for definite that blogging is going to form part of your marketing strategy.
Resources
Domains: www.domainspricedright.com | www.simplynames.com
Web Hosting: DreamHost
Themes: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
Plugins: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post. And you’re right – the self-hosted option is the way to go.
Folks might want to check and see if a hosting company offers WP first. Like in the case of Network Solutions… once you get the hosting, installation of WP is as simple as visiting your control panel and hitting “install blog”.
m.
Hi Mark,
I agree, the one click install makes life very easy. Dreamhost have this, however, I am sure many other hosts do too. Just a case of doing a little research before purchasing.
Lee