A free Wordpress blog can really cost you

December 6th, 2009 | by Conrad Walton |

This article, excerpted below, lists 13 reasons why you should NOT have a free wordpress.com web site.

All of them are valid.

The biggest cost of WordPress is the time it takes you to create a site and make it what you want it to be. The biggest downside to using a free service is lack of control.

I suggest that you try out a free site, (after all, it’s free), and learn the ropes.

When you are ready for a “real” web site, then get your own web host and install WordPress. You can point everything on the free site at the new site.

With your very own web site, you have complete control of everything! Sell stuff! Publish what you want. Make it professional and compete with other businesses. Rock the world.

Final thoughts.

13 reasons why you should NOT have a free wordpress.com web site.
So basically what I’m saying is that it’s not a good idea to have a free website as your main home online. Whether you’re an individual or a business, get your own domain and pay for your own hosting.

If you already have a free WordPress site, and it is your only blog/website, I suggest one of two things. 1) Buy a domain, install wordpress and start fresh. You can always direct people to your new blog from your old blog, or 2) Export all your content from your free site into a paid site, then you’ll have everything in one place. The sooner you do this the better in my opinion.

That said, blogging communities are great and should not be ignored. Having a free blog within a blogging community however, is very different than having a website all your own. Of all the free blogging communities around, I like Tumblr the best. Here is a list of some of the most popular blogging communities.

WordPress is a blog application found at WordPress.org
Wordpress is free to use. It’s called open source.
Wordpress is awesome. Smart people use it.
Wordpress.com is a place to be part of a blogging community.
A free WordPress blog doesn’t make sense as your only blog.
A free WordPress blog is a great way to learn the ropes.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.socialmediatherapy.com/2009/07/03/a-free-wordpress-blog-can-really-cost-you/

Please Comment »

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 10:04 am and is filed under Wordpress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: 13 Reasons, Amp, Buy A Domain, Buy Domain, Com Web Site, Complete Control, Create A Site, Downside, Final Thoughts, Free Blog, Free Web, Free Website, hosting, Open Source, People, Reason, Rop, Ropes, Rsquo, Smart, Stuff, web host, Wordpres, Wordpress, Wordpress Blog

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Comments
- Tom Aikins commented on Free 26 Week Training Course For Creative Professionals – The Creative Pathfinder:
  Can't believe this is free. Looks great.
- James Juris commented on How To Sell To People Who Don’t Know You Exist: Anti-SEO:
  Great idea. I have been providing free and useful information (my free cookie samples) on my websites for years. That builds up trust.
- Gerald (Jerry) Smith commented on How To Sell To People Who Don’t Know You Exist: Anti-SEO:
  Definitely something to think about. Just the process of deciding on five related topics that relate to what I make will be an excellent exercise for me to do. Great article.
- Memories for Life Scrapbooks commented on How To Sell To People Who Don’t Know You Exist: Anti-SEO:
  Very useful information...thank you!
- Diane Smith commented on How To Sell To People Who Don’t Know You Exist: Anti-SEO:
  Another newsletter filled with good info that is practical and useable! Thanks Conrad!
- Conrad Walton commented on How To Use Email To Make Money, Without Being A Jerk:
  Yes, it's appropriate to ask for feedback. I do that all that time myself. Of, course, you won't get much of a response, but you can ask. BTW, How did you like the SEO book? What can I do to make it better?
- laiptai commented on 10 Best Places For WordPress Themes:
  Great themes! Gonna try some of them on my wordpress site.
- Rhonda commented on How To Use Email To Make Money, Without Being A Jerk:
  Great idea! I have a lot of digital products I can give away. My question is, if I have a product that I wanted feedback on, is it appropriate to email it for free and ask people to give feedback? Not sure I would get many who would bother to write back.
- nancy monsebroten commented on How To Use Email To Make Money, Without Being A Jerk:
  Nancy the potter here. In answer to your request for what things we want to hear from you...I just want to have you keep doing what you do! Your posts spark me to forge on! You bring up things that are in the back of my head but I had forgotten! I
- Conrad Walton commented on How To Use Email To Make Money, Without Being A Jerk:
  The easiest, most obvious is a digital document of some sort. It has to be useful, something that tempts me to want it. I would suggest a PDF file that's a special report of some sort. Maybe "10 things to look for when buying handmade jewelry". "Buyers Guide to Handmade Jewelry". "8 reasons Handmade Jewelry
- Diane Smith commented on How To Use Email To Make Money, Without Being A Jerk:
  I'm intrigued by the idea of giving stuff away in order to build a fan-base but since my business is jewelry-making, I'm stymied as to what to give away. Any ideas?
- Diane Smith commented on There is hope.:
  Very nice! Imagine what you could do with a real camera! ^_^
- Diane Smith commented on Domain Name Change! waltonwebdesigner.com:
  Conrad - Congrats on your pending sale! So happy to hear you're still the same you even though you're changing your domain name.
- Angela Keller commented on More SEO Success for Tess!:
  Congrats to Tess! so awesome to see the results of your efforts and always good to see that Conrad's tips are working!
- Mike Korner commented on I’m a unicorn!:
  You are definitely a unicorn Conrad! I like "my homies" but "Freedom Partners" might be better. What I mean is, by partnering, all parties get closer to freedom.

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