Mombly.com

When you want to start a new blog, one of the obvious choices would be Wordpress. It is also the software used by this blog, Mombly.com. However, you can either get a free account from Wordpress.com or you can download the Wordpress software from Wordpress.org and install it yourself on your own web server. This article covers why you should host your own wordpress blog.

Plug-ins

You cannot use plug-ins on Wordpress.com. As simple as that. A simple no. Even if you happen to become a VIP blogger, you are still limited to plug-ins that do not modify the database. There are tons of plug-ins that make Wordpress much better than how it can be and many of them can automate tasks such as backing up the database, checking for security loopholes, keeping track of the statistics of the people who visit your blog and even help you to manage your blog’s media. Without plug-ins I would feel that even blogger (by Google) would be a better blog software.

Tons Of Themes to Choose From

You can choose from so many themes that you’ll be spoilt for choice. Why settle for the three pages of themes from Wordpress.com when you can have much more from the wonderful community at Wordpress.org. In fact, if you’re into design or programming and you are able to dig through some of the Wordpress documentation, you can even create your own themes or design your own plug-ins. The chances for customization are limitless.

If you use Wordpress.com, the closest thing you can get is to customize the CSS styles. It costs $15 a year.

Unlimited Private Users

If you want your blog to be viewed by private users, you can only have 35. True enough, most private blogs will not have more than that amount of readers but more is better, right? I could think of people who might need that more users. For example, if you’re a teacher and you have created a blog for your students so that you can relay homework to them during the holidays and have them comment back their entries, you might want enough private accounts for each of your students. 35 is just not enough in that case.

Cheaper Than Wordpress.Com

This is subjective and is based on your usage pattern. If you are fine with hosting a blog in a subdomain under wordpress, e.g. myblog.wordpress.com, don’t mind not having a domain, don’t mind 3GB of space, don’t mind ads once in awhile, you are fine with the free hosting at Wordpress.com. However, if one day you decide to get a domain, it will cost you $15 a year. If you don’t want ads, it will cost you $30 a year. If you want 5GB more on top of your 3GB space, it will cost $20 per year, 15GB will cost $50 per year, and 25GB will cost you $90(!) a year. Compare that to let’s say godaddy.com’s hosting plans. 150GB of space costs $6.99 per month. A domain costs only $1.99 with a hosting plan. The usual rate is about $10 per year. It is still much cheaper than Wordpress.com’s “upgrades”.

Host Other Applications

You won’t only be hosting one wordpress blog, will you? Maybe you will end up with a huge fan base and decide to implement a forum to allow them to interact? If you had your own hosting plan, it will simply be creating a subdirectory or subdomain and installing a forum and setting it up. You can even set up multiple blogs.

Advertisements

If you host a blog on Wordpress.com, you are not allowed to display any form of advertisements. No Adsense, no nothing. If you are looking for a blog host that allows ads and is free, try blogger.com.

If the above reasons call out to you, you should probably host your own Wordpress blog. =) If you need any help, feel free to drop comments or contact me.

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