Starting a Business Online: WordPress vs. Independent Website

You’re giddy to start your own online business, and fortunately, you’ve already chosen your platform. After weighing the different pros and cons, you’ve finally decided to settle on WordPress. This is a very easy to use platform, it works well with Fantastico, provides very clean layout, offers marvelous organization of pages, and complements thousands of plugins. But the dilemma doesn’t stop there. You need to decide whether you want to have your website hosted by WordPress or not.

We’ll give you the answer: have your site self-hosted. However, we want you to understand why as well as the downsides of doing so.

You want it to be self-hosted, because you’ll have the freedom to do whatever you want. WordPress has a lot of goodies, but a good number of them are not meant for those who simply use their free platform. If you decide to let them host your domain, you can take advantage of the following:

Plug-ins. WordPress already has close to 12,000 plugins, and the number just keeps on rising. These make running your website so easy. There are plugins for fast and effective optimization. You can also find ecommerce plugins so you can run shopping carts with great ease. On the other hand, some can convert your website to a squeeze or sales page, as well as a review –themed website.

Themes. Themes help you achieve the kind of brand you want to have for your online business. Unlike in free WordPress, you are free to change your themes when you self-host. You can change not just the heading but also the general layout. You can also create your own design or perhaps purchase a WordPress theme elsewhere, then use it on your website.

Ads. This can actually be both good and bad. If you want to keep your website very clean, then you definitely don’t want to run ads, and that’s something you can’t do with a free-hosted WordPress site. A WordPress-hosted site doesn’t typically run Adsense or any type of ads on a continuous basis. However, if you’re trying to promote your business in terms of banners or you’re accepting affiliates, being able to run ads is necessary.

There are just two things that may be considered downsides to self-hosting. First, you have to pay for your domain and webhost every year. Second, you need to maintain the website all by yourself. WordPress takes care of that if you’re using the free version. Nevertheless, the control, unlimited options, and brand you can create in self-hosted WordPress make it worth the buck.