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What's the Difference Between WordPress and WordPress.com?

By
Real Estate Agent

It occurred to me that there might be a few folks out there that do not know the difference between using the WordPress system and using WordPress.com.

WordPress is an open source blogging platform that you can download and install on your own custom server. It enables you to have your install, which you can customize to your heart's desire.

WordPress.com, on the other hand, is a service offered free to users, allowing them to have a WordPress enabled blog that is hosted on WordPress.com. The main benefits here, are that you can have a free blog, and the install is super easy and fast. The downside is, you cannot modify your blog as much as you can when you host your own copy of the software.

There are two other major downsides to using any free blogging service. The first one is, within the terms of service, you're almost sure to find that you do not actually own the content. So that means at any point in time, WordPress.com, Blogger, etc. can take down your content without even telling you, and you have absolutely no recourse to getting it back (other than begging their tech support to get it back).

Secondly, using a free service, you will not be adding pages to your own domain, and thus you will not be building up your own SEO and branding campaign. One of the key things I teach about SEO is adding high quality pages to Google's index, and you want to be doing this by adding pages on your own domain, not on someone else's domain, like WordPress.com.

So if you want to setup a blog for business, I highly recommend spending a few bucks on a PHP/MySQL host like HostGator, and then setting up your own installation of WordPress. Then you're guaranteed that you own the entire site, and no-one can take your content down without your permission.

I hope this tip helped you, and I have much more to share with you in my free real estate internet marketing course. You can sign up by entering your email below:

Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Thanks Jeffry, I certainly did not know the difference. I will check this out today.

Apr 21, 2011 05:31 AM
Jeffry Evans
Temple, TX

Great! and you are welcome.

Apr 21, 2011 05:34 AM
Mark Lomas
Santa Barbara Real Estate - Santa Barbara, CA
Experience You Can Count On!

Thanks Jeffry, valuable insight here, if you're curious check out www.TheRealEstateScene.com which is a Wordpress Blog but hosted by an independent compay that cranks up the SEO!

Best,

 

Mark Lomas

Marin Real Estate

Apr 21, 2011 05:36 AM
Jeffry Evans
Temple, TX

Mark: Thanks for the tip. Also, my blog at http://www.realestatelicense.org is my self installed WordPress blog, which I have personally tweaked and geared up for high power SEO.

Apr 21, 2011 05:39 AM
Yolanda Hoversten
Self Employed - O'Fallon, IL
Referrals for O’Fallon, IL & the Metro East

Hi, Jeffry. If I sign up with say, bluehost, and then go to WP.org, would that be the way to go?  Thank you for sharing the difference between the WP .com and .org

Apr 21, 2011 05:53 AM
Jeffry Evans
Temple, TX

Yolanda:

I am not sure if BlueHost uses cPanel for the main admin area of your hosting account, but if they do, then there is usually the option under "Fantastico" for you to install WordPress right there.

But if you want to download and then upload the software yourself, you can do so by downloading the package at WordPress.org. You'll then have to create a MySQL database on your host, and modify the wp-config-sample.php page with the appropriate database and login credentials, then change that filename to wp-config.php, and re-upload to your server, the use your browser to go to the main page of your site, and complete the installation. (As you can probably tell, a host with cPanel, like HostGator, is a much easier install.)

Apr 21, 2011 06:05 AM
Yolanda Hoversten
Self Employed - O'Fallon, IL
Referrals for O’Fallon, IL & the Metro East

Jeffry - thank you.  I think I'm paralyzed with the options available and my lack of understanding of the process.  When I went to the .org just to explore, it gave the bluehost option to host... I didn't see hostgator but I wasn't really paying attention at the time.  I will explore again and find out if there's cPanel.  Can you tell I'm a novice at this?  *lol*

I will also check out your link.  Thank you for your patience!

BTW, I suggested this.

Apr 21, 2011 06:24 AM
Jeffry Evans
Temple, TX

Yolanda: cPanel is just a set of software that presents a graphical interface to a user to allow them to do things with their hosting account. It is not a hosting service, like HostGator or BlueHost. I know that they are both good hosting companies, but I only have personal experience with HostGator, not BlueHost.

P.S. Thanks for the suggest!

Apr 21, 2011 07:02 AM