Oh my gosh! I just got notice that WordPress is taking over the web faster than ever. I remember the days when we were just learning to use WordPress through a local WordPress group and WordCamp meant we got to meet Matt Mullenweg. Then there were the days when we were looking for easy sales pages and email opting forms. Oh and the days when we had to convince clients to use the WordPress platform, especially when they wanted more than a blog (glad those days are over!)
WordPress now powers over 1/3rd of the top 10 million sites on the web.
Because WordPress is an open source platform everything we ever wanted was just around the corner…now I see the web and WordPress moving in directions I have never imagined. I know there are some advantages to downloading and using the WordPress.org self hosted platform. In fact, that has always been my recommendation until now.
The WordPress.com platform for personal use or for a small business is a very viable choice, especially for personal websites and business websites. There is soooo much built into your website platform and like loads of new plugins, not to mention that the learning curve is much lower. It is a perfect jumping off point for beginners and beats the heck out of WIX, Weebly and SquareSpace.
Recently, I joined a Local WordPress Yahoo Group. Fortunately the group is run by and supported by some really fabulous WordPress officanos. It is there that I have learned just how far the WordPress.com platform has come and why I now recommend it.
Okay! I still use self hosted WordPress.org for my sites and sites I build for clients…but it is not for everyone. WordPress.com is a nice jumping off point and you can build some really beautiful sites for business and for your eCom store. Then when you have some experience under your belt you can always move over to the self hosted version. You may be surprised to find you will stick around for a long while.
P.S. By the way, you will love this really well done WordPress Stats Infographic at HostingTribunal.com it is easy to read, full of great stats and resources.
