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Is WordPress a good blog site for beginners?
WordPress is definitely a good blog site for beginners. Why?
Simply put, WordPress is a good blog site because it’s fairly easy to set up. But, that’s not all.
Once you get a hosting plan, you can easily download WordPress onto your hosting provider servers, download a theme, fill in the headers with some categories and go live on the internet.
Obviously there’s more steps to that and these steps are a little more detailed. But, that’s basically the essentials.
In addition, WordPress is open source. This means that anything you create on your WordPress website whether that’s customizing your theme or buying a premium theme, plugins, designs etc. are yours.
If you were to begin a website or blog on a closed platform like Wix, SquareSpace, Weebly etc., then you don’t own anything except possibly the custom domain name you bought. And of course, the content and any images or media you have uploaded to it.
If you ever wanted to move off one of those closed platforms, you can’t take any of the themes that you customized or the designs or functionality with you. With WordPress you can.
You can start a simple WordPress blog, even have it hosted for free on WordPress.com. Then as your blog grows and evolves, you can then perhaps change your themes, add some more functionalities, perhaps a forum or an ecommerce store etc.
If your traffic increases and you need a new host, you can migrate it and take everything with you.
That’s why WordPress is a good blog site to begin any blogging or website career on.
But WordPress is so much more. In this post, I’m going to also answer some frequently asked questions about WordPress as well.
Is a WordPress blog the same as a website?
Nowadays, the term WordPress blog and WordPress website can seem interchangeable. After all, they do look and function quite a lot alike. In many ways they are.
However, there are a couple distinct differences between a WordPress blog and a WordPress website.
You see a WordPress blog is basically like an online journal where you express your thoughts and other opinions through a series of posts.
You can also organize your blog posts through a series of categories.
Whereas a WordPress website has more static pages. These static pages can include for example: an About Page, a Welcome Page, a Portfolio or Projects Page. Profiles Page, Products and Services Page etc.
A WordPress website can even include a Resources Page as well as an ecommerce store or a forum.
You can even add a blog to your WordPress website. In fact, adding a blog to your WordPress website is a great addition.
It allows the website owner to add a more personal touch.
A blog added to a WordPress website can keep your readers as well as your customers up-to-date with the latest news from your company, or for example, trends in your industry.
Which is a good blog site, Blogger or WordPress?
If you want to get a quick no nonsense blog up on the internet in practically minutes, for free and you’re not bothered by having a custom domain name, then Blogger is better than WordPress.
However, if you want or have the desire to hopefully grow your blog into so much more than just a blog, then WordPress is definitely better. Why?
A self-hosted WordPress blog or website will give you so much more control over your blog. Control? What do I mean by control?
With WordPress since it is open source you can either download a free theme and upload various plugins for functionality, then simply pay for a shared hosting account and you’re good to go.
You can even have it hosted for free on WordPress.com.
Although with a free theme as well as plugins you may be a little limited on how you can customize your WordPress blog or website. However, whatever you create is yours to keep.
If your hosting provider changes the terms of their service, raises their prices or you’re simply not satisfied with their level of service. You can simply take your WordPress blog including your theme, all the customizations you have done to it, content, media, images etc. and migrate it to another hosting provider.
Those are just a few advantages that you have with a WordPress blog that you don’t have with a Blogger blog.
Is WordPress worth learning in 2021?
WordPress is definitely worth learning in 2021. Although new CMS players have come on the scene in recent years, WordPress is still the standard that others are compared to.
WordPress has more resources, themes, plugins for functionality as well as hosting options that all others pale in comparison.
I get it though. Sometimes you read things like “WordPress is old and outdated, it’s slow and clunky, PHP is a dead language”, etc. I know, I’ve read them.
However, when I’ve also checked out some of those other new or flashy CMS options like Ghost, Gatsby as well as others that have been around for a bit like Wix, Shopify and SquareSpace, I still go back to WordPress.
For example, Ghost, although super fast, looks cool and everything else, you do need to know something about coding, files, setting up a terminal etc.
I’ve also looked at their free themes and to be quite honest with you, there’s not that many.
I know, I know, you can customize Ghost themes and I’ve heard all of this, but it still pales in comparison to WordPress.
So if you’re going to finally get a website up and running on the internet and are looking towards a future with it, then WordPress is definitely worth learning in 2021 as well as beyond.
After all, WordPress still powers about 40% of all websites on the internet today. It’s not going anywhere, anytime soon.
Which blog site is best?
Actually, WordPress is the best blog or site Content Management System (CMS) on the internet today. However, I am biased. This website is after all called WPWebsiteTools.com.
On a serious note, there’s no other CMS that provides a blog or website with as much control and flexibility as well as countless resources for both learning, tools as well as plenty of support forums, tutorials etc. than WordPress.
Can I turn my WordPress blog into a website?
You can turn a WordPress Blog into a website by simply reorganizing it through the use of more Static Pages.
Static Pages, for example, as I’ve mentioned above, could be an About Us Page, Welcome Page, Projects and Portfolio Page, etc.
You can even keep your blog on your new and improved WordPress website.
Although you may want to reorganize your Main Blog Posts Categories section, if those categories are listed, for example, in the Header.
You may want to replace those Categories in your Header from your Post Categories to your Static Pages.
Don’t worry though, you can still have Blog Posts Categories listed, you will simply move them to the right hand column and list them there.
That’s the beauty of WordPress. You can take a simple blog and turn it into a website. Your WordPress blog evolves just as you do.
Is WordPress free for blogging?
WordPress, the CMS, is open source and is free for blogging.
However, you still need to have your WordPress site hosted, so it’s live on the internet, if you’re interested in blogging.
Therefore, you are going to have to pay for web hosting. Whether you have it hosted on WordPress.com or through another web hosting provider.
Relax, there is a way though, that you can use WordPress for free for your blogging adventures.
Where can I start a blog for free?
You can start a WordPress blog for free on none other than WordPress.com. WordPress.com does offer a free blog plan.
However, you should know that there are many limitations to their free plan as well.
Although if you simply want to get a WordPress blog, using WordPress software and plugins as well as getting it hosted for free and live on the internet, there’s no better place to do it than WordPress.com.
What is the disadvantage of WordPress?
The disadvantage of WordPress is that unlike many popular closed source platforms like Blogger, Wix, SquareSpace etc. You are responsible for choosing your theme and adding functionality through the use of plugins.
You’re also responsible for self-hosting, if you choose to self-host your WordPress website on another hosting provider instead of WordPress.com.
You are also responsible for your website’s security.
However, with all those responsibilities also comes control and freedom. You see, once you download a theme and upload plugins and get around the learning curve. You’ll not only be able to create a beautiful website. But that website is yours to keep.
You can migrate it to another web hosting provider for example. However, with those other closed source platforms, you do not have such freedoms nor control.
You are stuck with their themes and their hosting.
Even if you do customize their themes and functions to your liking, if you get tired of their service, prices and support etc. You cannot simply pack up, take your site and migrate it to another host.
Those closed platforms own everything on your website except your content and possibly the media that you have uploaded, including images.
So you would have to basically copy and paste every single post, page as well as download any images and media onto your computer.
Then you would have to start all over again with a new theme and do the whole customization and design all over again as well.
That’s before you paste all that copied content and upload all that media onto a new website theme and host.
So, although WordPress does have some disadvantages, basically the learning curve, those can be easily overcome.
These are a small sacrifice though, for freedom and control you’ll have over your website and your future on the web.
How do I make my WordPress site not look like a blog?
You could make your WordPress site not look like a blog by simply adding perhaps a few static pages and putting listing those pages themselves in your main menu at the top of your homepage below your header for example.
You can also add an ecommerce store, forum, etc, as I have mentioned above.
There are also plenty of professional looking themes as well as plugins that can help your blog look less like a blog and more like a professional website.
How do I create a blog on WordPress.org?
Unfortunately, you cannot create a blog on WordPress.org itself.
You can download themes as well as plugins from WordPress.org. Then create a WordPress blog either on a self-hosted hosting provider or on WordPress.com.
Which WordPress plan is best for blogging?
If you simply just want to blog and are not concerned with too much control over how your WordPress blog is hosted or you don’t really need too much functionality etc.
Then the free blog plan on WordPress.com is probably the best plan for blogging.
Is Wix better than WordPress?
Wix is a perfectly fine platform, if you want to get a simple site, live up on the internet without much fuss. With Wix you don’t have to worry about hosting, security, buying themes etc. They do it all for you and it’s all included in one of their plans.
However, with WordPress you have so much more freedom and control over your website.
With WordPress you can choose from thousands of themes and customize the functionality with the use of plugins.
In addition, you could choose where you host your WordPress website.
This is pretty important, since web hosting providers offer different levels of hosting and service all at different price points.
If you don’t like one host you can simply migrate your WordPress website to another. You can’t do that with Wix since Wix is a closed platform.
This means they own the theme, design and functionality that you’ve worked so hard to customize.
In WordPress, you own the theme, you own the plugins and all the customizations, as well as the design changes you’ve made. They are all yours to keep and take with you wherever you want to go. How? Well, WordPress is open source, whereas Wix is not.
So Wix is not better than WordPress, it’s the other way around.
How much does running a blog cost?
A blog can cost absolutely nothing to hundreds of dollars a month, maybe even thousands.
However, for most small website and blog owners, if you get a free theme and only use free plugins you can get hosting for as little as $1 a month. But on average, you will pay approximately $10 a month or more.
In addition, a custom domain name will cost you around $10 to $15.
Some hosts offer specials where they agree to buy your custom domain name and include it with your first year’s hosting plan.
Always read the hosting plans terms carefully before you commit though.
So you can have a WordPress blog that is self-hosted for one year realistically for as little as $120 to $150. If you choose to pay for a premium theme you can usually find one for under $100. I highly recommend GeneratePress.
Can I learn WordPress on my own?
Sure, you can learn WordPress on your own. Why not? I did. However, there is a learning curve to WordPress.
But it’s not as steep as you may think. I had absolutely no experience when I made my first WordPress website.
In fact, when I first learned how to get my first WordPress website up and running on the internet it took me about a day.
That’s from buying the domain name, learning how to point the nameservers DNS to my new hosting provider, downloading WordPress onto my hosting provider servers, choosing a theme, setting up my homepage and uploading the very essentials in terms of plugins. But that was 10 years ago.
WordPress has evolved a lot since then and it’s even easier to get a WordPress website up and running on the internet today.
How easy is it to build a website on WordPress?
Even a non-coder can build a website on WordPress. All you need to do is download WordPress onto your hosting provider’s servers.
By the way, most hosting providers who use at least cPanel for their customer’s dashboards already have WordPress available for you to download.
However, if for some rare reason they don’t have WordPress on their dashboards, then you can simply go to WordPress.org and download one of thousands of free themes onto your local computer.
It will come in a .zip file which you can then upload onto your web host’s servers and unpack it. Pretty easy.
Then, it’s a matter of choosing the basic plugins in the plugin section of your WordPress website’s dashboard and you’re good to go.
Does WordPress require coding?
One of the main attractions and what makes WordPress such a good blog site to start off with, is the fact that WordPress does not require the user to know any coding.
Make no mistake, if you do know how to code, that’s all the better of course.
But to set up and create a beautiful looking website with all the functionalities that you want and get it up on the internet, coding is not required.
Do I need a host for WordPress?
If you want your WordPress website or blog to be live on the internet, then you do need a host.
There’s really no way around it.
Though, you can get free hosting on WordPress.com.
You can even set up a free hosting account on GitHub.com.
There’s really no excuse. Even hosting a WordPress website can be done for free.
Then as your blog begins to grow and you want to have more options, you could always go to a hosting provider and have your WordPress blog or website self-hosted.
How can I practice WordPress for free?
Personally, I think the easiest way to practice WordPress for free, would simply be to start a WordPress blog on WordPress.com’s free plan.
Although you’ll be quite limited in what you can do with your WordPress website using WordPress.com’s free plan, it is a great place to start and practice your WordPress skills for free.
Is WordPress a good blog site for starting out? Conclusions.
As you can see, WordPress is a good blog site for those just starting out.
Once you learn the basics, you’ll realize how much more control you will have over your website, it’s theme, it’s functionality and design as well as where you want to host it.
If you start a blog on a closed platform like the ones I have gone over in this post, it might be easy to set up a website, but you will lose a lot of control in the process.
So it’s much better to start out your presence on the internet on the right foot with WordPress.
