I have been researching for my ideas, and before I start to make purchases wanted to ask the knowledgeable folks on this forum for some advice, to make sure I am heading in the right direction.
Summary/Background: I want to start creating websites, I come from an entrepreneurial family and would like to manage the website for my family business, as I feel that I can make them better and bring in more business for them. I also plan on starting my own accounting firm in the future, and feel that having the ability to create dynamic websites will be crucial to my success, as people assume that if you are in the top spot on google - you are the best.
To reflect these goals, I am going to create a few websites - 2 to be specific:
Wordpress Blog
Online Portfolio where I can practice new skills and have real world applications of what I learn, etc (I will use the portfolio to create mock websites for my family businesses in an attempt to convince my family members to hand over the handling of their websites to me) I will need to create forms, responsive websites, … we’re talking Restaurants, Real Estate Rentals, Real Estate/Commercial Developers, Roller Skating Rinks, Towing & Automotive Repair, etc.
The route I am going to be going is Adobe Creative Cloud. I read that Dreamweaver can be used to update WP, which is great.
When I go to host these two websites, I went to “justhost” as they were ranked #1 on a few places I looked. I’m willing to throw down cash if it will benefit me in the long run. I also noticed that wordpress will give me a domain name and host my website, for $13 per year which is significantly cheaper than justhost.
My main question: Are there any advantages to hosting a wordpress blog on a hosting service such as justhost over hosting a wordpress blog on wordpress?
This is where I’m at, and where I am going. I thank everyone who reads this, and anyone who is willing to give me words of wisdom! Right now I have a monthly subscription to lynda.com along with reading websites such as w3schools, codeacademy, etc. I love the internet, and look forward to starting this journey! I look forward to hearing what folks have to think as well!
There are a lot of advantages to hosting your Wordpress blog yourself instead of on wp.com.
When you setup an account on wp.com, its pretty much good for adding content and maybe some light customization. You lose a lot of control over what content you can post as well as the structure and functionality of the site.
The self hosted option however allows you access to the multitude of plugins available online for WP, you can post whatever content you want without the chance that Wordpress.com will consider it spammy and take it down, and you will have much more control over your site.
In terms of hosting, I wouldn’t focus too much on price from major providers. They are all pretty cheap. Instead you want to look at the features they are offering. For a self-hosted wordpress solution, you are going to need a host with support for PHP and MySQL.
Here is a good comparison on self-hosted wp and wp.com,
The main advantage of self hosting your site is the freedon to post any content you want, and truly have your own site, instead just using a borrowed one.
webcosmo, thanks for your answer. I am going to go with self hosting.
smanaher, that link was very helpful in explaining the comparison between the two - a great article!
I am leaning towards JustHost, rather than GoDaddy. In terms of hosting - are they all basically the same? As you said smanaher, JustHost provides what looks to be great support for both PHP and MySQL. Are there any better hosts instead of JustHost?
A few Questions about Hosting:
How important are the following Add Ons that JustHost tries to sell?
SiteBackup Pro
SiteLock
Search Engine Jumpstart
Could I realistically use SEO to position my webpage manually better than they add on they offer. Or is it better to use the add on as a base and move forward from there.
[FONT=verdana]For many bloggers, an overriding reason not to go with wp.com is that is does not allow you to carry adverts on your blog. This might not be relevant to you, Freefalling, but if any one is thinking of setting up a blog in order to earn money from PPC or affiliate advertising, stay away from wp.com.
Also, I agree with Shawn that you shouldn’t worry too much about differences in hosting costs. With all of the main hosting companies, the cost will be pretty negligible compared to the other major costs (of which the most significant will be your time, of course).
Definitely host it yourself and install wordpress rather than hosting on Wordpress.com. You will get a lot more flexibility that way. There are SEO benefits too. I just watched a Matt Cutts video about comparing blogger to wordpress. It’s not the exact question you asked, but it touches on some of the points that will concern you.
Also, I’m not familiar with JustHost but you may want to read the reviews on them before proceeding. They aren’t usually on the lists of the top hosting companies. Usually Hostgator, Bluehost, and Dreamhost are the top 3.
WebEminence, I looked at a few rankings and ended up going with them. Everything seems fine so far, but after following your suggestion I am reading some pretty bad reviews. I’m going to continue researching and see what I come up with, and if it is all bad then I’ll get a refund and go with a more reputable company.
Yeah, you’ll find bad reviews for most companies so you have to use your judgement and way the good against the bad. I’ve used hostgator for 10 years and been very satisfied. There are a lot of bad reviews for hostgator though too.