Basically, open source is a world wide techie community that collaborates on making technology free to use. It is possible because lots of people contribute to the projects. There is always someone who is finding ways to improve the projects. They have forums and discuss ways to improve things. If a bug is found, there are lots of people who will jump in and fix it. WordPress is a prime example. It has a huge developer base, and lots of support.
I have told you that with my catering business I had a really nice website built. The problem was that I had no idea how to change a thing on it, so it pretty much just sat there housing a place for our menu. I thought I was really up to date since my business had a website, woo-hoo.
When I started the search for a way to help others and build a new business, I heard about blogging. As a matter of fact, I started a free blog that went nowhere. Now I take full responsibility for that fact. I only posted a couple of blogs a month, and then was disappointed that I did not get any traction.
Then I started down the path of really searching for the information to get it right. Along the way I have found some great resources, and some not so great information. One of the things I learned is that almost everyone I took classes from pointed me to WordPress. However, there are some really important reasons to choose the self hosted ( .org) version for your business.
Differences between WP.com & WP.org
Freedom and Flexibility are the two best words I can think of to describe the difference.
You want to be the person who is in control of your business. The .com version has a lot of restrictions you have to follow. The self hosted (.org) version has few restrictions
You want to make your business the primary focus. When you use free hosting sites, you have no control over what ads will show up or they are or where they are placed. If you choose a free host like the .com version, one of the first things your visitor may see when they click on your site is an ad for another company. That very well may entice them to click on it and you have lost them before they even check you out.
Google takes note of how long people spend on your site as a way to determine relevance. If that ad on the top of the site encourages them to click to another site, you are sabotaging your business.
When you choose .org, you will deal with very few restrictions. That’s right, just like most things in life, read the fine print. A lot of the free hosting sites make it hard if not impossible to do business.
I know this sounds blunt, but if you are wanting to regarded as an expert or a real professional, you are not doing yourself a fair to have your domain be www. expert.wordpress.com. Sorry to say it, but it makes you look cheap and unprofessional. The best analogy I can come up with right this minute is a comparison – would you take your car to an established service centre or a backyard mechanic.
There is an amazing array of themes and plugging available to the self hosted (.org) sites, so the amount of flexibility and customisation is huge! The sky is the limit. You can sell your products and services, choose to place ads on your site, host a membership site and so much more.
I am assuming that since you are taking the time to read this, you are interested in starting a blog for your business so you can make money. I will try to help make good choices based on my experience, and although it will cost you a little to buy your own domain and host it, this is one of the things that is just important to make the investment.
I have mentioned this in other posts, but I personally use Blue host. :mrgreen: (you are getting it-I use and like it and then recommend it) It costs me $6.95 per month, and I can host an unlimited number of sites there for that price. One site or ten, it costs $6.75 per month total.They also sell domain names, and it is just easier to purchase it there so you can start building your site right away. I just purchased a domain for a site I am building for a friend, and it cost $10. I know that when I get in the mode of starting a website, I am really jazzed up about it and want to be free to get busy right away. That is why I recommend purchasing the domain where you are going to host it.
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