Did you know that WordPress.com and WordPress.org are actually two very different platforms?

Often beginners confuse the two which leads them to choose the wrong platform. 

I recommend you set your website up on WordPress.org and will show you how to do this in this training. Here's a brief comparison for context:

WordPress.org -  aka “the real WordPress”, is the popular website platform that you have heard all the great things about.

  1. No one can delete your site (as long as you are not doing something illegal). You are in full control.

  2. You can make money by running your own ads. (Google adsense)

  3. You can use powerful tools like Google Analytics for custom analytics and tracking.

  4. You can create any type of site you want. WordPress.org has thousands of free and paid themes and plugins which you can install on your website. For example, add an online store, galleries, mailing lists, forums and more!

  5. You can also create membership sites and sell memberships for premium content, courses, etc and build an online community around your website.

WordPress.com - is a hosting service created by the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg. Because of the same founder, often users confuse WordPress.com with the popular WordPress.org software. This platform has many limitations :

  1. They can delete your site at anytime if they think it violates their Terms of Service.

  2. WordPress.com place ads on all free websites. If you don’t want your users to see their ads, you need to upgrade to business plan.

  3. You need to upgrade to premium OR Business plan to have custom domain name.

  4. You can’t add Google analytics or any other plugin on your website without upgrading to a business plan.

  5. You are NOT allowed to sell ads on your website. If you run a high traffic site, then only you can apply for their advertising program called WordAds. 

  6. You cannot build membership websites with WordPress.com. They also don’t offer any eCommerce features or integrated payment gateways.

I hope by now you have understand the benefits of using WordPress.org. Follow the steps in the next lecture to set your site up with WordPress.org.