FAQs About WordPress

Q. What is WordPress?
A. WordPress is a “blogging platform”, which is a fancy way of saying “a place for you to put your blog”.

Q. I’ve heard of WordPress.org and WordPress.com. What is the difference?
A. WordPress.org is self-hosted, meaning you put the WordPress files on your own host. WordPress.com is owned and maintained by WordPress. All you need to do is blog.

Q. If WordPress.com is easier, why would I want to use WordPress.org?
A. There are pros and cons to each. Using one over the other is the difference between owning your office building and renting office space.

• With WordPress.org you own your files, you own your traffic. Just like owning your own home, you are responsible for it’s maintenance and upkeep. And just like owning your home, you have the most flexibility when it comes to changing the look and functionality of your blog. If you ever want to sell your business, owning your blog will add value to it.
• The pros to using other blogging platforms such as WordPress.com, Blogger, or Typepad is that you don’t have to maintain your own blog. There are no updates and no having to fix things that go wrong with your blog. Since you don’t own your blog you are limited to the designs that they have available. Since you don’t own your blog or it’s traffic, you run the risk of your blog getting taken down, even accidentally.

Q. I thought WordPress was just for blogs, now I see it’s a Web site. Which is it?
A. WordPress is a blogging platform but with the ability to customize themes and add pages, it works well as a Web site.

Q. I want to own my blog. What do I need to do?
A. You need to purchase a domain name and hosting. You can purchase your domain name anywhere but you have to use a hosting company that supports the latest version of WordPress. Currently most companies do support WordPress. Especially if you choose a more popular hosting company. If you aren’t sure, you can ask them before signing up. Domain names typically cost around $10 per year. You shouldn’t pay more than $10/month for hosting.

Q. What should I look for when searching for a hosting company.
A. Look for a hosting package that will grow with your business. For a small, slightly active blog, you want at least 30GB of space. There are hosting companies that give you unlimited space and unlimited bandwith which will allow your blog to grow with your business.

Also, look for a hosting company with some sort of support. Many hosting companies will charge a separate fee for phone support but will offer email support for free. Other hosting companies charge for any type of support. More than likely you will need to contact support at some point so find one that offers some sort of free support. Also, if it offers phone support, make sure the company is located in the same country you are or you may incur some hefty long distance fees. Many companies now offer a Chat Live feature for free.

Q. I want to change hosting companies. My blog is already set up. What do I need to do to move it to the new hosting company?
A. Moving the blog is fairly simple step-by-step process, but it can get tricky. You have to time it so that you don’t have a lot of down time. You may lose email for a few days, too. If you haven’t done it before, I’d suggest you contact someone who has and have them do it. This is something we will cover in WordPressMasteryClub.com in the future.

Q. I’ve heard that WordPress is prone to hackers, is that true?
A. All types of sites have been targeted by hackers – WordPress, HTML (Dreamweaver), and even Joomla. While we can’t really prevent a hacker from getting in, there are things we can do to make it harder. Things like strong passwords, not doing things that attract them in the first place (ie watch where you are linking to, not using the word F.R.E E anywhere on your site). You can also set up monitoring systems in WordPress so that you’ll know immediately if your site has been hacked.

If you have any other questions regarding WordPress, please visit the forums.