iWeb or Wordpress.org for my blog?

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   Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years ago

   I have a blog on wordpress.com right now. After going through hoops for AdSense approval, I got it . . . on my blog . . . my blog that I subsequently discovered will not allow third-party ads. I should have just applied to get my HupPages approved, but its a long story that I won't get into.
   
   So now I have an approval, but can't finalize the process by placing ads on my blog since Wordpress.com won't allow it. That also means I can't place any ads here until I finish the process. Luckily my domain name is my own, not a wordpress.com name. If it were, it seems that AdSense would not have approved me.
   
   At any rate, now I have to create a new blog. Being a big Mac fan I like the idea of iWeb. However, I read a post from 2010 that said that iWeb does not get nearly the Google traffic that Wordpress.org does. But that was over three years ago, so I don't know if the same holds true for today.
   
   Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm leaning toward Wordpress.org now, but if anyone can give me a reason to go with iWeb, I'm all ears. Or another blogging site that allows third-party ads. Remember, I have my own domain name.
   
   Thank so much.

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   krisaclarkposted 10 years ago

   Correct me if I am wrong but I just looked at iWeb and it looks like they are a server hosting company? Or is there something else exclusive to the Mac platform you are talking about? Because Wordpress.org just provides the platform, they don't do any hosting themselves.

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      Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I haven't researched it much, but I do know you can use iWeb to create a website. I think it may be software you download to your computer, like Pages, etc. I went to iweb.com like you and saw that it was offering domain names. Not sure what that's about, but here's a link to an Apple page explaining the web design aspect. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5291

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   WriteAngledposted 10 years ago

   You can use your domain with Blogger, and of course since this is a Google service, they are happy for you to feature Adsense.

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   Natashalhposted 10 years ago

   I used to have Blogger, but now I have a custom WP domain. It's only the free WP that won't let you place ads. It is way easy from a paid WP blog!

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      Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Natasha, are you saying you have a free wordpress.COM blog or wordpress.ORG? I'm still confused as to wordpress.org. I thought you had to pay to have it, but it says its free, though I have to pay for hosting from a separate host site. As far as I can tell I can advertise on wordpress.org. Can you confirm if what I'm saying is correct?

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         Tealparadiseposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         You should go with a Blogger blog if you don't really know what wordpress.org vs hosting is.   Blogger will allow adsense ads and you do not need to do anything else.  It is free.
         
         Wordpress.org is simply and only the user-interface of wordpress.com, put onto your own hosting.  It is not a blogging site where you can just import your own domain.  It is only software that you can use to make an existing website look and feel like Wordpress.  If you cannot set up your own website, it will not be useful to you.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I'm not quite sure what you mean, Tealparadise.   
            
            Wordpress.org is free software.  It's the same software used on Wordpress.com but you install it on your own website that's hosted independently, instead of letting Wordpress.com host it for you. 
            
            Wordpress.org can't "make an existing website look and feel like Wordpress". 
            
            If you've previously had a Blogger or Wordpress.com blog, you can export all your posts and import them straight into Wordpress.org with the click of a button.

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               Tealparadiseposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Yes, it's software to install on your own website.  It gives you the user interface of Wordpress, that is what I meant by "look and feel."  By existing website I suppose I meant empty hosting space + domain.  Obviously if you've already built a whole website you can't just install Wordpress over it.

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                  Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks for your input Tealparadise. I chose Wordpress.org over Blogger because I read Wordpress is superior for Google traffic and SEO. I read a post from a guy who has created several websites with various methods, including Blogger, Wordpress.org, iWeb ... and Tumblr. He had something positive to say about all of them and likes Blogger a lot, but recommended Wordpress.org for the best traffic. His post is a bit outdated, however. It's from 2010, so things may have changed since then, which is why I was posting here in case someone knew something differently. Here's the link to his post if you're interested. http://the-bob-blog.blogspot.com/2010/0 … umblr.html

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         Don Bobbittposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         If you set up a site (Blog?) on Wordpress.com, they are very restrictive and will not allow selling or the addition of other "widgets" to their pre-formatted templates.
         But, You can transfer your Site (Blog?) to Wordpress.org and then you can add ads and other widgets to your site.
         The negative side of this is, if you get into the HTML or use other companies widgets or code, Wordpress will not trouble-shoot any problems you might have. You are essentially on your own. And, when WP updates a template, they will not automatically update yours, but instead, you will have to implement the update and debug anything that happens to your customized site.
         But, a lot of people do this and run some nice sites.
         Also, there are a number of very good third-party templates available that have retailing capability built in that you can use. WP.org actually lists several that they recommend.
         Good Luck.
         DON

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            Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks a bunch Don. I am in process now of converting my Wordpres.com blog to a Wordpress.org one. I may update my template in the future as seems needed. Thanks for the heads up on issues that could arise.

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   livewithrichardposted 10 years ago

   I would suggest getting a self hosted domain and then redirect your current free blog to the new one.  Also, I wouldn't worry about adding ads to your blog until you have the traffic to support it.  Build an email list while you are growing a base and once you reach a sustained level of daily new visits then consider adding Google ads or some other ad network.
   
   Build your brand... Grow your base... then decide how to monetize from that base by taking polls and getting your base to engage with you.

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      Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the advice, Richard. Whether I use iWeb or Wordpress.org I have to host it elsewhere and just signed up with hostgator.
      
      In regard to waiting to post ads on my blog, at the moment, I'm more concerned with getting a new site up and running so I can complete my AdSense process and therefore advertise on HubPages. Since I started the AdSense process with my domain name, I have to finish it there before I can use AdSense with HP. I know I'll continue to get way more traffic on HubPages for a while, but also want to add traffic to both by linking the two.
      
      Thanks again. I pretty much decided to use Wordpress.org, but now I have to leave and can't actually WORK on it right now. Ugh!

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         Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Use Wordpress.org, it will be very very easy to transfer all the material from your Wordpress.com blog to it.  If you install the Jetpack plugin, you can connect your new blog to the Wordpress.com community which will give you some networking opportunities.
         
         I respect Richard and I'd advise you to always listen to his advice, because he is a pro in this business.  However I strongly disagree with him about ads!
         
         Richard's business model is based on building a loyal following, collecting emails from those people and then selling them products.  That's the new way to make money online - the old model, of just relying on income from ads, doesn't earn as well these days.  So if you have some products in mind (even ebooks), then his advice makes some sense - don't annoy people with heaps of ads, win their trust first then they'll be more likely to buy your stuff. 
         
         However if you don't have any products and plan to rely on advertising, then his advice doesn't work - because the more regular a visitor becomes, the less likely he or she is to click on ads.  Therefore all delaying does is lose you income - and it can take a long, long time to get traffic to a blog if you're a newbie.  If I'd waited until I had "good traffic" to my blogs, I'd have missed out on around $5,000.
         
         Besides, the advice is based on the fact that ads will scare readers away.  That doesn't sound logical to me.  So if you don't have much traffic, ads will scare new visitors away - but once you've got an email list, they won't??  New visitors don't know about your huge email list, so how can it make a difference?
         
         If you use ads tastefully  they're not going to scare anyone (I have only one Adsense ad in the top right corner of my blog).   Same with affiliate ads - if you find products you can genuinely recommend, then you're not going to annoy anyone with reviews of those products, because you're helping your readers.  Lilkewise if you want to create a few pages of "recommended products" related to the subject of your blog - you're not going to annoy readers by providing helpful information.

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            Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks so much, Marisa. What you say makes a lot of sense to me. At the moment I don't intend to sell any specific products that I'd want email addresses for. I just want to draw traffic to my quality content. And thanks for the advise on ads. I really don't want to annoy people, as I sometimes am by too may ads in my face, so was wondering what amount and where was reasonable for both me to generate income without annoying my readers. I will check out your blog. You're referring to a blog outside of HubPages I presume?

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               Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Sounds like you've already found my blog.  Thanks for the comment about not being able to follow it - I have a sign-up link on my other blogs but I've forgotten to create one on Plaintalk!
               
               How many ads depends on the design of your blog.  Use your own judgment - how would you feel as a reader?  Do your ads feel intrusive?   I find Adsense skyscrapers can be really ugly, although the ugly ones often get the most clicks!   I prefer to sign up for affiliate schemes in my field, because they usually offer attractive ads which complement my design. 
               
               Take a look at pointeshoesonline dot com to see what I mean.  There is a big ad in the right hand column for a book about pointework.  It's not an Adsense ad, it's an affiliate ad - I get a commission on every sale.
               
               Do a Google search for "affiliate program (your niche)" and you should find lots of places to start looking.

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                  Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  More great info, Marisa.
                  
                  Okay, so I just went through the process of downloading wordpress via hostgator. I was shocked to see my very website, as already created when it was done. I figured I'd have to recreate a whole new blog. However, I'm a little confused. When I click around the admin areas, the url says wordpress.com at the top. Is this right? Shouldn't it say wordpress.org or something else, because the point was NOT to be on wordpress.com. I'm wondering if I'm missing something here.

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                     Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Have you pointed your domain name to your new nameservers?  If you haven't, then you're probably still looking at your old blog.   Although in that case, I'd have thought you wouldn't be able to do anything with your Hostgator account so that's a bit strange.
                     
                     You don't download Wordpress on to your own computer - you get your domain name set up with Hostgator, then you look for the Fantastico button on your control panel (cpanel) to install Wordpress on your domain. 
                     
                     Then you go to your Wordpress.com blog and export your blog.  Then go to your new Wordpress.org dashboard (which will be at yourblogname.com/wp-admin), and go to Tools - Import to import all your posts.  Then it should look the same as your old blog.
                     
                     If you're having trouble, the best way is to look for the Live Chat at Hostgator.  Bat your eyelids helplessly at the operator (metaphorically that is) and they'll do a lot of it for you...

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                        Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Okay, yeah, I just talked to my husband. He's out of town with a friend who uses hostgator and they're telling me I should call hostgator and have them walk me through the steps of pointing my domain to hostgator. I bought my domain name through godaddy a year ago and it is pointed to wordpress.com, so I need to change it on that site, but my husband is telling me to have hostgator walk me through how to do that exactly.
                        
                        What I did do so far is go on hostgator, and followed a video tutorial on how to download wordpress. There was nothing about Fantastico, but I did login to my CPanel and then clicked on "quick install" and "wordpress" and followed what they said to do.
                        
                        Anyway, now I'm off to figure out pointing my domain name to the right place. At least I'm glad to know once I get through this part of the process, it should be easy to import my posts and look the same and all.
                        
                        I may have more questions for you so stay tuned! I really appreciate your help. And I really do like your blog. It's right up my alley as far as the type of content I do. I've been trying to figure out my "niche" and while I'm so far not specifically targeting a women audience, I'm thinking about it. I do intend to have a cycling blog in the future geared toward women. I had one briefly, my first blog, called Cyclist Chick.
                        
                        Anyway, thanks again.

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                  Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Marissa, I looked at that ad on pointshoeonline.com. It's pretty amazing. I see what you're saying about finding ads that blend in with your design. That ad actually accentuates the design with the beautiful ballerina photo. Thanks for the pointer. By the way, is that one of your sites?
                  
                  By the way, I did end up doing a chat with someone at hostgator and they helped me fill out a transfer form to get my domain hosting changed over. We'll see how it all goes.

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                     Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes that is one of my sites.  Glad you like it!  Good luck getting your hosting sorted out.

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   livewithrichardposted 10 years ago

   Thank you Marisa...  I should have clarified that the method I use is for very targeted niches and not for blogs that are more like a diary or daily journal or all over the place with non related ideas.  People join mailing lists for a specific reason... normally it is a free ebook related to what they were searching for...
   When I build a list this is what I offer as well as "exclusive" content only offered in my monthly newsletter.  And yes, after the "exclusive" content I offer an affiliate link that is closely related to the topic of the newsletter.  The ebooks I offer are PLR for a specific niche.  I have found that this works much more in my favor, especially in the beginning, than getting a Google ad served to the handful of visitors that may pop in...  Keep in mind too that I don't rely on Organic Traffic for my blogs or websites. I have many tricks (all legitimate) for getting the desired traffic.  For example, to jump start my chocolate blog last year, I ran a contest on Facebook and offered a real prize of organic chocolate bars.  That little stunt grew my list by 10k and cost me about $50... I get at least 1 sale a day on that site, mostly from that list.
   
   So, it all depends on your goals, and how specific you want to take it with your blog.

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      Jennifer Sucheyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You sound way to smart and savvy for me, Richard!!! Maybe some day I can think that way and do something similar. If so, I may be bugging you for info. Sounds like you are doing well.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I'm familiar with your business model and it's definitely the way of the future for bloggers, IMO.   But as you say, you do need to specialise in a particular subject and you need to know it well, if you want to be able to sell "exclusive" content to your readers on an ongoing basis.   That's not something everyone can do or something that suits everyone.
      
      I was attracted to writing online because of the promise of passive income in the long term.  When I first started, I was able to create a group of websites full of good, solid advice and then virtually ignore them, and they chugged along making a small but steady income.  They are still earning but the income is getting smaller and smaller, and I'm still undecided whether I want to swap to a list building/email model which will require me to continually pump out new information.  I'm not at all sure I'd have enough material, for a start!

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   Teresa Schultzposted 10 years ago

   When you got hosting at HostGator, they should have sent you an email with some details, or at least within your account on HostGator, you'd look for nameservers and then on your GoDaddy account where the domain was registered, you'd point those nameservers to where the hosting of the domain is - by filling in the new nameservers. But by filling in a transfer form, it sounds like you're going to be transferring the domain over to HostGator too.
   
   Anyway, what attracted me to this forum post was its title and all I was originally going to do was say my choice would be WordPress.org (using a free theme chosen from over 1 500 from WordPress.org)
   
   I'm not familiar with using WordPress.com as I only use free themes from WordPress.org , but the process I usually follow is this:
   
   Get a domain registered
   Get hosting for that domain
   Install WordPress (which comes with a basic default free WordPress theme)
   upload and activate the free theme of my choice
   
   Good luck with your site; I hope the moving over of your content from your WordPress.com site goes well.

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