Free Wordpress Blogs Vs Self-hosted Wordpress Blogs: A Comparison

This is a question I get all the time and many bloggers undoubtedly get all the time.

Should I use a free Wordpress Blog? Or should I host my own Wordpress Blog?

For a free Wordpress blog you can obtain yours by signing up for an account at Wordpress.com website. Your username will become the name of your blog. For example I could get a username "howdoyoustartablog" which would mean my free Wordpress blog site would be viewable at howdoyoustartablog.Wordpress.com.

A self-hosted Wordpress blog is your own blog on your own domain with your own hosting or paid hosting account upon which you install the Wordpress software. Wordpress becomes the software to manage your site and your blog. You can download the software for free from Wordpress.org. However, many hosting companies today have a push button installation available via Fantastico Deluxe or Simple Scripts. Check out my free video which walks you through an example Simple Scripts installation with hostmonster.

So now to address the question: which is the right one for you?

FREE WORDPRESS BLOG PLUSSES AND MINUSES

PLUS free to setup

PLUS easy to install and set up (software install is already done for you by Wordpress)

PLUS maintenance free (setup, upgrades, spam control, backups, security)

PLUS reliable servers (hosted on Wordpress.com servers)

PLUS with a blog as part of the Wordpress community there may be an additional traffic boost from the Wordpress community

MINUS cannot update/upload your own theme. Must use Wordpress.com themes

MINUS cannot change/update any php code (useful for additional features you may want to include)

MINUS cannot upload plugins to extend functionality. The Wordpress plugin community is huge.

MINUS no ad monetization allowed. Wordpress will most likely in fact place their own ad monetization on your blog

MINUS Site will be a Wordpress brand

MINUS no true ownership of content. Site is still a Wordpress site

SELF HOSTED WORDPRESS BLOG PLUSSES AND MINUSES

PLUS can upload your own Wordpress themes or non-Wordpress.com themes. There are thousands upon thousands of third party themes you can choose from.

PLUS can change the php Wordpress code as desired. This will allow nearly unlimited functionality in your site. There exists a large community of Wordpress developers with many out-of-the-box scripts to add function to your site.

PLUS can add plugins! The Wordpress and PHP development community is huge and you can get a plugin for just about anything including security, backups, marketing, and traffic generation

PLUS you can add your own ad placements. This is one of the main reasons people blog in the first place: in order to earn money through ads.

PLUS since this is hosted by your paid hosting account, this allows you to choose your own domain name instead of having "Wordpress.com" as the domain

PLUS ftp access to your site

MINUS you need to set up yourself (though most hosting providers provide push button installation through "Fantastico Deluxe" or "Simple Scripts". Plus my free video walks you through this process.

MINUS cost to setup. Domain name and hosting fees can be $5 to $15 a month total.

MINUS site maintenance such as spam control, security, and backups, are all done by you. So you will need to spend some time getting familiar with Wordpress and how to back up and restore an installation

MINUS need to find reliable servers. Make sure to choose a good hosting company. Most of them have a pretty good uptime guarantee.

In summary, if you want just the most basic blogging features of the traditional blogging sense, a free blog is for you. If you plan to monetize it even with adsense, then you will want a self-hosted paid blog. Moreover, if you want to add your own custom look and feel, you will want a self-hosted paid blog. You also have access to many free Wordpress themes as well. And finally the world of plugins is the big kicker. Think about apps for the iPhone. There is a quote that whatever you want, .there is an app for that.. Plugins are much the same from security to SEO to driving traffic to membership sites to just about anything.

That is why I will in most cases suggest the self-hosted paid blog. The cost of $15 a month is pretty trivial if you want to do a lot with your blog.

Hope this helps, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions or just post a comment here! If you would like to start a self-hosted paid blog, make sure to check out my free video!