WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org

For starters who are looking to develop their own blog, will come across many options on the internet. After you do an in depth research and after looking into the best options, it would be to evident that out of the short list WordPress will be the best option. You will face another dilemma, to choose between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. This is not related to the domain names in any way, this is a choice you have to make by varying the pros and cons of both the WordPress websites. Automatic is one of the versions for WordPress.com hosted by WordPress and for WordPress.org the WordPress development team is responsible and is referred to as a self hosted format of WordPress. The two versions of WordPress is similar but with a few minor differences that all the users will have to know before you use either of them to develop your blog posts.

WordPress.com:

WordPress.com is a more safe and efficient way for people with limited technical knowledge, as they will find the interface easy to use. Lot of the settings and features given are straight forward and very simple to use. The biggest feature apart from being simple to use is that WordPress.com is absolutely free for everyone to use. It is as simple as logging on to WordPress.com and register for a free account to start blogging immediately. With WordPress.com there is no compulsion to buy domain names if you choose not to. WordPress.com is the best website to go to create your own website without spending any money.

The major drawback is when you decide to change your website name from the WordPress.com domain’s website to your own stand alone website; it will rank very low among all search engine ranks. This is the only minor drawback when you opt to use the free services of WordPress.com. For users who are thinking of generating traffic for their blogs, it is mandate that you have a domain name with WordPress.com for a minimal fee annually plus the domain cost. WordAds program is eligible for WordPress.com hosted websites, and should have high to moderate traffic with appropriate content along with custom domains.

WordPress.org:

This version of WordPress is a self host, which literally means you need services from a company that does web hosting in order to use WordPress.org which requires an advance payment for services even before publishing your first blog post. Most web hosting companies give a trial or grace period for a whole month to try their services which is a good thing. Then on from the second month you will start getting billed anywhere from $5 – $15 for one month’s service fee for the third party web hosting company. Users have to have their own domain registered for using their blogs, some web hosts are known for giving their users one free domain when they sign up with them.

After you pick an ideal shared hosting website, you can install WordPress to your hosting accounts. Once you have WordPress installed you will get access to the most important features of WordPress:  Custom Themes and Plug-ins. These WordPress themes and plug-ins are used to change the feel and look of your blog; yes the same is available with WordPress.com but choices for themes are very limited when compared to WordPress.org. The most important plug-in features missing in .com and are available with .org are:

• Images for Lightbox.
• Enhancing SEO mode.
• Contact Forms creation.
• Image compression.

That said the major difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is that WordPress.org is used by professionals and WordPress.com is a free website and is for everybody to use from armatures to professionals.

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