The question often arises among bloggers: Why use WordPress as your platform for blogging?
What is so great about it? What does it have to offer that others don’t? Why should I use it?
People who have been blogging for a while on other platforms obviously would rather not deal with with hassle of transferring their whole blog over if they don’t have to. Who could blame them?
I have had various other blogs over the years and I’ve used quite a few different platforms. My first was on livejournal and I even paid a little bit of money for a while to have a really cool design. I have had a couple of blogs on blogger and a couple on vox, not as popular as the other two but I had fun with it because they had a lot of great choices for free layout designs.
At the same time I was not a serious blogger. I doubt that I had more than a handful of people even reading what I wrote unless I was posting the link on forums. Though I was moving more in the direction of serious with my last one which I was posting my new links on facebook for all of my friends to see. Quite a few were interested and replied, but usually on my FB link and not onto my blog itself.
I also had no idea about SEO: Search Engine Optimization. I was becoming aware of affiliate marketing as I had google ads on there and one book on there from clickbank which was related to the topic of my blog. I don’t think that I’d even heard of WordPress.
Then came the day that I started learning about WordPress and why I would want to use it with a blog that I was serious about developing. I learned from other bloggers who were very serious and doing extremely well with their blogs. I knew that this was what I needed and that I wanted to start a serious blog.
So, what exactly did I learn? Why did I become sold on WordPress?
You get to use your own domain name. You get your own .com which shows people that you are serious because you would not be serious if you didn’t go to all the trouble to secure your very own domain name and pay a monthly fee for it to be hosted. (I use HostGator which has been working great for me and has a very low monthly fee.) Using WordPress with your domain name is free, so there are no additional charges! It doesn’t matter if you are running a commercial blog or a personal one it’s still free.
It’s easy to use. The back area where you do all of your work (from blog design to posting) is laid out in a very easy to understand way. I don’t often have to go searching for what I’m looking for. It’s also easy to install into your domain name.
The support is second to none. If you do have trouble with something the support is amazing!! I can’t say enough good things about the helpful people on the help forums!! I had some major issues with feedburner when I first got my blog going and I was so frustrated and I couldn’t get any help from anywhere else, but the guys at the WP support forums worked with me until the problem was resolved. I couldn’t have resolved the issue without them!
Themes, themes, and more themes! There are countless themes to choose from, including many great free ones. You can also purchase premade themes from many different sites and you can hire a designer to design one just for you. It’s all up to your needs and resources.
SEO. I have to admit that I still have a lot to learn about Search Engine Optimization even though I have already learned a lot. But one thing that all of the experts agree on is that WordPress is perfect for SEO. The way that it is set up is practically made to bring your blog to the limelight if you know some basics about SEO.
Plug-Ins. There are plug-ins for just about everything! In fact it can be really tempting to install pages and pages of plug-ins. But I don’t recommend it, install one at a time and test your blog. When I first started I installed a whole bunch of them and then in order to fix that feedburner problem that I mentioned earlier, I had to uninstall every single one and reinstall them. I finally figured out that one of them was the cause of my feedburner issue.
But as long as you install them one by one and do your research on the plug-ins first -Â you can ask other bloggers what they think of plug-ins and you can also read feedback others have left and they are all rated by stars – then you should be fine adding new plug-ins. I haven’t had any issues since that first one. I’m very careful to only install one at a time and then test them.
You can install plug-ins for:
- Comments
- Widgets
- SEO
- Anti-Spam
- Comment Forms
- Twitter, Facebook, other Social Media
- Related Post Linking
- So much more!!
Updates. There are updates available all the time, everything is always being improved upon! They are constantly fixing bugs and getting user feedback so that you have the most up to date software available to you. Whenever you want to upgrade to the newer versions it is super easy. Just back up your blog (either at your host or use a plug-in) and then click one button and your blog is upgraded!
I’m sure there are probably at least fifty more reasons why WordPress is the way to go. But I’m sure that you can see already that it is the way to go.
WordPress users, can you think of anything else to add about using WordPress? Non-WP users, do you have any questions? I’d love to help!
(Photo Credit: fontplaydotcom)
Great post!
Visiting from The Lady Bloggers Society.
I love WP’s dashboard, and frequently check it to visit bloggers who have stopped by my site. I also love the ease of commenting, and have never received an error msg. while attempting to comment.
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Stacy Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 9:00 am
Thank you for stopping by, Jean! I agree with you that WP has a great dashboard, they make it so easy to use! I also favor the WP commenting features as well!
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I think this is a really great post for people that are just starting out and are trying to make a decision about what platform to use. When I started I didn’t even research. I just typed in blogging or something like that in google and went with the first choice. Now I wish I had researched more because if I ever decide to switch I know it will be a major pain.
Stopping by from #31DBBB.
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Stacy Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 9:03 am
Jennifer, I agree that researching the different blog platforms is the way to go. When I made my first blogs I didn’t even think about it, but I am definitely glad that I came across this great information before I made this blog! Good luck with your blogging challenge!
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I keep thinking about moving to WP. Thanks for the pep talk.
Stopping by from SITS.
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Stacy Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 9:03 am
Citymouse, if you have any questions about WP let me know! I’ll be glad to help!
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Great post. I *love* WordPress. I’m popping in from SITs girls. Good stuff.
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Stacy Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 9:04 am
Thank you, Evelyn! I know that after using WP I would be very hard pressed to go back to another platform!
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Popped in from Lady bloggers! I love wordpress!
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Hi Stacy, how hard is it to transfer from one platform to WP? As a newbie still building my blog, I’m thinking of WP but don’t know if I should gain some more blogging experience first before moving over. I would also have to consider the cost factor of paying for the blog to be hosted, and I’m not employed right now.
Just wondering, any insight you might have would be most helpful. Thanks so much!
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Stacy Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Hi Wilma, Melanie just left a GREAT comment explaining how easy it is to move your blog over to WP. (I had no idea it was so simple!)
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Another major plus to self-hosting your blog (regardless of platform, though I am a WordPress devotee and they make doing backups and transferring between installs if you decide to migrate to a new name or break out parts of your blog to it’s own domain an absolute breeze) is that you don’t have to worry about your blog suddenly disappearing one day.
Not too long ago many bloggers woke up to find their Blogger blogs gone without a trace. The claim was (this was mostly music bloggers, I think, though other media reviewers were hit as well) that they had (or at least a couple had) violated terms of use buried in the Blogger agreement and that made the whole genre a liability to Blogger/Google and away they went.
Servers go down occasionally, files get hacked or corrupted once in a blue moon, but your paid host is almost never going to terminate your blog just because they can–it’s bad for business! Free blog? You’re at the host’s mercy.
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Stacy Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Scraps, that is really awful – but a perfect example of how a free blog could be completely lost and never be recovered! All that work and time gone in an instant!
I’ve also heard of entrepreneurial blogs being shut down by free blogs because the blogger linked to their business opportunity from the blog.
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Sitsgal visiting and yes, wordpress is the best. It has the easiest 5 minute install then anything else out there. The one thing that used to bug people is not being able to use javascript and now if you flip your view from visual to html you can do just about anything. You automatically can use html in the sidebars as well. WordPress is constantly improving and if your site has a problem, there is almost always a way to bring it back. Install a plugin that jacked it up? Simply remove it from your server and the white page of death is gone. Messed up your whole site? Simply load a backup from your database (that you should periodically save).
Want to combine your wordpress site with a pre-exisiting one? No problem, go to the one site you are ready to abandon the url to, go to tools and export. Save that file, then go to your other wordpress site. Simply go to tools and hit import. Everything flips over except your users. (Darn on the users, but not everything is perfect.) Or do you want to move it to a new site altogether? Simple. Go to general and type in the name of the new address you will use. Your site will dissappear but don’t freak out. Move all your files and folder to the new site, and bam. You are connected. Forget to make that simple url change? No problem, explore enough and there are ways around it too.
I love wordpress! And I never want to try anything else.
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Stacy Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Melanie, thank you for visiting and sharing that awesome comment! I really appreciate it, I have learned a lot from you!
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I’ve been thinking about doing the switch from Blogger to WP — all good things. I need to take more time to get to know the backend of WP more before I switch.
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Great post, Stacy! I’ve been hopping around your blog for the last hour or so and have enjoyed so much of what you have to share. Thanks for piping in on my question on the BF, SITS as that is what led me to your site! I’ve bookmarked you and plan to come back! :>
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Stacy Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Thank you so much for the kind words, Karen! I look forward to checking your blog out too!
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Hi Stacy,
I’m extremely grateful for WordPress. It deserves to be the industry standard for blogging. The guys behind it put so much work into it to make it user friendly, robust and powerful. I can’t believe they give it away for free. You can literally build a million dollar website with something that came for free. It’s just great.
Thanks for sharing,
Wayne
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Stacy Reply:
August 5th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Thank you for your thoughts, Wayne! I agree it is really amazing that they give it away for free. That is something to be really grateful for!
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huh, WordPress sounds awesome. I would not want to switch platforms now (I use blogger on a .com), but I wish I had read this post last year!
Stopping by from Blog Flow
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Stacy Reply:
August 11th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Helena, Thanks for stopping by! You may want to consider switching to WP, I’ve heard that it’s actually pretty easy. But of course it’s always up to each individual what works for them!
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Thanks for this great post. I’m new to WP, and I love it. I still have so much to learn. What, exactly, is a plug-in anyways? And how do you back up your site? Is there an easy to follow instruction on the dashboard?
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I’m currently in the middle of a switch. I am missing the ability to easily change the width, add a column, change the background, etc…I know I can pay for some more customized templates, but that is not in the budget right now!
I just want my site to look more me and more fun and not so much an actual website. Do you know of any great helps to designing…it’s not as easy as blogger, so far..
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I have become a WP lover! I am still learning all the nuances of it. The Javascript issue is aggravating. I don’t know how to get around that. Like I notice you have your BlogFrog widget up but it has javascript so i couldn’t get mine posted. I’m not sure how to move around issues like that. And there is still a lot of features that I don’t understand yet. But I’m enjoying playing with it. I created my own blog graphic today but the coding is confusing me. I got it posted in my sidebar but the coding is off a little because some of it is showing up under the graphic. I can probably get all these answers in the forums. But I don’t even know where the forums are yet. HAHAHAHA But when I find them I’ll be hitting them hard!! Anyway, thanks for this post. I’m going to subscribe to your blog so I can keep up with it. I can see it is full of useful information. Thanks for that!
Pam
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Stacy Reply:
September 26th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Are you using widgets? I used a text/html widget for everything on my sidebars, including the blogfrog one.
As for the forums, I always get to them by going to my WP dashboard and clicking the little “Help” tab on the top right. The bottom option is Support Forums. You have to create a separate login for the forums. I’ve found them to be very helpful!
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HI stacy,
I am hosted on wordpress.com and that is awesome too.
First off – Have you had your bundle of joy or still on the way???
Secondly i love wordpress
This post is very good for people who are confused as to which platform works best. To become a serious blogger wordpress rocks!
Thank you for sharing your experience here. It is a source of solace that i was not the only one who dabbled into so many platforms before deciding on wordpress
Much love,
Z~
Zeenat{Positive Provocations} invites you to read… Healing HUGS ExperimentRAOKA
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Stacy Reply:
November 9th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Hi Zeenat,
Thank you for your comment! I’m still waiting on the baby, but it won’t be much longer at all.
Blessings,
Stacy
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I love, love, love wordpress. I am not a blogger fan (no offense), but wordpress looks more organized and cleaner.
Sonia invites you to read… FREE 100 Google Adwords Gift Card Giveaway
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