Your Blog On WordPress, Working It Like A Pro
So You’re Wondering…”Should I make the move to WordPress?”
I’ve seen this Q a lot lately, so I’m here to share why I feel a blogger interested in generating money from their blog should make that move. I recently shared why moving to self hosted WordPress was the best move I ever made, but today I wanted to expand on that a little more to give you as much info from my experience as possible.
As I write this post, I’m writing under the assumption that you’re a blogger interested in making money from your blog. If not, this post isn’t for you. Feel free to stick around and share your thoughts, but please refrain from assuming that I am in anyway telling you what to do with your blog.
The handful of emails I received yesterday due to my post Why Bloggers Are Getting Their Asses Kicked By Niche Marketers was uncalled for. Feel free to unsubscribe if you no longer like my posts, I don’t need a detailed description why or a list of why “Blogger is Better”. Or insults. I don’t proclaim to know everything, I’m just sharing my experience in hopes that others can benefit. It’s what us bloggers do.
Moving your blog from a free platform to a self hosted WordPress platform is a big, professional step towards building a business through your blog.
In the past 18 months, I’ve learned from Mom Bloggers Club, Social Moms and SheBlogs that advertisers want to deal with professionals. And once you’ve decided you want to work with advertisers and brands, then you’re stepping into the realms of business and should present yourself as a business professional.
A business professional invests time and money in production, presentation, marketing and promotion.
Production being your content and offerings.
Presentation being your blog’s design and functionality.
Marketing being choosing your niche and offering “something” (your skills, your experience, your insights) that your target market or audience can benefit from, giving potential readers a way to find that “something” and utilizing analytical data to better your blog.
Promotion, well, you know my main poison is social media. (I’ve also bought ad space from fellow bloggers.)
Where does WordPress fit in?
WP offers the same type of production/blogging functionality as any other platform. The added bonus is WordPress offers business functionality too, for bloggers on a budget.
It may not be completely free, hosting can cost up to $7 a month, a domain can be up to $12 a year, but there are a lot of freebies and great pluses:
- The WordPress Platform is free to use
- Hundred of Free Stylish Professional Looking Themes available through your dashboard and given away on the web.
- Thousands of free plugins available and accessible through your dashboard.
- Themes are customizable and functionally can be added via free plugins and widgets for added functionality.
- Free plugins available for tracking your traffic and viewing keywords used to lead visitors to you.
- Free Plugins available for Google Analytical and SiteMap Submission to Google, so no need to manually code anything.
- Free networking widgets available.
- Publish content from your iPhone, your Android or your Blackberry – all for free.
- Free Search Engine Optimization plugins. Get more bang-for-your-buck-plugins available inexpensively, though I haven’t needed to buy one for SEO yet.
- Media Library where you can upload your images to your server, organize them, add alt tags and descriptions and access them for posts or the gallery whenever need be.
- Customizable themes are cheap and a one time investment. Want a custom WordPress Design? They can be developed inexpensively.
- Support information offered by WordPress and many other sites on-line.
- Uncluttered layouts.
- eCommerce
- Sales Management
I’m sure I’m missing a few. If you know of any other benefits of having a WordPress self hosted blog as the hub of your business, please share in the comments section for those who are searching for this kind of info.
There’s my take on going pro. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to leave a comment, let’s discuss it. I’ll even hand you a back link whether you like me or not. 
Sharing this post on twitter, fb and g+ would be much appreciated.
PhotoCredit:© Stas Perov – Fotolia.com
WordPress has become one of, if not THE, most popular open source blogging and content management systems around
Twitter: DavidSabados1
says:
Fully agree Vanita. I was on a shadow server before and was told to move it to self hosted. Seems to be much better. And the feed is working on my site now. Thanks for the help.
Dave recently posted..What Is A Good New Years Diet?
your site is great Dave. I keep meaning to come by and comment. And you’re very welcome. Anytime.
Excellent and useful information Vanita
Thanks for stopping by
Twitter: TheEclecticE
says:
I know you and I know that you’re just trying to help us bloggers and other fellow professionals do the best we can do, so shame on those people who’ve sent you insulting emails! They should know that this is all in professional interest and it’s your opinion.
I for one thank you for your professional opinion-I’ve been following these posts regularly even if I haven’t commented and I’m seriously considering the switch for my newest to-be blog
And may I say, I totally LOVE the picture you chose-I miss pole. Lol
Kayla recently posted..Real-Life Interruption
ahhh Kayla, greetings girl! if you’re on the fence due to price, check out selbymedia.com. there are inexpensive hosting plans available. you take care and i’m heading over!
Twitter: CreditDonkey
says:
Hi Vanita,
I’ve also used Blogger for a personal blog. It’s easy to set up and I tried it to learn my way around blogging. But I also agree with you that for more functionality, WordPress is a good choice.
I’ve created a free account on WordPress.com to know how it works and I also plan on getting a self-hosted account next year. It’s a skill that clients are looking for so it’s something that I can profit from.
Twitter: JanBierens
says:
Hey V.
I think that the whole idea of the switch over from another platform to WordPress is a long process. When you’re using a certain tool you feel comfortable to work with it. It’s kinda like you have a one man business and you’re business is growing and you come to the point you have to invest in hiring someone.
For now I’m “shadow” blogging on WordPress to get the hang of it and researching for a domain that suits my needs. “The hunt is better than the kill…”.
// Jan
Jan Bierens recently posted..Happy Hollidays
Jan, Thanks for dropping by! I did start with Blogger 6 years ago, and back then i swear it was awesome cause all i really wanted to do was write and i had no idea of the potentials. stupid me was turning down sponsorship and affiliate offers left and right. lol
this time around with Blogger, i wanted more. i wanted to build something that I can eventually profit from. But Blogger lost my posts twice. Lucky i was a fanatic and always backed it up. Plus I wanted more functionality.
In the end, it’s a personal and business choice and I recommend for those who want to go the business route.
vanita recently posted..Why Bloggers Are Getting Their Asses Kicked By Niche Marketers