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wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

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KindaSkolarly

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wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

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I've used wordpress.com for about three years now. Free, not hard to figure out. I just use it to post personal stuff, upload pics and pdfs to give them an URL, things like that. I don't allow comments (avoid the rancor), don't link to social media, etc. Bare bones almost to the marrow.

But now I've run into a hiccup at wordpress.com, an accessibility issue, so I contacted them. They don't know what the problem is, but it will cost thirty-nine bucks to fix it. Wordpress.com is free until you need their assistance.

Anyway, I've looked at wordpress.org and it seems to have some advantages. Does anyone here use wordpress.org? Anything to relate that might help me? I've never done anything this techno on the internet before, and I came across an article that says, "SETUP: Obviously, I’d argue that WordPress.org is easy enough to setup, but for super novice users who have barely stepped foot inside a cloud-based software platform before, this might prove to be overwhelming."

https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/wordpr ... press-org/

That super novice statement is a direct reference to me. Twitter is still primarily a verb in my vocabulary and facebook is a run-on word.

I own a domain name that I would use (my name dot com), so I think I'll need to 1) find a webhost like godaddy, then 2) sign up with wordpress.org, and then 3) download the .org package of tools and start constructing. The cost should be cheap enough, but that setup statement from the article has me concerned.

Anybody got any advice?

Thanks.
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Chris OConnor

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Re: wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

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I use Wordpress.org for several websites. The BookTalk.org web designer c ould help you with setting up a site. Email me at [email protected] and I'll put you in contact with him. His rates are affordable and he is highly skilled.
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LanDroid

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Re: wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

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You might check how these compare to Wordpress...

https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484510,00.asp
https://websitesetup.org/website-builders/

Here's a wordpress startup guide.
https://websitesetup.org/#step-1
KindaSkolarly

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Re: wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

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Thanks Chris & LanDroid for the links. I looked at them, looked at some others, watched a couple of tutorial videos.

But my wordpress.com blog was restored, so after chasing my tail I arrived at a moot point, as is often the outcome when I deal with officialdom.

The exercise taught me that I should move to a self-hosted arrangement. I own the domain name I would use, so I'd need to pick a host (like bluehost, Wix or some other), then download the wordpress.org package. I could then use the themes and such in the wordpress toolkit to build a site the way I want. Or that's the way I understand it. The only thing I'm not clear on is whether the wordpress.org package is downloaded to my host site or to my computer. To the site, I believe.

I can't picture needing much more than what I have now:

https://mikesheedy.wordpress.com/

I finish a project, post links to it, and push on to the next project. I don't think that shifting to wordpress.com will change things, though it will be nice to have more flexibility.

Anyway, thanks for the input.
Last edited by KindaSkolarly on Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
KindaSkolarly

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Re: wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

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I made the switch from wordpress.org to .com. And I've learned quite a bit in the past two months. What I had before was a blog I never used, but what I have now is a bona fide website that I can update as needs arise.

https://www.mikesheedy.com

I'll use it to draw attn to my writing and books, and to show other things of interest.

It's amazing how much entertainment there is in the world today. It's no wonder that people are reading less and less. I've scattered quite a bit of eye candy across my site, but I've also included quite a few links to screenplays, radio plays, short story collections, poetry and the like. The 'Short Story Adaptations' page under Old Time Radio should be of interest to readers.

Anyway, that's how I spent my winter's evenings.

And I cancelled the wordpress.org site, so any links I posted here that led to things posted there are now dead. Can't recall what all I posted here. Let me know, if it's something you think I should re-post. I'll upload the new images to my new storage space and re-do the links.
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Chris OConnor

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Re: wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

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Mike, nice looking site.
DominicBFrost
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Re: wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

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Mike your website looks good.

However I do recommend that you add more information and content about yourself and your eBooks within your homepage rather than within your subdomains because if I was a new visitor who accidentally visited your homepage then I wouldn't know what sort of website I was visiting until I navigated through it.

Plus having your eBooks within your homepage will increase the chances of your website visitors clicking and buying your eBooks.

As for the wordpress.org vs wordpress.com topic.

I personally prefer wordpress.org rather than wordpress.com as wordpress.org has more plugins and themes and since I already pay for web hosting it's a better fit for me.

However wordpress.org does require you to have a small amount of technical knowledge in order to install and use.

So in my opinion if your a complete beginner and have no technical knowledge then you should either use wordpress.com or wix.com.

If however you have some technical knowledge and have multiple domain names then I'd use wordpress.org or an alternative blogging software tool.
Last edited by DominicBFrost on Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:22 pm, edited 6 times in total.
treder
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Re: wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

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Having used both, I prefer wordpress.org because of the plugins and themes. But i think you need more experience when it comes to using it.

If you are a complete beginner to using and making websites, I suggest you look to other easier platforms. If you are looking for another alternative platform to build websites, I suggest hPage website builder which is also good (https://www.hpage.com). They have build in features as well as SEO optimization for the website content.
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