WordPress .org Vs WordPress .com

Please note: This post contains affiliate links, whereby I receive a small commission from any purchases that you make from the external links.

WordPress .org

What is website hosting?

What is a domain name?

A domain name, also known as a web URL,  is a unique address used to visit and view a website. This is entered into the URL bar at the top of your web page. 

There are many different extensions available when choosing your domain name, such as .com, .org, .net etc. As a general rule of thumb, try to stick with a .com domain name, as this is the most universal name for websites!

E.g. mywebsite.com

Where can I find affordable web hosting?

There are many options for web hosting, and these can depend on your requirements.

More often than not, for an average blog or website, you should be okay with the cheaper packages. These include a shared server, a certain amount of space on your server and extra features such as an SSL certificate. However, you can always pay a little more to upgrade your hosting in time, as your website grows larger.

I have tried a variety of different web hosting companies and I have found that having quick customer support is a very important factor.  This is why I recommend the web hosting company Hostgator. 

60% Web Hosting Coupon With Hostgator

WordPress .org Pros & Cons

Pros

• Free software.
• Easy to use.
• You own your website and the data. The site cannot be turned off, you have full control.
• You can monetise your site by running your own ads and you keep all the revenue.
• Can utilise powerful tools such as google analytics for tracking.
• You can create an online store to sell digital or physical products and manage shipping from your site.
• Ability to create membership sites e.g. to build an online community or sell a course.
• You have access to backend code and databases.
• Ability to upload your own themes (a great advantage!)
• You can upload your own plugins.
• Can use your own custom domain name for your website URL.
• Usually unlimited hosting storage.
• Access to all SEO features.

Cons

• Cost of website hosting which is usually, $3-$10 per month depending on the package. Remember to use my coupon code 60HGSDN for 60% off web hosting with Hostgator.
• You are responsible for updates & backups, important for avoiding being hacked!

WordPress .com

• Free – Very limited.
• Personal 6GB space– $36 per year
• Premium 13Gb space– $99 per year
• Business unlimited– $299 per year

Pros

• WordPress .com is free with up to 3GB of space. Which is great for hobby bloggers.
• A quick setup.
• WordPress .com takes care of updates so you don’t have to worry about it.

Cons 

• Limited features.
• WordPress .com places ads on all free sites. Therefore your users will see ads on your site, and you don’t receive any money from these ads. Furthermore, to avoid ads, you need to upgrade to a paid plan.
• You are not allowed to sell ads on your website. The only option is to apply for a program called WordAds, an advertising program where you share the revenue with WordPress .com.
• You have no unique domain name.
• There are no plugins available.
• There is no access to code or databases.
• Very limited theme options.
• You are restricted to their stats, with no access to google analytics.
• The risk that your site can be deleted at any time and you have no control.
• Your site displays a “powered by wordpress.com” link. You can only remove it by upgrading to the business plan.
• No e-commerce features.

Further reading

Ready to get started with your WordPress .org website/ blog?

The first step is to purchase your web hosting and domain name from a company such as Hostgator.

Once you have done this, you can install WordPress .org and get started setting up your bespoke website/ blog! Don’t forget to use my coupon code 60HGSDN for a 60% discount on web hosting with Hostgator!

Want to try out the free WordPress .com platform first? Great! You can set up a free account with WordPress .com here!

Stay tuned as in my next post, I will take you on a step by step tutorial on how to create a website for free using wordpress.com! 

Meanwhile, you may find the below articles of interest…

HOW TO USE PINTEREST TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG

MAKE MONEY ONLINE WITH AN AFFILIATE INCOME

If you enjoyed this post or have any questions, please let me know in the comments below! 🙂

Until next time!

Emily x

11 Quick Ways To Gain Writing Inspiration For Blog Posts

Please note: This blog post contains affiliate links

1. Why do you write?

2. Create a list

3.  1-Word inspiration

4. Use An Image Prompt

5. Use a quote

6. Ask your readers

7. Let social media inspire you

8. Go offline

9. Express in poetry

10. Old becomes new

11. Publish a roundup

Did you find some writing inspiration?

Further reading

If you are looking for more articles to further enhance your blog writing, I recommend that  you check out the following;

 7 Important Blogging Fundamentals for Beginner Bloggers

6 Types Of Blog Post Headlines That Attract Readers

11 Things To Do After Starting A Blog

In this post, I am going to share with you 7 fundamental tips, aimed at blogging for beginners. These are designed to help you to craft and create a solid foundation for your blog. Whether you intend to grow your blog into a business and make money blogging. Or whether you are happy blogging for the love of it!

Here are 7 blogging for beginners fundamentals to help you on your blog journey.

Blogging for Beginners: 7 Fundamental Blog Tips

This blog post contains affiliate links.

1- Your Blog Identity

By now, you should have an idea of what you are going to blog about, and what your main niche is.

If like me, you can get spoilt for choice on which of your hobbies or passions to share, as a general guide, it is advised to have 1 or 2 main niche topics for your blog. This is because it will help you to attract the right readers for your blog, and after all, blogging is about sharing your written content with your audience!

E.g. If you are interested in the topic Yoga, which of the following blogs would you be more interested in reading;

Blog 1: A blog about Yoga and Meditation
Blog 2- A blog about Yoga, healthy eating, climbing and horse riding.

I don’t know about you, but I would definitely choose Blog 1. It is more specific to what I am looking for in a Yoga blog.

Choosing a niche for your blog does not limit you, your niche will develop into sub-topics within your chosen main topic. Using our example of yoga, the blog can then be broken into the following sub-topics; types of yoga, pregnancy yoga, yoga philosophy etc.

Having a foundational niche and main topic for your blog is very important. Not only to attract the right readers to your blog but also, having a solid topic will give you focus on your writing, helping you to create a fantastic blog!

Already know your Blog niche and main topic? Brill!

Share your blog’s identity by using your niche keywords in your site title and your tagline.

If you need some help finding where you can enter these details, I would recommend installing the Yoast plugin, which is brilliant for optimising the SEO on your blog. A very important blogging for beginners fundamental!

2- Identify Your Blog Audience

Blogs are all about identity. Above we identified the blog itself, in this section, we will identify who the blog is for. After all, knowing the identity of who you are writing for will help you to write effectively for that audience.

So how do we identify our audience? In the online marketing world, there is an in-depth procedure for identifying your audience, which involves creating buyer personas and developing buyer stories. Perhaps this is something to look into as your blog develops and grows, however at this stage, I feel that there is a more simple path to identifying your audience.

Start off with a pen and paper, and write in the middle, “Who Do I Write For?”… Working with this spider diagram, write down as the ideas and thoughts come to your mind, your ideal dream readers.

Using our example of a Yoga blog, the audience identity for this blog may include;

– A reader wanting to lose weight and feel more confident
– Somebody who is working a very busy lifestyle in the city, and craves some peace and stillness.
– A mother to be who is interested in alternative ways to prepare her body for the birth.

Before you know it, ideas will keep coming and you will have a spectrum of audience identities. You can even take this further by creating demographics to each identity such as; age, job role etc. Relating to your blog niche.

By creating an identity for your audience, this really helps you to write your blog posts specifically for your audience. It will help you to connect with your audience and also help to grow your trust and relationships.

3- Love Your Blog Theme

We have developed our blogs written identity, now it is very important to make sure that the design of your blog reflects this. If you have not changed your theme, you probably have the standard default WordPress theme, and if you like this theme, then that’s okay. However, if you want your blog to have a unique design, it is important to choose a theme that speaks to you.

There are many free themes available to choose from. If you want something more unique, I would recommend looking at themes for sale, there are so many available and many that are pretty straightforward to edit and make your own.

Elegant Themes is a great place to start. They have a range of themes available from their website, and they also offer friendly support with their services. I have been with Elegant Themes for a few years and I love using them. I favour the DIVI theme, which allows a lot of customisation and the ability to truly create your own unique design. However, if you are not keen on customising themes, you would prefer to choose something and get on with writing, I would choose a different theme. Click here to check out amazing blog themes from Elegant Themes!

Check out some demos, have fun with it! Themes are a great way to reflect your blog identity. For instance, I won’t find a Yoga blog as attractive to read if it had a dark busy theme. On the other hand, a Yoga blog with a clean, light design and lots of whitespaces would be very attractive.

4- Publish an About Page

An About Page can often be underestimated and avoided. People sometimes think, “Who wants to read about me”… or… “I prefer to not share too much about myself”… On the contrary, an About page is often the most important page on a blog.

An About page gives you the chance to share the purpose of your blog, to share your blog’s mission and to inspire readers to join you for your blogging journey. Quite often when a person visits a new blog, they may read a post and then go to the about page to see whether it is worth returning to the blog for future posts.

An important blogging for beginners task. If you have not currently got an About page, now is a good time to create one!

Tips for creating a Blog About page

Even though this page may lead you to believe that it can be all about you, that’s not entirely true. Try to make the about page relate to your audience.

For e.g.

– Share the main intention, purpose and mission of your blog

– Share a short background of yourself, but always keep the content relating to your blog.

– If you encountered a problem with your blog topic, and solving that problem is what lead you to create the blog in the first place, share that on your about page. By writing about problems you faced and inspirations that you had to begin your blog, will help to connect with your readers, as they may have faced a similar problem.

– Connecting with your readers is key on an about page. A reader will be more inclined to follow your blog if they can relate to your personal story. But if they are reading about your dog’s names, your favourite food, how many illnesses you have had, blah blah blah etc. Which doesn’t relate to your niche, this might push them away.

– Be authentic. Being genuine and relaxed with your writing will help your readers to feel relaxed. Write as though you are writing to a friend.

– Break up paragraphs. Big chunks of text can switch off the brain and scare readers away.

– Include links to your favourite blog posts, or most useful blog posts. Linking to your own content is a great way to drive readers to your posts and to help your blogs SEO.

5- Get Inspired & Build A Blogging Community

A big part of blogging is the community. Over time, established bloggers tend to build relationships with other bloggers in their niche. This can lead to blogging opportunities such as; more traffic to your blog, being able to feature other people on your blog in an interview, or you being featured on other blogs etc.

To lay the foundations for your blogging community, the first step is finding inspiration. Look for other blogs similar to your own. You can search for other blogs in a number of ways including;

– Google search for keywords, for e.g. A blog about yoga
– Facebook; If you are a member of Facebook, you can search for a facebook group containing your blog niche keyword.
– Pinterest; Search for pins relating to your niche.
– YouTube; There is a massive increase yearly in vlogs and video. Doing a search on YouTube for your blog and topic keyword may help to find other similar blogs.

Once you have found some blogs, check them out! Look at their posts, theme, design, about page etc. This exercise is not about judging or looking for content to copy, but merely researching other similar blogs to your own, see what they’re doing and find some inspiration for yourself. If you read a post that you enjoy, leave them a comment and let them know! These are the first steps to building your blog community. By commenting on their blog, they may check out your own blog. If they are on social media, why not follow them?

Building an online community is another blogging for beginners fundamental and is key to building your own blog.

6- Use a Blog Writing Prompt

Sometimes, in the beginning, it can be difficult to think of specific posts to write about for your blog. Or perhaps you are spoilt for choice and need some focus for a blog post idea. Either way, this technique will help you to come up with some great ideas for a blog post!

Blog Writing Prompt Technique

– Firstly, write out different keywords relating to your blog topic and cut each one up. E.g. Sound Yoga, Yoga for Weight loss, Pregnancy Yoga etc.
– Next, write out different terms for a blog post format. Cut each one up and gather those in a separate pile. E.g. Educational, review, opinion, step by step, how-to-guide, video etc.

In case you hadn’t guessed, you need a hat! Put the first pile of papers into a hat, shake it up and pick one out. Repeat for the second pile of papers! This will help you to come up with different blog post topics, different blog post formats and, trust me, once you start writing ideas down, more will flow and before you know it, you will have weeks and weeks worth of blog post content ideas.

Looking for more blog post writing ideas? Check out this blog post on the different types of blog post headlines.

7- Create a Regular Blogging Feature

This is a very important blogging for beginners tip, which again can often be overlooked. The main importance of blogging is, well, blogging!

Keep writing and publish your blog posts consistently. If it helps to work to a schedule, choose a set day of the week. If you are busy, you can blog fortnightly or even monthly to prefer but be consistent. However often you decide to blog, make sure that you stick to that schedule and find your blogging rhythm.

By blogging consistently, your readers will build loyalty as they will look forward to that same day when they know that you have something new to share.

Also, don’t forget to add those all-important tags and a category to your blog post!

What do you think of the above blogging for beginners tips?

By working through the above blogging for beginners tips and taking action for each one, this will help you to create solid foundations for your blog, to grow and develop.

Do you want some further blog reading?

 I find Jeff Goins to be an inspirational character in the blogging world. In just 2 years, he built his blog and earned over $100,000 by the end of the second year from blogging!

In You Are a Writer, Jeff Goins shares his own story of self-doubt and what it took for him to become a professional writer. He gives you practical steps to improve your writing, get published in magazines, and build a platform that puts you in charge.

This book is about what it takes to be a writer in the 21st Century. You will learn the importance of passion and discipline and how to show up every day to do the work.

Click here to check out You Are A Writer, directly from Amazon!

Got writer’s block? Click here to find out how to gain writing inspiration!

Just started a blog? Check out 11 things  beginner bloggers should do, after starting a blog

Thanks

Emily x

8 Wonderful Ways To Avoid Work Burnout

1- 10 Minute Meditation

Some people may specify that meditating at a certain time is the “most effective way”, however, I have found that everybody is different. Whether you prefer a 10-minute meditation in the morning, at lunchtime or before bed, it doesn’t matter when. The important point is to set aside 10 minutes a day, (the equivalent of having a brew!) to gift your mind some stillness and peace. There are many types of meditation and more emerging like its become a fashion trend, but all forms of meditation have 1 underlying truth; a disciplined practice of clearing the mind and finding stillness within.

2- Take a Short Break Every 2 Hours

Working in front of a screen can be demanding in many ways. For instance; extra tension on your neck & shoulders, strain on your eyes staring at an artificial screen for long periods of time. As well as mental strain on your active brain. In addition, as the rest of your body remains stationary, you can become stagnant and achy.

3- Switch Off

Learn to leave work at the office…

4- Drink Plenty Of Water

You may be surprised to see this as a point to avoid work burnout, but don’t underestimate the power of water. We are all after all made up of 75% of water.

5- Practice Yoga

6- Exercise

If yoga is not for you, there are many types of exercise to choose from to stimulate and workout your body. As exercise occupies your mind, it will give it a break from thinking about what’s on your to-do list, what email needs sending etc.

7- Get a Holistic Treatment

As a trained holistic therapist, I can tell you that getting a holistic treatment every other month, (or monthly if you prefer), will greatly assist you to avoid burnout.

8- Smile 

Last but not least remember to smile!

How did you find these tips for avoiding work burnout?

Want To Increase Your Focus?

 

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Consistently practising mindfulness can give an increased sense of mental clarity, focus and increased levels of productivity!

 

Inside this guide, you will find further information on mindfulness, along with 28 exercises to be completed (one per day), which will help to foster mindfulness and increase your mental awareness.

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A Beginners Guide To Blogging: 11 Super Tips

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6 Types of Blog Titles That Attract Readers

1. Balanced Phrase

[X] [KEYWORD PHRASE] [CURIOSITY PHRASE]

With the balanced phrase blog title, this is designed to not only attract readers but to also tick the correct boxes for SEO purposes. Which will help your blog post rank high in search engine results pages (SERP’s), such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.

The “X” would represent a number. The “KEYWORD PHRASE”, as you can probably guess, is where you can include your main keyword for your blog topic; this will help you gain a better ranking in SERP’s. Finally the “CURIOSITY PHRASE” is what will attract your readers, to want to read more.

E.g. “10 Blog Titles That Work every time They Are Tried”.  

2. Theatrical Effect

This blog post title is aimed for those who are attracted to drama and includes major terms such as; warning, negative, drastic etc.

E.g. “8 Warning Signs That Your Website Is Outdated”.  

3. It’s An Enigma…

The classic enigmatic blog post title, designed to create mystery is guaranteed to draw your readers in, who cannot resist the temptation. 

E.g. “The Secret To Tone Your Abs”. “Little Known Ways To Gain Repeat Readers”.

This headline comprises the [MYSTERIOUS HOOK] together with your [BLOG POST KEYWORD]  

4. Problem Solver

This blog post headline is perfect if you are sharing tips, a tutorial, or some really useful information. The classic, “How To” post is well known for attracting readers. You can extend this technique by adding a time frame.

E.g. “How To Complete a Full Body Workout In 20 Minutes”.

We are in a ‘rat race’ society, consumed with time. If you can help to solve somebodies problem within a certain time, you are sure to gain interest.  

5. Piggyback Blog Title

If your blog post utilises information or tips from a well-known character, be sure to include their reference in your title.

E.g. [Famous Person]Top 10 Tips For ________ “

Oprah Winfrey’s Top 10 Tips For Succeeding In Life”.  

6. Common Errors

Highlighting potential mistakes that your readers could be making is bound to get their attention, and make them want to read more in your blog post.

E.g. “3 [Blog Topic] Mistakes That Your Probably Making Today”.

I hope that these blog titles have been useful for you. Which blog title idea is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time,

Emily x