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Self-hosted WordPress Website
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WordPress.com Website (free)
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HTML/CSS Website
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“Free” or low monthly fee Website
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“Easy Builder” Type Website
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- You own and control your domain name.
- You control where your site is hosted.
- Ready-made CMS (content management system) for easy posting and editing.
- You’re not dependent on anyone. If you choose the right developer, any other qualified WP developer should be able to help you modify the site later.
- Use any free or premium theme you choose.
- Use any free or premium plugins you choose.
- Copy and move your site to another host or server at will.
- Only limitations are those posed by law or hosting agreement terms.
- Open-source means community of technical support people numbering in tens of thousands are available 24/7 to answer your questions for free.
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- You may use your own domain name, but it will cost extra, and you will have to pay if you want to have your site moved to a self-hosted server later.
- Plugins and themes are limited to those offered on the site.
- This is probably your best alternative for a “free” starter website, if you don’t mind setting it up and maintaining it yourself. But if you do that, you may as well start out right with a self-hosted WP site on cheap shared hosting.
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- No CMS (content management system), but you can pay a steep fee to have one added to your site.
- Difficult to modify, especially if a change is to populate multiple pages.
- Search engines are not automatically “pinged” when you post new content.
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- In the very best case scenario using a “free” or low-cost monthly fee website, you will have to completely rebuild your site if you ever decide to move it to another platform.
- Design and feature options are very limited.
- You’re dependent on the whims of your host.
- Your host may own your domain name, and you could end up losing it if you want to move your site later.
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- Again, you are dependent on the host software. If they discontinue support, you’re stuck moving and rebuilding your site, possibly losing your domain name in the process.
- Sites built this way tend not to enjoy the same search-engine benefits as self-hosted WordPress sites do.
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