Getting Started with Wordpress - Student Blogging Series
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 by Kelly Sutton It's a common misconception that everything "white-boxed" is unprofessional. (White-boxing on the Web is when it's apparent you are using another service rather than hosting it yourself.) That certainly was the case in the "Web 1.0" world; you wouldn't host a personal and professional digital business card on a GeoCities account.
For some reason or another, the evil overhead of white-box accounts seems to have disappeared.
Wordpress.com Fits
Wordpress.com is simple, professional, and accepted. I like visiting a blog that ends in ".wordpress.com." It makes me feel at home. And for 95% of students, the free version of the site will get you everything you need.
If you want to remove the white-box, it will be a few bucks. Buy yourself a domain name and redirect it to your blog. You just added three points of professionalism to your blog.
Best of all, Wordpress.com doesn't lock you in. If you eventually decide to host your blog on your own server (like we're doing with HackCollege), it's super easy to export all of your old posts. Bringing them on to your new blog installation is as simple as an import.
Virtually Ad-less
Wordpress.com does such an amazing job of serving up ads, that most users of the site don't know that the site even has ads. Matt Mullenweg, the genius behind the product, says this every chance he gets at conferences.
And it's true. Wordpress.com serves ad to some single-digit percentage of visitors. Only what it needs to stay afloat.
Why is an ad-free environment important? Ads tend to scare readers away or deliver the wrong message; that message being "I am exploiting your interest to make money for myself." In the case of you, you are the biggest loser: you don't get the revenue from the ads and you lose readers.
Now Learn Some HTML
To be a successful blogger, you'll need to learn some simple code. HTML is that code. You can start blogging without knowing a lick of it and just use the buttons found inside of Wordpress. As time marches on, you'll need to familiarize yourself with HTML code. How else will you understand other bloggers' nerd jokes?
If you're looking to get a headstart on learning HTML, pick up a book (gasp) or head over to the W3School's HTML Tutorial.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's post titled "Use Twitter."
You just read a post that's part of the student blogging series. To check out other posts in the series, please visit hackcollege.com/blogs
Reader Comments (41)
I think everyone should use wordpress.org. BlueHost will allow you to have 50 blogs with 50 different domain names. If you shared chances are you would be spending less than $20/year for host+domain. It is more complicated, but I am sure there is someone at your university that can help you out.
Clarification for all of the readers:
Wordpress.com is free blog hosting by Automaticc, the company that owns Wordpress.
Wordpress.org usually refers to the open source software that is Wordpress. It's the same technology that runs Wordpress.com, except you have unlimited flexibility.
What's better for you? It depends on how much time/money you're willing to put into it.
HackCollege runs on Wordpress.org
I'm a student blogger, but I'm done for this year of college. Actually my first year and I'm doing a bit of blogging through the summer. However, I use Blogger.com
You also get a better bang for the buck by hosting your own wordpress blog on your own domain, you also get a better bang for the buck on SEO that way.
I love wordpress. I just set up my blog with wordpress just a few weeks ago and its great.
Wordpress is great stuff for blogging even if you do have the know-how (as it were) to create your own un-white-boxed domain. I've been into websites and coding since I was, uh... 12, so I originally was somewhat reluctant to get a whitebox/subdomain blog. Templates just don't sit well with the geek mindset..... Then, once upon a time, I opted for a google blogpost blog and all that reluctance immediately disappeared. To all those out there who haven't yet found their passage into the blogosphere, I echo their suggestion: head over to wordpress.com and begin.
BTW, I've been using wordpress for around three month (check out my blog, http://pesharim.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">Pesharim) and it is far superior to G-blogspot, indeed.
I'm just getting into using WP and I was hoping to get your feedback into the difference of using WP verse Drupal, any suggestions to using one over the other?
I personally prefer Wordpress on a paid host. I use hostgator. But if I had to use a free blog service, I think it'd go with blogger.
I like the idea of Wordpress and the simplicity of all of the features it has. However, I just don't have the money to pay for bandwidth. (I try to make money online and you can't do this on the free version of Wordpress.)
I make a few hundred a month online, but am simply afraid that bandwidth would just cost way too much.
I use Blogger and everything is made so easy. Moving files around, uploading files, and the list goes on. Wordpress is for more professional users that have the money. Just my two cents.
Having your own domain is good for your own identity and search engine optimization. In the long run it's a good move so long as you source very reliable hosting before you launch your site. Reliable hosting is everything - go with a host that know WP very well and have dedicated some server boxes to WP sites. Ask them about WP-cache too - if they have heard of it, then they're conscious of traffic spikes because wp-cache take a lot of strain off the server (it's a free plugin available for WP).
I bet Matt and the rest are selling all kinds of text links and making a killing! Good for them!
Wordpress and knowing HTML go hand in hand. Nowadays wordpress is making blogging acceptable for the common people. I never mind that they don't get my jokes. ;)
I think that knowing how to setup, use and customise wordpress is a vital skill for everyone working online. I agree with Justin; if I needed to use a free blogging service, I would go with blogger as it isn't as restricted as wordpress.com
Get your own domain. If you're going to build a brand, then your own domain helps you do that. Using a subdomain of wordpress.com doesn't allow you to scale your business and all that link building etc will go to waste if you then decide to move your blog to your own domain in the future.
I can only agree with the others - your own domain is your brand. The sooner you start blogging under your own domain, the sooner your domain starts maturing and gaining trust from search engines.
There are pluses and minuses for both platforms.
If you want to be able to have the SEO power of the top level domain such as blogger or wordpress.com then using their platform is a good thing.
But I think when it comes to customization and branding, then self hosted is the way to go. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve with your blog.
It's better to start out with your own domain first. There are ways to redirect pages to a new domain (301 redirects) but it's a real pain. Just build your brand from day one with your own domain. Domains are very cheap, so expense isn't a reason not to do this.
I found something called a cpn number that will
give you a new credit profile within 30 days.
the website is
http://www.creditmenow.info
Good information. I use one blog template but not sure it is right for what I want. I do a daily web cartoon for bloggers but also license existing images off my own web catalogs so your information was very helpful in planning new blog layouts. Keep up the good work!
Perfect post for a blogging beginner, wasn't too long ago for me!
Chris
homes nj for sale
Thanks for the great article post!
Chris
homes new jersey for sale
i loved this blog post this would truly benefit a beginner blogger
Did anyone get the chance to try the Wordpres 2.7.1 version yet? It has SO many features on it.
houses nj for sale
Great point and very interesting food for thought. I'm not sure I have any clients I can replicate this with, but will bear in mind for the future. Regards
Hi everybody! It is good and creative ideas. It looks very good, as soon as you release it, I’ll try localize it and publish on my blog.
Keep up the good job!