The Common Mistake Beginners Make While Selecting WordPress

This is the common mistake most beginners make while selecting WordPress as their Blogging platform.

In yesterday’s post, I discussed which blogging platform you should use to start your blog. I concluded that all of you should use WordPress as the blogging platform.

Moving forward in today’s post, I will talk about a common mistake beginners make while selecting WordPress as their blogging platform.

As some of you might know, there are different types of WordPress: One is WordPress.Org, and the other is WordPress.Com.

The one I recommend is WordPress.Org. It is the self-hosted version of WordPress, and you should be using it. But most beginners don’t know that WordPress.org and WordPress.com are different platforms and end up going with WordPress.Com.

I would say it is not even their fault. If you search for WordPress, WordPress.com appears as the first result. Those who are new to the WordPress visit the website and end up using it.

It is not that WordPress.Com is a completely terrible product, but it is not as versatile as the self-hosted version. I will explain the difference between both variants of WordPress and why you should go with WordPress.Org.

The initial WordPress, which is WordPress.Org, was founded back in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg. Since its inception WordPress.Org has been an open-source project and free for use. The development is done by volunteers all around the globe.

Later in 2005, Matt Mullenweg started a for-profit company Automattic INC and launched WordPress.Com. It was different than the open-source version of WordPress. The Wordpress.com is a freemium Blogging platform aimed to compete with Google’s Blogspot platform.

Just like Blogspot, It allows users to create a free Blog without even need to buy a domain name and hosting. Users get a domain name that ends with WordPress.Com. One can get started with it at no cost.

If you want to use a custom domain name and get more features, then you will need to sign up for one of the paid plans. So, if you are a beginner with zero budget to buy a domain name and hosting, you have no other option than going with WordPress.Com.

However, if you have the budget to buy a domain name and hosting, then you should not go with WordPress.com and pick the self-hosted WordPress as your Blogging platform.

With WordPress.org, you can buy a domain name from any provider, you can get hosting from anywhere, and even install it on a VPS or dedicated server. With time, if your blog grows, it will be much easier for you to scale the web server resources.

Whereas WordPress.com locks to buy the domain name from them only, and also, they are the ones hosting your site.

Most importantly, with WordPress.Org, you can get started as cheaply as you can find a domain name and hosting. WordPress.com, Business plan which has all the necessary features, is on a little costlier side.

These are some of the differences between both variants of WordPress. If you ask me, I highly recommend going with WordPress.Org.

I hope you won’t get confused between both variants of WordPress after reading this post and only go with the self-hosted version.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day!