According to recent estimates, over 40% of all websites on the internet run on WordPress.Org.
Self hosted WordPress has a strong presence in the blogging community. Many professional bloggers, entrepreneurs, and content creators prefer a self-hosted WordPress blog.
That’s because the platform gives them the ability to customize and scale content. They also keep complete ownership of their WordPress blog content.
In this article, we will explore the seven key reasons why so many bloggers choose WordPress.org as their content management system (CMS).
Additionally, we will a few disadvantages associated with creating your WordPress blog on the self-hosted platform.
But first let’s address one major difference between WordPress.Com and the WordPress.Org platforms.
Self-Hosted WordPress
WordPress.org is often referred to as self-hosted WordPress. That’s because when you use this platform to build a WordPress blog, you must get your own web hosting.
On the other, hand if you choose to build your blog on WordPress.com the platform will automatically host your blog.
Advantages of Self-Hosted WordPress Blogs
There are a number of advantages for creating self-hosted WordPress blogs. Self- hosting a Wordpress blog gives bloggers a lot more freedom.
Here are a few things bloggers can do with a self-hosted WordPress blog even if they are just starting out:
- Pick their own domain. Their blogs’ identity will look like this: ://mydomain.com.
- Customize their blogs to suit their personal taste.
- Have complete control over their WordPress blog content.
- Choose how you want to monetization their blogs.
- Expand and grow as much as they want.
There are several reasons why you might consider using self hosted WordPress to manage your WordPress blog content. Here are seven of the most important reasons:
1. Low Startup Cost
If your are just starting the blogging journey, you can create a WordPress blog for free.
Once you sign up for web hosting, log into your hosting account and install WordPress. Most hosting providers have a one-click install feature built into their platforms.
Simply follow the directions and you will have a WordPress blog or website ready for customization.
2. Easy to Use
One of the primary advantages of WordPress is its user-friendly interface and intuitive CMS. You don’t need to have coding skills to create and manage a website on this platform.
Most bloggers are not tech savvy. So for bloggers who do not know anything about coding, it is easy for them to create a WordPress blog.
With its straightforward interface, even absolute beginners can easily start on their website journey and efficiently maintain their blog on WordPress.
3. Customization Options
One strong appeal for WordPress users is that the CMS is highly customizable. Bloggers can create great looking, high functioning WordPress blogs using available themes and templates.
WordPress Themes
The WordPress repository contains thousands of WordPress themes. They are developed by third-party Developers. Many WordPress themes are free. but there are also premium themes.
WordPress themes play an important role in the design and visual appeal of your website.
Themes lay the foundation that you can use to build and customize your site’s layout, colors, typography, and overall aesthetic.
WordPress Plugins
Your WordPress installation does not always have all the features and capabilities that your blog needs. You can install plugins to easily add them to your WordPress blog.
For example, there are plugins for creating contact forms, social media sharing buttons, and email marketing integration. Here are a few WordPress plugins you need for your WordPress blog:
Performance Optimization: Performance optimization plugins can help improve the speed and performance of your website.
They offer features like caching, minification of files, lazy loading of images, and database optimization to ensure your site loads quickly and efficiently.
Security: Security plugins help protect your website from hacking attempts, malware, and other security threats.
They provide features like firewall protection, malware scanning, and login security.
Backup Plugins: Backup plugins allow you to create regular backups of your WordPress blog.
In the event that your site is hacked or data gets lost, you can easily restore it with those backups.
4. Flexibility and Scalability
Whether you’re starting a personal blog or building a large-scale e-commerce website, WordPress can accommodate your needs.
Because the CMS is highly flexible and scalable, it allows you to add new features and expand your blog as your needs grow.
5. Strong Community
Support for using Wordpress is available through a large number of communities and forums.
You just have to search WordPress.Org support and you will receive all the help you need to use WordPress for blogging.
For example this community – Meet WordPress- covers topics from getting started with Wordpress to customizing your WordPress blog.
You can get help to choose the right plugins for your website for the more than 57 thousand free WordPress plugins that are available.
6. SEO Benefits
Search engines like Google love sites that focus on delivering great user experience. If your blog users love visiting your site, search engines will reward you with free web traffic.
WordPress linking structure enable bloggers to create easy to use permalinks. Interlinking other content is also easy to do using WordPress.org
Meta desctiptions are brief summaries of your blog posts. Self-hosted WordPress makes it easy for you to write engaging meta descriptions for your WordPress blog posts.
Aditionally there are hundreds of SEO WordPress plugins that can be integrated on your blog. These will help to further improve your SEO strategies.
7. Open Source Software
Using self-hosted to build a WordPress blog makes sense because of how the Content Management System works.
WordPress is an Open Source Software. It is managed by hundreds of volunteers who write and maintain the codes that keeps the platform functioning.
These volunteers ensure that WordPress stays up to date with algorithm changes that search engines implement.
The volunteers also work tirelessly to find and fix potential security breaches. Their efforts ensure that visitors can safely use your WordPress blog.
In addition, WordPress volunteers police WordPress themes to make sure they expand the use of WordPress for building bold and beautiful websites.
And thanks to the dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly to keep the platform running, you will always be able to use self-hosted WordPress for free.
Disadvantages of WordPress
While WordPress offers many benefits, it also has some disadvantages that you should consider before using the platform.
Learning Curve: While WordPress is generally considered user-friendly, it can still have a learning curve for beginners.
Setting up and customizing a self-hosted WordPress site may require some basic technical knowledge and understanding of themes, plugins, and settings.
Security Vulnerabilities: WordPress’s popularity makes it a target for hackers and malicious attacks.
If you do not keep your WordPress core, themes, and plugins updated regularly, your site may become vulnerable to security breaches.
However, WordPress itself is relatively secure. But using outdated or poorly coded themes and plugins can pose security risks.
Regular Maintenance: WordPress websites require regular maintenance to keep them secure, functional and optimized.
This includes updating themes, plugins, and the WordPress core, and backing up your site. It also includes monitoring your blog for any security issues or performance problems.
If you ignore these maintenance tasks can lead to a compromised website or a decline in performance.
Third-Party Dependency: When using themes or plugins developed by third parties, you become dependent on their support and updates.
If a developer abandons a theme or plugin, you may face compatibility issues or be unable to receive necessary updates and fixes.
Summary
More than 60 million websites and blogs, including personal, small businesses and large enterprises, choose self-hosted WordPress. Here are ome reasons why WordPress is so popular:
- The WordPress.Org platform is free.
- The CMS is a highly customizable CMS platform that offers limitless possibilities.
- Support is only a click away from one of the many support forums in a number of languages.
- Search engines love WordPress because it is a user-friendly Content Management System.
- WordPress offers user unlimited opportunities to pursue their passion online even if they have no technical skill.
You need to think carefully when choosing your blogging CMS. Weigh both its advantages and disadvantages against your specific needs.
That way you can make an informed decision that fits with your goals and ensures a successful blogging journey.
