WordPress. Squarespace. Blogger. Wix. If you’re new to blogging, trying to determine what blogging platform you should use will easily end up giving you a headache. It’s extremely important to start with your ultimate goal in mind. Your answers to the following questions will provide you with the answer as to which blogging platform you should use:
- Would you like for your blogging platform to provide you with additional functionality besides being just a “blog” (i.e. e-commerce capabilities)?
- Do you want to have complete control over how to build and customize your website?
- Do you want to be able to easily integrate and access other marketing applications to track the progress of your blog?
If you answered yes, to the majority of these questions then you seriously need to consider using the self-hosted version of WordPress as your blogging platform. Now, you’re probably wondering what, “I didn’t realize there were two versions of WordPress.”
Yes, my friends, there are two versions of WordPress–WordPress.com and WordPress.org. You can learn more about the differences here. However, if you’re looking for the CliffsNotes version, WordPress.com is for my technically challenged friends who would rather have WordPress take care of the hosting. Your website URL will be “https://www.ilovecookies.wordpress.com” and if you choose to use WordPress.org the website URL will look like: https://ilovecookies.com requires you to have some technical skills when it comes to installing and maintaining your website.
However, many of the major hosting companies offer one-click installations and WordPress assistance services. The majority of the functions that many website owners want to achieve have a relatively low learning curve.
Therefore, I personally believe that you should save yourself the unnecessary hassle of migrating your website by going the self-hosted route. In order to ensure that you have a pleasant experience make sure that you choose a good hosting company. I’ve had my fair share of *interesting* experiences, so if you want to skip what I went through, then I highly suggest you use Siteground.
Words cannot begin to express how amazing the support is at Siteground. I was sick of not getting answers to my questions, nonchalant attitudes and all around horrible service I was receiving at GoDaddy. I did not want a repeat of this situation so I thoroughly did my homework and made sure not to choose a company owned by EIG.
I had heard good things about Siteground and decided to give them a try. I am so glad I did! They helped me migrate my site over from GoDaddy. It was a rather difficult migration because WordPress had put me on a managed WordPress plan instead of regular hosting (one of the main reasons I was leaving).
Siteground was incredibly helpful during that situation. Siteground’s helpfulness didn’t stop there. They then installed an SSL certificate for free. They have gotten me out of quite a few jams that had I been with GoDaddy I would still be on the phone waiting to resolve my issue…Siteground never leaves you waiting in a queue. Whenever I need help, I’m able to easily chat with Siteground folks who are extremely eager to help me resolve my website problems.
The majority of bloggers can get by using shared hosting. This means that your website is sharing a server with other websites. It’s much cheaper to go this route than purchasing a dedicated server. I have yet to experience my site being down. There were a couple of instances of this at GoDaddy. Siteground has its own caching system so this plays a significant role in speeding up my site.
Siteground has reasonable pricing. They don’t try to sell you unnecessary options. They also don’t charge you for features like backing up your website. In my opinion, this should be free, but you would be surprised how many companies charge for this feature…
I could go on and on about how awesome Siteground hosting is, but I don’t want you to just take my word for it, check them out for yourself. They offer a 30-day money back guarantee so you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by choosing Siteground.
Be sure to check out the video below which will show you how to purchase and point a domain (in case you decide to purchase your domain at NameCheap or another domain registrar) and install WordPress.
This tutorial is a part of the free trial for our Slay with WordPress course. This is not just your ordinary WordPress course. In this course, you will learn how to do the following:
- Design compelling images and lead magnets that reflect your brand’s personality
- How to create content that will resonate with your audience
- Establish processes that will reduce the time it takes to engage with your audience
- Learn how to effectively track your progress
If this sounds like your jam, then be sure to check out the rest of the free trial before signing up for the course. If you enjoyed this post, please pay it forward and share it. It would be very much appreciated! 🙂
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