Question:
Hi, Have you upgraded your blog from WordPress.com? I am planning to buy a domain from very long but haven’t decided yet. Google confuses me more. Somebody told me to shift my blog to WordPress.org. Can you tell me how much page views are required on WordPress.com to get AdSense on our site? I want to monetize my site but I don’t know which way to go and how?
– Anonymous
Answer:
This is an extremely common question that most bloggers ask themselves. There are pro’s and con’s to both options. But first let me answer some of your questions if you have a WordPress.com site rather it’s upgraded or not you cannot utilize AdSense. However if you do upgrade your account to Premium or Business plan WordPress gives you the option to use another advertising service AdWords. This will allow you to gain revenue from advertising on your blog. Although I would advise anyone before upgrading their blog for the chance of monetizing. To make sure you have a minimum of five hundred or so followers and average at least eighty to hundred page views a day. This is just to ensure that your investment is not an wasted effort and you can see some return. Now to the pro’s and cons’s of WordPress.com versus WordPress.org. The one major difference between the two options is who’s hosting your website.
Pro’s & Con’s of WordPress.com V.S WordPress.org
WordPress.org Pro’s:
- It’s free and easy to use. You own your own content and are in full control of your site.
- You can utilize plugins that you’re not allow to utilize on a WordPress.com hosted site. Also you can customize different themes and modify them as you like.
- You can make money in a various number of ways. One being advertising with Google AdSense or any ads company of your choice. This also allows you to have private ads that the company goes directly through you to pay for ad space on your site.
WordPress.org Con’s:
- Unlike WordPress.com where you get your site hosted for free whereas on WordPress.org you will need good web hosting company to host your site. Usually the cost various from about three to eight dollars a month. Depending on how much your site grows and what are your exact needs for your site.
- You’re responsible for all updates, backups and security to your site. Thankfully there are hundreds of plugins to help with this problem.
- It may be a learning curve if you’re not familiar with coding or computer technology. However anything you need to know can be leaned by watching a few YouTube videos and reading a few articles.
WordPress.com Pro’s:
- You don’t have to download software, pay for hosting, or manage a web server. The setup is pretty simple and doesn’t take but a few minutes to get started.
- If you decide that you want to monetize your site you can by upgrading to a Premium or Business plan. Where they give you the option to utilize AdWords gain revenue through advertising on your site.
- WordPress.com handles all the updates, backups and security of your site
WordPress.com Con’s:
- They place ads on all free websites and you’re not allowed to make money from ads unless you upgrade you site.
- You cannot add any plugins you want only WordPress allows you to use certain ones. Also you cannot use custom themes outside of the ones offered by WordPress.
- You are restricted to their analytics. You cannot use custom analytics software because you cannot add custom codes.
What are your thoughts which is better WordPress.Com or WordPress.org?Comment Below & if you liked this post please share!
Copyright ©2016 Jay Colby All Rights Reserved.
Jay Colby 
WordPress.com for me because it isn’t about monetizing my blog; it pertains to promoting my books and other business ventures I plan on launching in the future.
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Understandable each person has different reasoning for blogging.
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Monetizing your blog can be very lucrative, but I believe promoting a product or service on your blog is a much better method.
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I started my blog in July and had no clue what I was doing. Ended up with my own domain name hosted on WordPress. I use ipage as well to manage back up and help with the site. I am still learning what each one does. I know that ipage has gotten me out of a sticky situation when I locked myself out of my own site. Cost me money but I was glad I had the help and a way out of my error. I learned I’m not a coder.
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Yes I understand your sentiment having a blog that is self-hosted can be challenging. Thanks for reading!
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I thought if you upgraded to the professional package you could utilize analytics with .com?
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No ma’am I believe if you upgrade to a business plan you may be able to use google analytics but not with the premium plan.
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that’s why I said professional not premium. I have premium I’m upgrading to the pro account this month so I can access analytics.
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Thanks for this info, I was just thinking about upgrading a few days ago.
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Thanks for reading I’m glad you found it helpful.
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Pingback: Ask Jay #7 – WordPress.com V.S WordPress.Org | B +Ve !!
Thanks. I was struggling with the decision. This certainly brings more clarity.
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Thank you I’m glad you found it helpful!
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Hi,
I want to know if I can run ads on any WordPress theme or are there only specific themes for advertisements?
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Yes there are specific themes for ads on WordPress themes. Some are free and some may have a cost.
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Finally I sought out the theme issue. But the issues are just not stopping. Now I am facing import issue. I can import only 2MB size data whereas my export file is in 10mb. Also, it’s asking for XML file but what I am exporting is coming in zip file. Can you suggest anything. It would be very helpful. Thank you
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Hi, I also want to know what happens to this free blog once I am done with exporting and importing my data on new self hosted site on WordPress.org
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It depends on circumstances. If you are confident enough that you will have enough followers and viewers if you go on wordpress.org then go ahead. Just a follow-up question jay, if I migrate from wp.com to wp.org will I be able to connect the two and do not lose followers?
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Yes you can transfer all your followers & content. Thanks for reading!
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that’s good to know. It’s really the worry if you are to start all over again.
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Thank you for this information. What is your take on bluehost?
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I think its the best option and cost efficient.
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I used both. I started out with WordPress.com, then I switch over to WordPress.org. For me WordPress.org is better because of the plugins and unique features that can be utilized through coding. It’s makes your site look unique from others. That’s important for me since I’m building a business.
The hosting services are not difficult at all to use. Bluehost and Dreamhost are the best in my opinion.
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I am upgrading this new year and needed this clarified. Great post
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Thank you!
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You nailed it, Jay. In the 3c business model, content and community come before commerce.
I’d stay with wordpressdotcom but use my own domain name – this way once my community was large enough and I decided to go to wordpressdotorg – I wouldn’t have to change my address. This way, my followers could find the domain name no matter where I went on the web.
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I’ve been using wordpress.com for about a year now and I really like it. I had not heard about wordpress.org until taking my first web design class last week. But if I had known about both in the first place, I still would have chosen to use a .com blog. It’s just easier and doesn’t require any software.
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Omg thanks so much Jay for this …i have been thinking about this for the longest time as i want to move as well from (.com) to (.org) by summer when my current subscription lapses. It’s like you read my mind exactly. I love your blog keep up the great work.
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Thank you I’m glad you found it helpful!
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Good summary, thanks Jay. I was on wordpress.com for 3 years and then transferred it to a self-hosted site with a view to monetizing it and also I was interested in some neat plugins. Two weeks later I had returned it to wordpress,com where I intend to keep it! It was a horrendous experience involving problems, downtime, lost images, ruined layouts, which were taking me hours to correct (and then sub-optimally). I was so relieved to have it back on wp.com. Thankfully the provider was offering the first month free cancellation so it only cost me sleepless nights.
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Thank you so much for writing this post, I was thinking for so long how to know about monetizing my blog, I searched in google but was not getting such a clear explanation than God landed me in your post. May God Bless you Dear 🙂
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