WordPress.com has hosted Changing Way for almost three years now. I’m thinking of moving it to a different host, although sticking with WordPress. It would then go back to being a WordPress.org blog, that is, a blog running the free software that can be downloaded from the .org site. That’s not because I have complaints about WordPress.com.
I agree with timethief that due to WordPress.com’s free and premium features, wordpress.com is not only a great place to start blogging, but may even be your last stop. I agree with the rest of her recent post on making the move to self-hosting: the official account of the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is very good; most people make the move to .org intending to make money from their blog.
My thought of moving is financial in a couple of ways. First, it’s almost time to pay for another year of my premium features (mapping the domain changingway.org to this blog, and CSS). Second, I’m paying for hosting and am running some WordPress blogs at WanderNote.com, so I could host this one there at no extra cost. But I don’t see Changing Way as a moneymaker.
But the two scissor-blades that might cut Changing Way loose from WordPress.com and send it to WordPress.org (and to WanderNote) are… WordPress.com and WordPress.org. There are some WordPress.com restrictions that I find irritating, even though I can understand why they are in place: no plugins, limited selection of themes, no MP3 files (yes, I could get another premium features, yes MP3s can live elsewhere and still be played, but…) and son on.
From the other side, WordPress.org became rather easier to administer with the release of version 2.7 just over a year ago. Upgrading to a new version since then requires just a single click from the WordPress admin interface, rather than leaving WordPress to move files around. Finding and installing plugins became similarly straightforward, and simpler management of themes followed in 2.8.
I have a few qualms about moving. For example, the WordPress.com shortcodes aren’t part of base WordPress.org. But I don’t see any of them as a showstopper.
Hello Andrew,
It’s been such a long time since I visited your blog that I’m somewhat embarrassed. Thanks so much for the link. I have done a lot of thinking about this issue and I do have a wordpress.org blog as well, so I am able to see both side of the fence. I don’t believe my blogging tips blog will ever develop a strong enough following to make me dip into my pocket and pay for web hosting. I satisfied with what I have.
BTW I love the clean look of your blog. 🙂
TT,
Thanks for stopping by.
Yes, I like the Simpla theme for the very reason you state, and have CSS’d it to make it even cleaner, at least to my eyes.
Hello
This is a good post.I like your thoughts and I completely agree that WordPress.org is easier.Thank you very much for this informative post.
I have been thinking of moving too. Is there any way you know of, of automatically redirecting traffic to the new location. Or would the plane be to leave an ‘I’ve moved’ message on the front page here.
Cheers
Allan
Allan,
There are two ways of automatically redirecting traffic. Each costs money.
The one I will use is to point the domain changingway.org, which I own, to the blog’s new location rather than to changingway.wordpress.com.
The other method doesn’t require that you have your own domain. Here is the support page that describes it:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/redirecting-your-blog/
Best,
Andrew
Ive looked at the end. thank you for this article.