Below are some links and descriptions related to WordPress Blogs. The resources are listed for HOSTED and INSTALLED blogs.
HOSTED Blogs are free blogs built on the wordpress.com system.
Advantages:
- Free
- Easy to create, easy to use.
- Around 75 good themes available for use.
- Most themes allow you to add your own logo or custom header image.
- Free blogs are great to use to learn the WordPress system.
- Your blog exists in a searchable network of other blogs.
- Links from your free WordPress blog to your main website are helpful on the search engines.
HOSTED blogs use WordPress’s extensive free hosting. Most free WordPress blogs use the domain name www.[yourblogname].wordpress.com.
Links:
- WordPress.com to set up your free blog.
INSTALLED blogs are installed on your hosting service, using your domain name.
Advantages:
- Choice of themes is around 1000.
- Themes can be customized to your liking.
- Thousands of plug ins available to increase site functionality.
- Your blog exists at your domain name.
- Blog can be utilized as your whole site, or it can be installed as a separate part of your site.
Links:
- A good place to buy your domain name: GoDaddy.
- A good place to host your website and/or blog: Go Daddy.
- This hosting service has an automatic, free WordPress installation service that is quick and easy and saves you several steps.
- You may register your domain name and host under the same account.
- Themes: You can pick from thousands of themes by simply searching on Google for “free wordpress themes.” There are also websites that sell quality themes at a good price.
- Official WordPress Themes Directory – around 800 themes. All have been checked for quality.
- WPThemes Free – Excellent, colorful themes. Some have quality problems.
- I Love You WordPress - New resource has free and priced themes.
- Plug ins allow you to add functionality to your site. I recommend only using plug ins from the official WordPress plugin directory.
Note: WordPress 2.8 has a nifty system that allows you to search for themes and plugins and install them on your site without having to do any FTP work. You simply click “Add New” under Appearance or Plugins and you can search the official WordPress Directories, or you may upload a theme or plugin you found at another source.
