How WordPress.com Is Different Than WordPress.org

➢ WORDPRESS.COM AND WORDPRESS.ORG: COMPLEMENTARY DIFFERENCES ➢ CREATING YOUR ACCOUNT ➢ SETTING UP DIFFERENT ➢ BECOMING FAMILIAR WITH THE WORDPRESS.COM DASHBOARD ➢ GETTING YOUR SETTINGS RIGHT FOR WORDPRESS.COM ➢ PICKING THE RIGHT THEME FOR YOUR ➢ CONFIGURING SIDEBAR WIDGETS ON YOUR BLOG ➢ WHEN TO ADD WORDPRESS.COM UPGRADES TO YOUR BLOG ➢ THE FINAL WORD

➢ SUMMARY

BY HIGH SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY SERVICES RECAP

● Choosing the Right Settings for Your Blog

● Moderating Comments and Comment Spam

● Managing Additional Authors on Your Blog

● Caching and Other Tune-Ups

● WordPress.com Notes WordPress.com and WordPress.org: Complementary Differences

The one major difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is who’s actually hosting your . With WordPress.org, aka “the real WordPress”, is the popular website platform that you have heard all the great things about. It is open source and 100% free for anyone to use. All you need is a domain name and web hosting. This is why it is also referred to as self-hosted WordPress. YOU host your own blog or website. WordPress.org is where you’ll find the free WordPress software that you can download and install on your own web server. WordPress refers to the popular blogging app you can download and install while hosting with a WP-friendly provider. This is often called self-hosted WordPress.

WordPress.com, is a hosting service created by the co-founder of WordPress, . Because of the same founder, often users confuse WordPress.com with the popular WordPress.org software. On the other hand, takes care of all of the hosting for you. You don’t have to download software, pay for hosting, or manage a web server. WordPress.com is a fully hosted website that allows you to build and customize your own website for free. It’s all browser-based, so there are no downloads involved. You just sign up for an account, choose a theme, and then point and click or drag and drop to start creating online. Both WordPress.org and WordPress.com have pros and cons, depending on your needs.

If you’re not interested in paying for your own hosting, managing your own web server or paying someone else to handle that for you, you’ll probably want to use WordPress.com. It’s free and easy to set up and you have lots of options for customizing your site.

A few of the cons of using WordPress.com include that your domain will, by default, include “WordPress.com.” You also can’t upload any custom themes, plugins or modify the PHP code behind your site.

While WordPress.com is free to set up, they do offer several premium upgrades, including domain name registration (if you don’t want WordPress.com in your domain name), the ability to upload videos and if you want to use their premium themes.

Using the downloaded version of WordPress from WordPress.org opens up more control and flexibility for your WordPress site, but it also means more responsibility. Using a self-hosted version of WordPress means you can use your own domain name, upload and install themes and plugins, edit the code behind your site and have access to your site’s database (or files). Most of the showcase sites you see on the WordPress site showcase are the self-hosted version of WordPress, since many of them have unique functionality or a custom-made design. Creating Your Account

To create your account Step 1: Go to www..com and click on Sign up now

Step 2: Enter your Username, password and Email Step 3: Chose whether you want a blog or a username Step 4: Read the Terms of services. Step 5: click on next. You would get a notification that an email has been sent to your email address, and it would arrive within 30minutes, usually it arrives immediately.

Step 6: Login to your registered email address to complete registration. Step 7: Click on the link. Step 8: You would be notified that your account is activated

Step 9: Log in. Step 10: Congratulations Now, You have created an Account. Setting Up Different Blogs

If you have already created a blog, or are thinking of one, you may find yourself with a couple of topics or more that would fit better on a separate blog within your single site. They are just different enough but not so unrelated that they warrant their own site and WordPress installation.

This is actually very simple when using categories and your custom menus in WordPress. You can categorize certain posts and create buttons in your navigation bar to give your readers the illusion that they are two separate blogs. Gear up your single install of WordPress in this Weekend WordPress Project where I will show you how to create as many blogs as you want, all without having to install Multisite.

Creating New Blogs on a Single WordPress Install We’ll accomplish this with the use of blog categories. Start by going to Posts > Categories in the backend of your site. For each blog you would like to create and display, add it as a category. Don’t forget to save by clicking the Add New Category button.

When you’re done, journey over to Appearance > Menus. Select the menu you would like your blogs to appear from the drop down list labelled Select a menu to edit, then click the Select button. If you haven’t created a menu yet, click the create new menu link at the top of the page. Beside Menu Name, enter a title in the field that comes up followed by clicking Save Menu to the right. You may also choose to select the checkbox to make your new menu the primary one under the Menu Settings heading.

Choose the Categories tab on the left of the page and select the categories you created, which will serve as your new blogs. If you don’t see your newly created categories listed, click the View All link above the list of categories currently in view. When you’re finished, click the Add to Menu button below the category list. Becoming Familiar with the WordPress.com Dashboard

The Dashboard (wp-admin) is the first screen you see when you log into the administration area of your blog. The main idea of the dashboard is to give you a place where you can get an at-a-glance overview of what’s happening with your blog. You can catch up on news, view your draft posts, see who’s linking to you or how popular your content’s been, quickly put out a no-frills post, or check out and moderate your latest comments. It’s like a bird’s eye view of operations, from which you can swoop down into the particular details. A brand-new, redesigned WordPress.com dashboard featuring better contrast and the lovely Open Sans typeface. Opt in to responsive goodness Wordpress.com work on a responsive design, so you can view and work in your WordPress.com dashboard on your smartphone or tablet. It is available for everyone. To enable the responsive dashboard, go to Users → Personal Settings and click the checkbox next to: Enable experimental responsive design (MP6). If you’ve previously opted in to our design preview, you’ll have this enabled by default. Getting Your Settings Right for WordPress.com

Handy tips for setting up your account Use a strong password. Your security is really important to us. As with all of your online accounts, please use a strong, unique password to log into your WordPress.com account.

Choose a web address, title, and tagline. Your site’s web address is like the address to your online home — it’s where visitors can find you. When you register, you’ll receive your own unique wordpress.com address (such as example.wordpress.com). If you want to nix the wordpress.com part, you can buy a custom domain. Note that your web address and site title can be different, and if you’d simply like to edit your site title, go to My Sites → Customize → Site Identity. Here, you can also update your tagline Set up your public profile: Updating your public profile isn’t mandatory, as some people prefer to blog anonymously. But do fill in these details if you’d like to establish your identity. To edit your public profile, click your Gravatar in the top right-hand side of the screen to head to My Profile. When you comment on sites across WordPress.com, this is the information associated with your account.

Be sure to upload a Gravatar, which is the thumbnail that appears next to the comments you make across WordPress.com. It’s the primary image that people will associate with you. If you’ve updated these general settings, you’ve covered the basics. Picking the Right Theme for Your Blog

Many WordPress themes come with tons of customization options. If not coded properly, these options can make it difficult for you to change themes or use other WordPress plugins. You will be locked into that theme or will have to pay a developer to help you switch. On the other hand, some WordPress themes that look really great can actually make your website incredibly slow. No one likes slow , particularly Google, which prefers to rank faster websites higher. Your theme is the face of your WordPress site and plays an important role in how users as well as search engines perceive it. You’ve probably heard the saying, ‘All that glitters is not gold’.

Having said that, let’s take a look at the steps you can take to make sure that you select the best theme for your WordPress site.

1. Strive for Simplicity Many WordPress themes come with lots of colors, complex layouts, flashy animations, etc. Sometimes you may need those things, but in most cases you don’t really need all that. Look for a theme that has a design layout that helps you support your goal. It needs to look good but without compromising on usability and simplicity. Make sure that the theme’s presentation style is not overly complicated. The purpose of web design is to help users find information they need and to help site owners achieve their goals at the same time. Responsive is Not Optional Anymore Responsive themes adjust their layout across different screen sizes and devices. Google shows mobile friendly websites on top in their mobile search results. Regardless of your site’s topics and demographics, all websites need to be responsive and fully mobile ready. Most WordPress themes are already responsive by default. Browser Compatibility Your users will be using different browsers. Your theme may look perfect on the browser you use, but there might be something broken in other browsers. Supported Plugins The real power of WordPress comes with WordPress plugins. These plugins make it possible for you to do anything with your WordPress site. Make sure that your WordPress theme supports all popular plugins. If you are unsure, ask theme developer about it. Translation + Multilingual Ready Make sure that your WordPress theme is translation ready and supports multilingual WordPress plugins. Page Builders Page builders are WordPress plugins that allow you to create page layouts using drag and drop user interface. Many premium WordPress themes come with page builders pre-installed. Some of these page builders are used by that theme developer only. SEO Friendliness Your WordPress theme plays a crucial role in your site’s SEO friendliness. A good looking theme can still generate poorly coded HTML, this could affect your site’s performance on search engines. It could be difficult for beginners to analyze a theme’s source code on their own. This is why many premium WordPress theme developers will let you know that their pages are optimized for SEO. Configuring Sidebar Widgets on Your Blog

Widgets were originally designed to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress Theme to the user, which is now available on properly "widgetized" WordPress Themes to include the header, footer, and elsewhere in the WordPress design and structure. Widgets require no code experience or expertise. They can be added, removed, and rearranged on the Theme Customizer or Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress Administration Screens. Some WordPress Widgets offer customization and options such as forms to fill out, includes or excludes of data and information, optional images, and other customization features.

The Appearance Widgets Screen explains how to use the various Widgets that come delivered with WordPress. Plugins that come bundled with widgets can be found in the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Installing Widgets WordPress comes pre-packaged with a variety of Widgets. If those are insufficient for your needs you can install new ones by searching the WordPress Plugin Directory which is accessible from the WordPress Administration Plugins > Add New Screen. Displaying Widgets Existing Widgets in Existing Widget Areas

● Go to Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress Administration Screens. ● Choose a Widget and either drag it to the sidebar where you wish it to appear, or click the widget, (select a destination sidebar if your theme has more than one) and click the Add Widget button. There might be more than one sidebar option, so begin with the first one. Once in place, WordPress automatically updates the Theme. ● Preview the site. You should find that the "default" sidebar elements are now gone and only the new addition is visible. ● Return to the Widgets Screen to continue adding Widgets. ● To arrange the Widgets within the sidebar or Widget area, click and drag it into place. ● To customize the Widget features, click the down arrow in the upper right corner to expand the Widget's interface. ● To save the Widget's customization, click Save. ● To remove the Widget, click Delete. If you want to remove the widget but save its setting for possible future use, just drag it into the Inactive Widgets area. You can add them back anytime from there. This is especially helpful when you switch to a theme with fewer or different widget areas.

When changing themes, there is often some variation in the number and setup of widget areas/sidebars and sometimes these conflicts make the transition a bit less smooth. If you changed themes and seem to be missing widgets, scroll down on the screen to the Inactive Widgets area, where all of your widgets and their settings will have been saved. Enabling Accessibility Mode, via Screen Options, allows you to use Add and Edit buttons instead of using drag and drop. When to Add WordPress.com Upgrades to Your Blog

WordPress is interesting, as a blogging platform. There are three forms of WordPress, though one is an upgrade of another. You have WordPress.com, which is the hosted solution. There’s WordPress.com Premium, which is an upgrade to WordPress.com. And then there’s WordPress.org, which is a set of software you download and put on your own web hosting, which you pay for and can configure to your heart’s content. However, with the additional upgrades that come with WordPress.com Premium, it becomes a more difficult decision. You need to upgrade your WordPress.com site when you feel your sites need some of the features that will be listed below. The premium upgrade for WordPress.com is actually pretty useful. It’s not without drawbacks, though, so let’s see what’s involved.

● The first thing you get from Premium is a domain credit. You can use this credit to change your domain name to a custom domain name. This eliminates one of the primary drawbacks of using .com over .org; the domain limitations. You can have blogname.com instead of blogname.wordpress.com. ● The second Premium feature is the ability to upload HD videos to WordPress.com. This is perfectly within your capabilities with a self-hosted site, of course. The service on WordPress.com is called VideoPress. It doesn’t advertise over your video, it doesn’t watermark your video, and it doesn’t try to brand your videos in any way.

● The third feature of Premium is the ability to create a custom design. As you know, with WordPress.com, you’re severely limited in the options you can use to customize your site. You can only use certain approved themes, and you can only customize them in certain ways. This is to limit any potential security holes, and to maintain quality control and legality throughout the sites WordPress hosts. With the expanded customization options, you can select fonts and colors within custom design options, or you can manually edit CSS for your site. It’s not as robust as all of your options with custom themes on WordPress.org, but it’s better than what you get with unupgraded WordPress.com.

● The fourth feature is the no ads feature. WordPress.com can put ads on your page, to support themselves for hosting your site. With Premium, since you’re paying for the upgrade, you don’t suffer from their ads.

● The fifth and final feature is a lot of extra space. WordPress.com space is limited, but with Premium, you get an additional 10 gigabytes of storage space. This is virtually necessary if you’re using VideoPress on any regular basis, but you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can use it up if you’re hosting a lot of multimedia. Final Thoughts

The confusion created by the similar domains: WordPress.com vs WordPress.org is quite unfortunate for beginners. There is a lot of history behind the decisions. Our hope is that you found this article helpful in understanding the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.

We wish you all the best with your website and hope that you chose the right platform Summary

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – Which is Better?

If you are a personal blogger, and you don’t care about making money from your website, then go with the free WordPress.com. If you are a business or a blogger that wants to make money from your site, then we recommend using the self-hosted WordPress.org. It gives you the freedom and flexibility to grow your website the way you want. Q/A:

Is there a limit of tags we can assign to each post? Short answer to this question is NO. WordPress has NO limits on the number of tags you can assign to a specific post. You can add 1000+ tags if you like. However, the purpose of tags is to relate your posts together. Again think of tags as the index of your book. These are popular keywords that you can use to loosely relate your posts. This makes it easy for users to find your posts specially when they are using the WordPress search.

Do tags work like meta keywords? Often people mistake tags to be like meta keywords for your blogs. This is the main reason why they try to add as many tags as possible. Tags are NOT meta keywords for your blog. At least not by default.

Are there any SEO advantage of using categories over tags or vice versa? The simple answer to this is NO. You should NOT look at this as categories or taxonomies. They are meant to work together. Q/A:

What Else You Can do With WordPress Widgets? Widgets are an incredibly powerful and flexible tool in WordPress. WordPress developers have been using them in many innovative ways. As a WordPress site owner, you can take advantage of that to add almost anything imaginable to your WordPress site.

How Many Posts and/or Pages can I have? You can have as many posts and/or pages that you want. There is no limit on the number of posts or pages that can be created.