Ellie Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Trying to find a really inexpensive way to get a web site up and running but still have it not look cheap and homemade, lol. Would WordPress do that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasRachel Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 I think 99% of the time Wordpress sites look more professional than blogger. There's a lot of free themes out there, but you'll have to wade through stuff to find one that's what you want and decent. Wordpress allows a lot more customization. If you don't want/care about that blogger may be the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 yes, wordpress will do that, they have a lot of themes to use for free, too. I did find the learning curve a bit hard at first. If you are using the free wordpress, the .com - you are limited in not being able to use third party widgets, I don't know if that will hamper what you want to do. Blogger is easier to use, in my opinion, with a bit of tweaking you can make it look professional, too. You can use 3rd party widgets, advertising, etc. with Blogger. I have blogs on both wordpress -though I pay for hosting and on blogger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 Do you know if you can add a PayPal link, and use Jotform on WordPress?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I have blogs on both Blogger and Wordpress. WP definitely has a bigger learning curve, imho. I still have the free version if that matters....I really don't enjoy it. BUT it has a more professional look to it than Blogger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 Plug-in for JotForm? Hmmm...well, that might be the deciding factor. Hope I can do that learning curve! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) I have been using WordPress with much success for the past few years and am happy with the choices of template designs as well as ease of putting it all together. I think it's a good, free source for folks from any level of technical ability and they offer plenty of resources for support, help and learning. The only downfall for me personally is that I missed the fine print when I signed up more recently to use WordPress for a new website I've set up to promote my private teaching. I didn't realize until afterward that I would not have the ability to monetize the website in any way. I had signed up and had already become an Amazon affiliate (and also want to be an affiliate for some art supply stores), but after setting up my site with WordPress and even buying a domain name I found out that WordPress does not allow widgets for affiliates' use. I'm not sure about using PayPal, but it appears to me that if you are in need of anything for payment or profit, they are not set up to accommodate your needs. So if you had it in your mind like I did, to add anything of that nature to your site, then I'd say Blogger or another free blog/website source would be a better fit. It's a bummer too because WordPress templates are of much better quality in my opinion than any others I've seen. Blessings, Lucinda Edited April 26, 2012 by HSMom2One Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jpoy85 Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I have blogger and I was going to transfer to WP, but its a PITButt to do and id apparently have to pay someone to do it. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montana Peach Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I actually find WP far more intuitive than Blogger. As for the free themes there are tons of sites with them, and many many good ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasRachel Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 The only downfall for me personally is that I missed the fine print when I signed up more recently to use WordPress for a new website I've set up to promote my private teaching. I didn't realize until afterward that I would not have the ability to monetize the website in any way. I had signed up and had already become an Amazon affiliate (and also want to be an affiliate for some art supply stores), but after setting up my site with WordPress and even buying a domain name I found out that WordPress does not allow widgets for affiliates' use. I'm not sure about using PayPal, but it appears to me that if you are in need of anything for payment or profit, they are not set up to accommodate your needs. So if you had it in your mind like I did, to add anything of that nature to your site, then I'd say Blogger or another free blog/website source would be a better fit. It's a bummer too because WordPress templates are of much better quality in my opinion than any others I've seen. Blessings, Lucinda I think you're talking about Wordpress.com, not wordpress. Two different things. Wordpress does allow affiliates and PayPal. I know of lots of sites that do this. Wordpress.com is just like blogger In it's limited access to the backend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I think you're talking about Wordpress.com, not wordpress. Two different things. Wordpress does allow affiliates and PayPal. I know of lots of sites that do this. Wordpress.com is just like blogger In it's limited access to the backend. Can you explain more please? This may be confusing to others as much as it is to me. Lucinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasRachel Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 In a nutshell, Wordpress.com=blogger. Hosted by Wordpress. You don't pay anything. your blog site is name.wordpress.com. There are some features from wordpress, but it's limited. Wordpress.org=self hosted. You pay for a domain and a site hosting. Your blog site is name.com/org/net/etc. All of the cool stuff and headaches ;) are yours for messing around with. Generally, speaking when people say they use Wordpress, they mean Wordpress.org. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 In a nutshell, Wordpress.com=blogger. Hosted by Wordpress. You don't pay anything. your blog site is name.wordpress.com. There are some features from wordpress, but it's limited. Wordpress.org=self hosted. You pay for a domain and a site hosting. Your blog site is name.com/org/net/etc. All of the cool stuff and headaches ;) are yours for messing around with. Generally, speaking when people say they use Wordpress, they mean Wordpress.org. Thank you, Rachel. I was aware of some of what you say, but still trying to figure all of this out - especially since there are so many references to Blogger in this thread. Now unless I'm in the dark about something else, Wordpress.com and Blogger are both similar in that they offer free blog/website templates and hosting. So if that is correct, then it appears that I'm not the only one that isn't on the same page in this discussion. :lol: Blessings, Lucinda P.S. Now if anyone can suggest how I can transfer the domain name I have purchased as an add-on to my Wordpress.com account over to a site where I can monetize and use PayPal, that would be awesome. I don't mean to hijack this thread, so if that is too far off in the discussion please do send me a pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 yes, correct- wordpress has two platforms, the free hosted platform, this is the one that would be your blog name and end in wordpress.com then they have wordpress.org which is self-hosted, meaning the wordpress software is free but you have to pay a company to host it. They both will look alike, work alike and have plugins, but the wordpress.com is not able to monetize and can't have 3rd party widgets. It's a bit limiting. blogger is free and is hosted by them but they do allow you to monetize and have 3rd party widgets. I have both a blogger blog and I moved a blogger blog over to wordpress.org- self hosted. the learning curve was harder, but in the end I prefer wordpress, it is more elegant and there are so many plugins to use. you can hire someone, rates vary - to design your blog and have it look more professional, I have done this on both blogger and with my wordpress blog. Having someone design my blogger blog was less expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Thank you, Rachel. I was aware of some of what you say, but still trying to figure all of this out - especially since there are so many references to Blogger in this thread. Now unless I'm in the dark about something else, Wordpress.com and Blogger are both similar in that they offer free blog/website templates and hosting. So if that is correct, then it appears that I'm not the only one that isn't on the same page in this discussion. :lol: Blessings, Lucinda P.S. Now if anyone can suggest how I can transfer the domain name I have purchased as an add-on to my Wordpress.com account over to a site where I can monetize and use PayPal, that would be awesome. I don't mean to hijack this thread, so if that is too far off in the discussion please do send me a pm. You can do that setting up a free website on Google (sites.google.com IIRC). Then, there's a widget to redirect your domain name wherever you bought it (e.g. I bought mine through Register.com and there's a widget there to tell the domain name service where that domain name should land -mysitename.goole.com-). I can't remember if I had to set up the Google side, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasRachel Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 As far as using your own domain name, you'll need to purchase hosting. Unless you go the route mycrazyhouse suggested and I don't know enough about google sites to say if you can have wordpress on it, but I'm guessing not. I currently use hawkhost.comand like them. I've used http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/ in the past and they are very good. A lot of it is looking around and finding a good host. There's lots to learn about how to set up a site, and some people will do it for you for $, but most good hosts will have tutorials on how to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Gosh, I'm sooooooo glad that I have entered this discussion! Between your replies on the thread to my comments and questions and the awesome help of Wendy through pm's, I have enough info to get my own website up to snuff. Thank you, everyone, so very much for pointing me in the right direction. I just hope the op has gotten as much as she needed as well. Blessings, Lucinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 you can have your own custom domain and have it hosted for free on blogger, blogger makes it very easy to do it. I have one done that way. Just go to blogger, set up a blog with the name you want or one close to it- it will give it the blogspot.com ending, then after it is live, go in to your admin panel and there is a place where it offers you to boy your own domain through google. You search to see if what you want is available, and then buy it. It's very easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 you can have your own custom domain and have it hosted for free on blogger, blogger makes it very easy to do it. I have one done that way. Just go to blogger, set up a blog with the name you want or one close to it- it will give it the blogspot.com ending, then after it is live, go in to your admin panel and there is a place where it offers you to boy your own domain through google. You search to see if what you want is available, and then buy it. It's very easy. That's exactly what I did with Wordpress.com, so I already own the domain that I want. Now the issue is transferring my domain name it to another website. Thanks for the info though. I did get some help from others here. Blessings, Lucinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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