Blogging with WordPress

Blogging with WordPress is, in many ways, the best way to blog. Before we explore the benefits of blogging with WordPress, however, let's consider the possible downsides:

1. WordPress requires some technical knowledge. If you don't understand FTP and a little bit of HTML and CSS, you are going to have an uphill battle when it comes to learning how to use WordPress. This doesn't mean that it's impossible, just that you're going to have a bit of a learning curve.

2. WordPress requires you to pay for your own hosting. While there are some free services that offer WordPress software (such as the free blog hosting at GoDaddy.com or the WordPress.com site) These services also use a variety of methods to advertise right on your blog, which you want to avoid anyways.

3. WordPress widgets and add-ons, which are the parts of WordPress that make it as powerful and versatile as it is, can be confusing to use at times.

Still, there are many positive aspects to blogging with WordPress. Here are some reasons why blogging with WordPress might be the best option for your blog:

1. WordPress allows you the ultimate opportunity to customize your blog. Colors, fonts, backgrounds, banners and buttons are just the beginning.

2. WordPress plug-ins allow you to do all sorts of amazing things, from filtering out spam comments to displaying your Twitter feed on your blog. These plug-ins can set up an articles index, they can help you insert AdSense code, and they can do any number of other tasks.

3. WordPress is the de facto standard in blogging software. A solid plurality of self-hosted blogs are using WordPress, which means you are a part of a huge community of folks who also want to see WordPress succeed and have added functionality.

4. Because of the popularity of WordPress, the development community is active and continually striving to fix bugs and add features to WordPress.

5. WordPress blogs don't have links that will take visitors away from your blog, unlike the free blogging platforms.

In most cases, blogging with WordPress is the right way to go. Even if you are technically challenged and can't seem to get things figured out, the vast community of WordPress bloggers will often leap to your aid if you only ask for some help.