Understanding WordPress. Whether you’re a blogger or business owner, it’s hard to overlook the power of WordPress when building a fully functioning website that meets all of your needs.
WordPress is one of the most popular website-building platforms available today. It allows you to create a business website and has the flexibility that lets all businesses make use of its extensive functionality.
With more than 75 million of today’s websites built on WordPress, it’s easy to see why you should choose it for your business. But there are two versions of WordPress that you need to understand in order to make the most of the benefits it has to offer. Understanding WordPress.
The Two Sides of WordPress
If you’re new to WordPress, you may have noticed that there’s a WordPress.com and a WordPress.org and wondered, “What’s the difference?”
WordPress.com is the free version that doesn’t require self-hosting. This can be ideal for individuals looking to create a website or blog without any intention of monetizing it for their businesses.
But if you’re looking to create a more substantial website that helps your business branding, lead generation, conversions, and other business goals, you’re better off building a self-hosted site using WordPress.org.
Although there are ways to move your WordPress.com site to WordPress.org using plugins such as WordPress Importer, it’s best to choose the right one at the very beginning.
This prevents any unwanted hassles in transferring your site’s files, which can be complicated if you’re not familiar with the backend elements of your website.
Is WordPress.com Right for You?
WordPress.com provides a free site-building solution that gives you up to 3GB of storage space and includes regular backups to maintain your site over time. Users can obtain more than 3GB by paying a fee.
WordPress.com websites have some limitations when compared to WordPress.org. Plugins are an essential component to the functionality and power of using WordPress. But WordPress.com users are unable to use plugins for their site. In addition, customized themes can’t be used, which limits your ability to build a brand for your business.
You can purchase design upgrades that allow you to make changes to WordPress.com themes, but this can also be limited based on your business needs.
Using custom analytics codes is also restricted on WordPress.com sites. This is one of the biggest issues when choosing a platform for your business site. The proper use of analytics provides invaluable data for optimizing your site and business over time.
When Should You Use WordPress.org?
The most popular feature of WordPress is its ease of use. WordPress allows you to create high-quality websites that work within any business model. Although sites built on WordPress.com have some limitations, using WordPress.org for your business site gives you much more functionality in building a comprehensive website for your business.
WordPress.org gives business owners complete control of their data. This makes it easy to customize your site and manage your data in a way that supports the long-term growth and success of your business.
WordPress.org allows you to use your own custom themes and modify your theme files as you please. Your site has the ability to integrate customized analytics for tracking and optimizing your website behavior.
You need to acquire your own hosting to use WordPress.org. This can be done using any of the major hosting providers including Bluehost, HostGator, or GoDaddy. These feature one-click installation for WordPress, making it easy to begin building your WordPress.org site.
WordPress has become the leading site-building platform for businesses across a wide range of industries. Understanding the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org lets you choose the best option for your business needs.
If you think WordPress is the right platform for you, but you still have questions on how to implement it into your site’s design, let us know in the comment below.
We’ll answer all your questions so that you can get started building a powerful website that grows your business.
