{"id":2035,"date":"2015-05-26T23:25:51","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T23:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firstsiteguide.com\/software-services\/wordpress-com\/"},"modified":"2024-01-19T11:32:31","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T16:32:31","slug":"wordpress-com","status":"publish","type":"software-services","link":"https:\/\/firstsiteguide.com\/wordpress-com-review\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress.com Review 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

WordPress powers more than 43%<\/a> of all websites that are currently available on the Internet. This means that no matter what kind of business you are in, you have probably already heard about their popular CMS (Content Management System). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have likely visited countless websites built on this platform, but you have probably never wondered what powers them. When you realize that every third website you open is probably built with WordPress<\/a>, you can also understand how powerful this CMS is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truly, it is much more than just a content management system \u2013 it’s everything you need for the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before going into details, it is important to realize that there are actually two versions of WordPress out there. The self-hosted version (also known as WordPress.org) is the original, open-source version of WordPress that’s free to use. WordPress.com<\/a> (the version I am going to review here) is a premium service that started in 2005, powered by the popular platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although remarkably similar, there are essential differences between the two. Since we have already discussed those differences in a previous article<\/a>, I will not go into further detail about that here. Instead, I will focus just on WordPress.com and review it like any other free website builder <\/a>out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who should use WordPress.com (best for):<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

WordPress.com<\/a> is excellent for everyone. That\u2019s not an overstatement. It doesn’t matter if you want to build a basic one-page website for your business, a simple or complex blog that you will use for fun or generate income, or even a small eCommerce store. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With WordPress.com, you can pretty much do anything you can imagine. Well, to be honest, that\u2019s true only if you opt for one of their paying plans, but more about that later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep in mind that the more you decide to do, the more complex the platform becomes. With that in mind, I would say that WordPress.com as a free platform is ideal for bloggers and small to medium-sized personal sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you decide to upgrade, it becomes a good choice for business sites, as well as eCommerce websites. For anything beyond that, I’d say one should go for a stand-alone WordPress site that gives you much more freedom, and it can cost less once you figure out how to handle everything on your own.<\/p>\n\n\n

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WordPress.com key features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Themes<\/strong> \u2013 there are hundreds of themes you can use for free, and WordPress is adding new ones regularly. If you decide to sign up for a Pro plan, you can install any 3rd<\/sup> party theme you can find on the Internet and start designing your site like a pro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobile-friendly<\/strong> \u2013 the themes are responsive and allow your site to look good on practically any screen size<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Built<\/strong>\u2011<\/strong>in social sharing<\/strong> \u2013 automatically share new posts on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In-depth stats<\/strong> \u2013 learn what’s happening on your site, and get to know your visitors even without connecting to Google Analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEO<\/strong> \u2013 WordPress is optimized for search engines. So, even without any extra work, you’re ready to start showing on the search engine results page.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Review Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n
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As someone who has been working with self-hosted WordPress for more than seven years, it is hard to forget my experience and simply focus on WordPress.com. However, for the purposes of this review, I will put myself into the shoes of someone who is looking for a free or affordable website builder, and consider it as an alternative to Wix<\/a>, Squarespace<\/a>, Weebly<\/a>, and other similar website builders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do that, I will create a free WordPress.com website, where I will explore everything the platform offers. Since everyone is already talking about the differences between WordPress.com and the self-hosted version (we have done the same on FirstSiteGuide), I will try to keep comparisons to a minimum in this article.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Detailed WordPress.com review<\/h2>\n\n\n