20 Reasons Why I Choose WordPress

by Yan Susanto

They say ‘owning a blog is no longer a luxury but rather a necessity‘. How true indeed! A blog is born every half second which means two blogs are created every second.

In the past few months, I’ve helped a few newbies setup a proper blog and there is one blogging question that I’ve been asked numerous times,

“Why did I choose WordPress?”

To address the question once and for all, please allow me to share with you my 20 reasons why I choose WordPress over the other readily-available blogging platforms.

Yes, I love my WordPress and will continue to use it. It has been – and will always be - my primary choice of blogging platform simply for its ease of use. If you are still on blogspot, this article might just give you a bit of food for thought.

20 Reasons Why I Choose WordPress

i love wordpress

1. WordPress is Free

Whether you are using a hosted WordPress.com or opt to install the script on your own web server, WordPress is made available gratis. It costs you nothing to use. Who says “There is no free lunch in this world?

2. Easy to Setup

Installing WordPress is super fast and super easy. In fact, the process is much simpler if you’re using Fantastico autoinstaller that comes pre-installed with your hosting package. It doesn’t get any easier than that. If you need help with WordPress setup, ask and thou shall receive.

3. Themes Availability

You don’t like the look of your default theme? There are plenty of great design themes available for you to choose from. It doesn’t matter what your preference is, there is always one for you that suits your taste and personality.

If budget isn’t an issue, do yourself a favor and differentiate your blog with a premium theme.

4. Plug-ins Do Wonder

Without any doubt, the primary reason I choose WordPress over any other blogging platforms is the limitless possibility I could extend its functionality using a wide array of plug-ins which are continually built to make WordPress the best it can be for the blogging community at large. Best of all, all these plug-ins are free to use.

5. No-Fuss Maintenance

With WordPress Automatic Upgrade plug-in, I can always be sure of running the latest software in case of any upgrade. The process has been simplified and automated without the need to go through the individual upgrade steps.

6. No Programming Skill

WordPress can be used out-of-the-box without any programming skill that even the greenest of newbies couldn’t screw it up! Though a little knowledge in HTML or PHP might be an advantage, albeit not a necessity.

7. User-Friendly

WordPress Admin dashboard is one of the most user-friendly interface you can find. Whether you need to write a post or manage your settings, navigation hasn’t been that simpler, hasn’t it? As if that’s already good enough, the upcoming WordPress Version 2.7 gets even better and sleeker.

8. Open Source

Being an open source platform, in theory WordPress will have a better software development model which is good from users’ perspective. There will always be a continual improvement to its platform.

9. Customizable

Since WordPress platform function in a template-based structure, customization has never been easier. A typical blog  structure consists of header, content, sidebar and footer. Any change to its template can be conveniently done right from the Admin Dashboard. I was pretty much impressed with it in the beginning.

10. Hassle-free Integration

If you do have an existing static website, now is the time you should consider WordPress to power your site. I can’t think of any other Content Management System (CMS) that is comparable to WordPress.

Do you know you can easily integrate WordPress pages seamlessly into your existing website? I’ve done it on numerous occasions for my clients.

11. Ease of Migration

The process of migration is as easy as telling WordPress which blogging platform to access and import from. All your posts and comments in another platform will be migrated in a relatively easy process. Go to ‘Import ‘ under ‘Manage’ on your Admin Dashboard.

12. SEO-Friendly

With the built-in auto-ping feature in WordPress and coupled with the use of Google XML Sitemaps plug-in, it takes minimal efforts to get indexed by search engines. In fact, Google loves blogs powered by WordPress. In case you aren’t aware, here’s 15 SEO Tips for Beginners.

13. Good Community Support

Due to its popularity, the solution to any WordPress problem is just by googling the question. Well, at least that’s what I usually do. There are just too many discussions on WordPress-related issues on various forums and discussion groups that a typical answer to any question can be readily available at the click of a mouse.

14. Monetize

For a long time, Google Adsense has been the preferred choice for blog monetization. With the availability of WordPress plug-ins, monetizing a blog is just as simple as pie.

Though I believe blogspot manages and integrates Google Adsense better than WordPress.

15. Statisticize

Checking my stats is easy with Google Analytic. All I need is to create an account and place the code conveniently at the footer.php. As a matter of practice, it is one of the first things I do on my post-install checklist.

16. Multi-Lingual

By default WordPress is in English, however the software has built-in capability that supports localization in any other languages. Learn how To Install WordPress in Your Language.

17. More Dofollow on WordPress

Probably it is much easier to remove the nofollow tag on WordPress than other blogging platforms. I could be wrong but more often than not, more and more blogs powered by WordPress are adopting the dofollow concept if you ask me.

18. Better Time Management

What I love about WordPress is the fact I could easily schedule my post to be published at a later date with post-time stamp. As such, I could manage my time better and more efficiently. Write today, post tomorrow.

19. Multi-User Environment

WordPress is not limited to just one user. It works in a multi-user environment where two or more people could collaborate on a single project using WordPress. How ’bout that?

20. If You Can Beat Them, You Join Them

If the majority of probloggers like Darren from Problogger, John Chow, Jeremy, to name a few, are using WordPress, it’s much safer to place your bet on WordPress than any other blogging platforms. If you can’t beat them, you’re better off joining them. Unless, you are as famous as Seth Godin.

Final Thought

So folks, that’s my take on WordPress. I hope I’m able to help you make a more informed decision and form reasonable opinion when comes to choosing your next blogging platform.

I’m in no way against the use of blogspot. In fact I use blogspot for most of micro niche sites but if you are in for the long haul, WordPress is the way to go. It gets my vote hands down.

On a side note, Yongfook shared his perspective and wrote an interesting article on the 10 reasons why he ditched WordPress for us to look at WordPress from the other side of the fence.

Happy Thanksgiving

PS: This article is re-written and re-juvenated from the old archive way back in May 2008 for the benefit of my readers today.

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{ 83 comments }

rampantheart May 16, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Wordpress is a great platform and a wp blog is very professional,i agree but i personally think blogger is better than wp in some aspects. It is more user friendly and even a non technical person can add widgets here which is not possible in wp. Next comes the database management which is not be meddled with in the case of blogger. You just have to redirect the page to your DNS and whoa, it’s plain simple..

Recently, i bought a domain and was wondering if i should use wp but wasn’t very comfortable with plugins. So, thought i would use blogger.. Anyway, i have not kick started the blog yet. Well, why don’t you start a tutorial like thing for this and tell people how to manage my sql database and add plugins?That will be more helpful. I might even revert to wp.

Yan May 16, 2008 at 6:35 pm

First thing first, I really like the design of your blog. Are you using a template? The only thing, sadly to say, is you have too many widgets that do not blend very nicely with your design. I’m sorry if I make this comment. Widget is useful, I know it, but if you’re on WP they are plugins that serve the same purpose and will blend nicely into your design. That’s point #1.

#2. If you are serious about your blog, have your own domain. Whether to use Blogger or WP is up to your own discretion. Keep the design and unclutter your sidebar.

#3. I wrote this article The Way I Transfer My WordPress Blog To Another Host where I touched briefly on how to setup your database.

#4. If you are worried about how to install plugin, you could use OneClick for hassle-free installation. This is one of the best WP plugin I’ve used.

#5. Blogger is Good too.

rampanheart May 16, 2008 at 7:10 pm

As for the widgets.you don’t have to be sorry!Thanks a lot for letting me know. I’ll do something about it soon!:)

I have ventured into group blogging and the domain goes by the name thevoiceswith.in which is still in the development stages. It should be ready in a few days’ time!

I have bookmarked the posts mentioned so that i may read them later.

Thanks for the suggestions!Well, the template wasn’t designed by me. I got it from blogcrowds.com.

Yan May 16, 2008 at 7:15 pm

Hey, I like the name thevoiceswith.in…

Let me know when it’s ready I’m keen to see what you have in store. And I wish you all the success with it.

Have a good weekend.

Technology For Non Techies July 11, 2008 at 10:13 pm

The popularity factor alone makes it a great choice for beginners. If you need support, there is plenty. If you need a plugin, they are not hard to find. Once you setup one blog, the second blog comes a lot easier, and the third even more so. Some have criticized Wordpress for its lack of security and poor quality code. But like a fine wine, its getting better with age. I like Wordpress!

Johan Mena August 17, 2008 at 2:49 am

Hey Yan, I was just reading your article, and I think it’s great. Unfortunately, there’s some creepy kid here www(dot)xeroblog(dot)com/ (spanish-talking blog) that is copying-pasting-translating ‘a couple’ of your articles, like the one I have just read, here: www(dot)xeroblog(dot)com/20-razones-por-las-que-yo-elegi-wordpress (20 reasons why I choose Wordpress), or this one here www(dot)xeroblog(dot)com/5-posibles-formas-de-aumentar-la-velocidad-de-tu-blog (5 possible ways to increase the speed of your blog). All of this without mentioning YOU as the author of the post.
I was (still) very concerned about this, so I tried to contact the kid via the blog comments (which obviously he never published)…
A post this translate-thing has already been published by a friend of mine (who was the one that informed me about all of these) in her blog -also, in spanish- http://www.pitonizza.net/2008/08/copy-and-past-and-translate-mal-blogger.html
You are not the only one afected of this. I’m sure there are SEVERAL bloggers that are being stealed.
Please, if there’s anything you or I can do, inform me via email.
Thank You.

Yan August 17, 2008 at 3:36 am

@Johan Mena – Well, imitation is the highest form of flattery..:-) Anyway, thanks for your tip, Johan. I am aware of it actually. If my mind serves me well, your friend did inform me of it but when I tried to leave my comment there, it was deleted.

Thanks to both of you. I appreciate the help but how did your friend know that the article is from me?

Johan Mena August 17, 2008 at 4:40 am

@Yan because when you traduce any english text to spanish -with a translator like Google translate or Babel Fish-, some words don’t fit exactly, and some sentence doesn’t make sense. It’s easy for us (latinamericans) to detect if a text is translated from english with any type of translate service.

Yan August 17, 2008 at 2:08 pm

@Johan Mena – Oh I see…anyway, I appreciate your bringing it to my attention.

Do join our friendly community here and share your knowledge with the readers. We love people like you around. Have a good weekend, Johan.

work at home ideas November 28, 2008 at 1:00 am

Hi Yan,

My first blog was a blogger so I can relate to those who have similarly made the change and like WP better. Apart from the wonderful plugins it offers and how easy it is to use, I chose WP because everyone else seems to be using WP. Not so much as blindly following the crowd but it’s good to see ‘eye to eye’ with other bloggers and can get help easily for simple problems I faced due to my own ignorance.

Peter

work at home ideas´s lastest post..How “Work From Home Ideas” Made Google Top 10

JR @ Internet Marketing Strategies December 1, 2008 at 5:35 pm

@ Peter,
I did the same Peter, I used Blogger to practice but I found it to be not so user-friendly lots of bugs and slow downs and really I think it is always best to have your own domain and not use the free domains. WP rocks, it really is a community and so well supported and updated you can’t go wrong!

@ Yan
Great reasons, agree with all of them, I love WP, when I first decided to go with it, I was worried that it would be a code hassle, but it turned out to the be the greatest application I have used!

Christopher Ross November 28, 2008 at 2:34 am

Thanks for posting this! Personally, I love WordPress so it’s great to see such a well written piece on why others use it as well. Chris

Yan November 30, 2008 at 2:47 am

Hey Chris

Thanks for the compliment, pal. Good to see you around. We all do love WordPress, don’t we? I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

Yan

Mitch November 28, 2008 at 7:21 am

When I decided to create my first blog, I researched things and decided upon Wordpress myself, because of its functionality. As you know, I hate Blogger blogs myself, but I will admit they’re easy for folks new to blogging to use. Then again, me and doing things easy isn’t always compatible. :-)

Mitch´s lastest post..Javascript Can Wreck Havoc With Blogs

Dot Com Dud November 28, 2008 at 7:41 am

Yep, WordPress is wonderful. It’s not only ideal for blogging but it can be used as a more traditional CMS easily as well.

Anyway, I can’t wait for 2.7 it looks fantastic. Some of the changes they are making are going to improve workflow and make things so much easier and quicker. I just wish it wasn’t experiences the delays it has been, it was supposed to be released by now!

Dot Com Dud´s lastest post..Reader Challenge 2 – Guest Posting

Dan November 28, 2008 at 8:27 am

Hey, thanks for sharing it with us again Yan – I gotta agree that wordpress is one of the best tools out there – esepcially for the ‘free and open source’ reasons you said above!

I used to use another free and open source script before I found wordpress, but it just doesnt have the amount of features and easy to use plugins that wordpress does have.

Dan´s lastest post..Christmas Is Here…What Will You do?

DoubleOurMoney November 28, 2008 at 10:36 am

With more than ten good reasons it sounds like a no-brainer that one should use Wordpress.

Yan November 30, 2008 at 2:49 am

No brainier? You bet is it. Hope it helps to double your money in the shortest possible short period of time…;) Welcome to the most friendly community in the blogosphere.

Yan

Michael Henry November 28, 2008 at 10:55 am

I think with 2.5 WordPress finally beat Blogger for me. They way WordPress handles the image resizing and intergration has improved vastly. I actually used to use my Blogger blog to resize images the way I wanted then copied the code into the Wordpress post.

Michael Henry´s lastest post..Where I’m at: Free Flu Shot Clinic

Ari Lestariono November 28, 2008 at 2:39 pm

wordpress has it all.that’s my comment

Ari Lestariono´s lastest post..Home Remedies for Acne Treatment

Yan November 30, 2008 at 2:50 am

WordPress has it all indeed. What else?

Farrhad November 28, 2008 at 2:47 pm

Great post :)
WP is definately the best

Farrhad´s lastest post..Contest Results

Farrhad November 28, 2008 at 2:51 pm

*definitely

I feel the best part of WP are the themes and the plugins.

Farrhad´s lastest post..Contest Results

zania November 28, 2008 at 2:58 pm

Nice article Yan.
To be honest though, although I have hundreds of Wordpress blogs, I am actually beginning to loathe Wordpress! Which is why I was sorry to find your link to Yongfook goes to a 404 page (I think he’s deleted the post). I probably wouldn’t have agreed with his reasons, but it would have been interesting to read :)

I loathe Wordpress because of the constant updates and the fact that it is so hackable – hence the constant updates…
And as for all the plugins, please, anyone who is new to Wordpress, please be careful what plugin you upload. Many plugins are badly designed and can leave your blog wide open to a hacker attack, or even screw up your blog so badly you need technical help getting it working again.

Because I make so many blogs, I use many different platforms (most self-hosted) and I have to say that Wordpress is winning the ‘popularity battle’ with bloggers only because of the constant self-publicity and downright encouragement of all and sundry to produce new plugins whether they work properly or not.

There are much better blogging platforms than Wordpress (although blogger definitely isn’t one), but few people know about them.
And with that rant over, I’m off to update another of my Wordpress blogs, lol!

Yan December 2, 2008 at 12:18 am

Hey Zani

I guess you are right on the popularity battle. WordPress has its fair share of publicity and my article is one of them amongst thousands across the blogging community. However, I think it deserves the thumbs up, doesn’t it?

A couple of days ago I wanted to try on my hands on Typepad but decided to drop the idea at the last hour. I figure I’m not going to give myself another option at this moment as I’m pretty happy with what I have. The community is large so whenever I have a problem, the answer is there and then.

Yes, I do agree that some plug-ins are just crap. I learned the hard way myself and I’ve been very selective with them now. Thanks for the warning and I hope it serves as a good reminder to everyone here.

By the way, what other blogging platform are you referring to? Care to share?

Yan
PS: Sorry for the broken link. Probably YF decided to re-track what he said. I wonder if anyone noticed the same too or did they just skim this article?

retro November 28, 2008 at 4:43 pm

WP is very friendly to use, with they open source, all function is possible using wordpress

kalo bhs inggrisnya “Wp ,CMS sejuta umat apa ya yan”? :)

Anthony November 28, 2008 at 4:48 pm

Regarding point 16. Multi-Lingual

It’s true and false at the same time. True because you can find locales for your wordpress allowing you to have the interface in your language. But what if you want to blog in multiple languages ?

If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll have to get plugins. That also one of the strength of Wordpress, plugins.

I made my own plugin which is now becoming popular for multilingual wordpress blogging. You can check it out on my own blog, or do a search for zdmultilang on wordpress.org/extend

Anthony´s lastest post..ZdMultilang version v1.2.0 is out

Sire November 28, 2008 at 5:44 pm

I have a blogger blog but I haven’t posted in it for a long while. Wordpress is the platform for me and I use it for all 7 of my hosted blogs. I find that the stats that come built into Wordpress is a pretty good feature as well.

Sire´s lastest post..Blond Bombshell Finds The True Worth Of Vanity

Yan December 2, 2008 at 12:22 am

I find that the stats that come built into Wordpress is a pretty good feature as well.

Ooops, am I missing anything here? What kind of stats are you talking about, Sire?

Sire December 2, 2008 at 9:11 am

The WordPress stats that you can access from the dashboard.

Sire´s lastest post..Being The Perfect Blog Host

Ikki November 28, 2008 at 8:09 pm

As you, I’m also a Wordpress fan. It’s flexibility and ease of use are aspects that makes it very attractive to everyone blogging with it.

I also wanted to point something out about your 10th point. Wordpress is indeed so flexible that it can be used as a CMS as well. However, there are better and more powerful CMS systems out there like Drupal (which won this year’s award of Best Open Source CMS).

Ikki´s lastest post..Is Your Blog On The Right Track?

Yan December 2, 2008 at 12:21 am

However, there are better and more powerful CMS systems out there like Drupal (which won this year’s award of Best Open Source CMS).

Oh really… I didn’t realize that. I must have been too obsessed with WP to take notice of the others…;) Thanks for sharing it with us, Ikki.

Mitch December 2, 2008 at 3:52 pm

Drupal may be more powerful, but most people find it unworkable because they don’t have the knowledge to get it right. The only thing easier than Wordpress is Blogger, and we hate Blogger. lol

Mitch´s lastest post..Time Is Always A Factor

Blog for Bloggers November 29, 2008 at 12:52 am

I agree with your post, wordpress is by far the best. But i think what made it so popular was the plugins, As it lets people expand their site and all those free themes, cause you don’t have to pay big bucks to set up your blog.

Andre Thomas November 29, 2008 at 6:59 am

Wordpress is definitely the way to go. If only blogger blog owners spend a little time to learn how to use wordpress… It took me about 5 hours to learn the basics of wordpress when I first got started.

It’s equally user-friendly yet infinitely more powerful. Sure, there are other powerful blogging platforms like Drupal and Joomla, but I find they come with a steep learning curve. I’m a non-programmer, by the way.

Andre Thomas´s lastest post..The Lifeblood of Any Business

Melissa Donovan, Copywriter November 29, 2008 at 8:11 am

I’m always surprised by blogs that are using anything but WordPress, with a few exceptions that are personal/journal type blogs that are running on free blog hosting sites. WordPress may very well be the best thing that’s ever happened to the Internet ;)

Melissa Donovan, Copywriter´s lastest post..The Top 5 Blogging Essentials

Miguel Wickert November 29, 2008 at 12:58 pm

Yan

I agree… I won’t take issue with you about anything covered in this post. It seems you’ve covered just about every base. :)

Just for the record, I dislike adsense. Anyhow, my friend, I’m learning Classical Hebrew not modern but maybe I can still figure it out… ? Cheers, Enjoy the weekend!

-Miguel

Miguel Wickert´s lastest post..New Pages At Simply Blog

Thomas November 29, 2008 at 8:15 pm

I was using Blogger until I discovered WordPress. I’ve since made the switch and have never been happier! Great post!

Thomas´s lastest post..Vending Machine FAIL

Yan November 30, 2008 at 2:54 am

Well, Thomas….once you go WordPress, there’ll be nothing back if you ask me. You have thought of using any thought of any other blogging tools, haven’t you? Welcome to the WP club and also this wonderful community here. Stick around…and oh ya, subscribe you are yet to do.

Yan

Dennis Edell November 30, 2008 at 3:52 am

I don’t know what I’d do without it! I got lucky and found a mentor really early on (many moons ago now), who taught me what’s what.

Dennis Edell November 30, 2008 at 3:53 am

No commentluv for me? :(

Dennis Edell´s lastest post..A Winner For The $5 Favicon Contest!

Keg of Wisdom November 30, 2008 at 9:24 am

I have to say that I’m a wordpress believer too….great platform…

Keg of Wisdom´s lastest post..The Week You Can’t Remember: Nov. 24-28

Gini November 30, 2008 at 5:55 pm

My blog is powered by blogger, which I like, but I’m starting to think that may only be because blogger is the only blogging platform I’ve ever used. Lately I’ve been reading more and more articles like this one, praising wordpress over other platforms, and some that directly compare blogger and wordpress. At this point, the main reason that I’m keeping my blog on blogger is that if I change it to wordpress I’ll have to resubmit the url to every index that already includes my blog, because as far as I know blogger won’t redirect my visitors. My blog traffic has increased alot in the past few months, but not enough that I’d lose a lot of regular readers. I’m also hesitant about going through learning how to navigate a new platform. At the moment I’m undecided, but I think this article has cleared some of cobwebs. Thanks!

Gini´s lastest post..10 Amazing, Unique Artists You Have to Check Out

Yan December 4, 2008 at 6:19 pm

Hey Gini

I do understand your concern. To be honest, I’ve never done any transfer from blogger to WordPress. Perhaps, this article Migrating-Redirecting Blogger to Wordpress: The Complete Guide! might be of interest to you.

Anyway, exploring into the unknown takes a bit of courage and the right motivation. As long as you are comfortable with Blogger, don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.

Oh ya, welcome to the community, Gini. Look forward to seeing you again here.

Yan

Gini December 4, 2008 at 7:23 pm

I think you’re right, as long as blogger is working for me, I’ll probably keep it.

Thanks for being so welcoming!

~Gini~

Gini´s lastest post..New CommentLuv Badge – For Every CommentLuving Blogger Out There

Nihar December 1, 2008 at 4:01 pm

Yan,

I am with you. I chose wordpress for all the above reasons. Very good reason is because of abundant plugins that can enhance the wordpress blog.

Nihar´s lastest post..NiharsWorld turns 1 today!

jackie sheeler December 1, 2008 at 8:29 pm

you are 100% on the money about wordpress. i started on blogger, then got frustrated by its limitations and annoying UID habits. then i moved the blog to typepad. there are a lot of nice things about typepad, but you are limited to their authorized plugins and, while there are quite a few, it’s nothing like those offered by WP. and changing the typepad template was annoying and frustrating. i was a bit hesitant to move to my own server and have to manage the whole WP installation myself, but it’s been fine. there are so many great resources out there, and other bloggers are so generous with their help, that i have been just blissfully swimming along with WP for the last six months or so, and i am never looking back!

jackie sheeler´s lastest post..Red Friday [a guest post]

Dean Holland December 1, 2008 at 10:34 pm

Hey :)

I couldnt be more with you on this one !!

I just got me a blog setup using wordpress 5 weeks ago and although I havnt used other platforms to compare from what I have seen so far I would not use any other.

Seems to have a lot of extra features with all the plugins and widgets etc…

So i’ll be sticking with wordpress

Dean
http://www.DeanHolland.com

Dean Holland´s lastest post..Results are in …

Chetan December 1, 2008 at 10:48 pm

Even if wordpress start paid service, people will use wordpress, because of its power and flexibility.

Chetan´s lastest post..My First wordpress plugin released

Michael Aulia December 2, 2008 at 8:17 am

Yeah, WordPress Rocks! :D

Michael Aulia´s lastest post..Sumo Omni Chair Review

Nichole December 2, 2008 at 4:36 pm

The only reason I like to choose wordpress just because of the plug-ins , they are free and built to make the wordpress the best, another reason they are user friendly and SEO friendly and free to use.

Nichole´s lastest post..New InVision Concept is a blessing for the sightless iPhone owners

Yan December 4, 2008 at 6:38 pm

I’m with you, Nicole. Plug-ins are what attracted me to WordPress in the beginning. I fiddled with different plug-in each day in my first month of using it. Come to think of it, I’ve tried hundreds of plug-ins by now.

Mike Collins December 3, 2008 at 12:08 pm

I think WP is a nobrainer for bloggers. It’s just so easy to use and customizable I can’t imagine using something else.

Mike Collins´s lastest post..Why Do You Blog?

Yan December 4, 2008 at 6:21 pm

Well, Mike… what else can I say? You’ve said it all. I’d not trade it for anything else at the moment too. Anyway, I don’t think there is any other better alternative than WordPress as we speak now.

Welcome back and good to see ya, Mike.

Online Marketing Promotion December 13, 2008 at 4:19 pm

Hi Yan,

You have made a very good case for using Wordpress.

I have always used Wordpress myself, and I have no plans to switch. Especially when you look at all of the available plug-ins.

The plug-in issue is a really big one for me.

Online Marketing Promotion´s lastest post..Plug In Profit Site – Review

Matt Helphrey December 15, 2008 at 2:49 pm

I started with a Blogger blog then moved to WordPress. So much easier and so many more options…WordPress is the way to blog.

Matt Helphrey´s lastest post..Develop a Link Building Strategy

DomainMarvelous December 16, 2008 at 6:44 am

Why did I choose Wordpress? umm, ok! Isn’t it the best blogging platform available on the net? period!

DomainMarvelous´s lastest post..Announcements and Updates

Car Blog December 26, 2008 at 6:47 pm

Wordpress is one of the best platforms out there. I think typepad comes a close second. The options are way cool. Infact just a click can get snow on my blog :)

Car Blog´s lastest post..Maruti To Ship A-Star Next Year

Asad Abbas January 1, 2009 at 8:23 am

Is wordpress hosted on a free server better or a blogspot blog for search engine optimization ?? I have to make a decision … hope you’ll help :)

Asad Abbas´s lastest post..Secure download-upload script in Php

Yan January 1, 2009 at 5:23 pm

Hey Asad

It really depends on what you are looking for. For WordPress.com, you are piggy-backing on PR8 wordpress.com but you won’t be able to monetize it with adsense unless you are willing to pay $15 per year.

If monetization is in your agenda, then opting for blogspot might be a more viable alternative.

It really doesn’t matter what you use, if you want to rank high, make sure that you learn basic SEO tips.

Hope it helps. Let me know if there is anything else you need.

Yan

Asad Abbas January 2, 2009 at 12:18 am

Thank you very much Yan for your quick response … now I think I have become your regular visitor :) ..

You took me wrong … I wasn’t talking about that pr 8 wordpress.com … I would host Wordpress on my free hosting (e.g. http://www.000webhost.com/) and park a domain over it . So I’ll have full control on monetizing and adsense stuff … I was just curious that will a freely hosted blog is good for seo or a paid hosting blog of wordpress … As I am thinking of moving to a tld but on a free host like I mentioned as I don’t ave enough money for hosting … Once I start monetizing I might move to a paid host for better features and service .

Thanx

Yan January 2, 2009 at 9:08 am

Well, Asad. As long as you have full control of your blog, it doesn’t matter if you are on free or paid hosting. The SEO aspect of it is still the same.

However, please keep in mind that the only risk you are taking is when they no longer offer it for free and shut it down unless you upgrade to paid hosting from them. Speaking of which, you might be paying more than you should have paid elsewhere and usually you’ll oblige as transferring a full-fledged blog from one host to another host could be a real pain in the @#s for many.

Asad Abbas January 2, 2009 at 11:42 am

thanks Yan … for your sincere advice … It really helped :)

Asad Abbas´s lastest post..Secure download-upload script in Php

Boris January 2, 2009 at 7:06 am

Hi There,

I am not sure if anyone will actually answer this comment, but there goes anyway….

I am just about to retire in a couple of years and having immigrated to Canada recently have practically no pension to depend on. I am keen to start a blog on the predicament I find myself in and perhaps help someone else with answers. I also intend to use the blog as a limited e-commerce site to add some revenue to my income, by recommending books that I have read and other product that I have found useful.

Not being at all familiar with Blogs, Web sites etc… I spent quite a few hours with WP to setup something which in my opinion looked fine… However when I tried to add a widget from Amazon.com, I discovered that WorpPress.com does NOT allow for e-commerce on their Blogs. (do a search on “Amazon.com” in the Blog support forum and you’ll see the replies..)

I am puzzled at the fact that you guys are promoting WP as a blog with the ability to market/sale products with, am I missing something here ?… and if that’s the case what should I do. I have registered a domain already and I have pointed it to the Blog.

Suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much in anticipation and the very best to you all for 2009.

Boris.

Yan January 2, 2009 at 9:30 am

Hey Boris

I assume you are using a free hosted WordPress.com and point your domain to it. However, if you want to have full control of your blog, in particular an e-commerce blog, you need to rent your own hosting that will set you back a couple of dollars a month and install WordPress script from WordPress.org.

You see there is a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. The first one being a free hosted WordPress with limited functions while the latter is a WordPress software or script you can install along with other plugins and have total control of it. That way you can practically do anything with your blog. Be it Amazon, eBay or any other affiliate products.

I think you might be missing the last piece of the puzzle, Boris. If there is anything else I can help, please do not hesitate to contact me and I’ll point you in the right direction.

Yan

Boris January 3, 2009 at 12:04 am

Yan,

I understand now what is happening and I will look into this a.s.a.p.

Thank you very much for your advice and recommendations, these were really helpful.

Boris.

emma January 8, 2009 at 2:47 pm

After trying it out for the past two months, I can honestly shout with glee that I love, love, love WordPress!

emma´s lastest post..Gaza Gripe

Yan January 8, 2009 at 3:26 pm

I hear that Emma. We love it too. Thanks for checking in. How’s it going on your end?

Yan

Biswajit Kumar Das January 26, 2009 at 6:56 am

It is indeed a masterpiece!!!

Mark Ress February 27, 2009 at 8:59 pm

Well written. This is what I’ve been looking for. :D

web site design Brisbane February 28, 2009 at 10:01 pm

This is really a must for me to bookmark. You brought up a good point and thanks for that. :)

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