Connect with us

MARKETING

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com: What’s the Difference?

Published

on

Wordpress.org vs WordPress.com: What’s the Difference?

WordPress is one of the best website-building tools available, but it can be tricky to figure out how to use it for your purposes best. One of the most confusing parts of using this tool is deciding between WordPress.org vs WordPress.com.

wordpress.org vs wordpress.com: image shows a laptop with gears on the screen and a tab button

In this post, we’ll answer the question, “What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?” Through this examination of the differences between WordPress.org vs WordPress.com, you’ll gain valuable insight into which is better for crafting your website.

Because WordPress.org vs WordPress.com have a lot of overlap, deciphering the differences can be tricky. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of what differentiates WordPress.org from WordPress.com.

Feature WordPress.org WordPress.com
Cost Free. Free, Personal ($9/month or $4/month if paid annually), Premium ($18/month or $8/month if paid annually), Business ($40/month or $25/month if paid annually), and Commerce ($70/month or $45/month if paid annually). There’s also enterprise available, which starts at $25,000 a year.

Hosting Provider and

Additional Features

Need to purchase hosting provider, create a custom domain name, purchase plugins, themes, and all other add-ons. Must manage your entire website, code, and security. WordPress offers a hosting service, domain name, security, and backups. You can upgrade your account and create a custom domain name and choose a third-party hosting provider as well.
Customization Must purchase and install your own themes to customize your website. Customize your website with any WordPress-compatible theme of your choice. If you upgrade your account, you can also use premium themes, third-party themes, or custom themes.

Integration with Social

Networks

Advertisement
Must install plugins to enable all social media sharing on your website. Your website can integrate with social media networks. If you upgrade your account, sharing functionality with social media accounts is included.
Plugins Find and install plugins to enhance your website’s functionality. Features such as sharing, stats, comments, and polls are included. You can also add plugins to your website for other features.
Support WordPress.org support forums. WordPress.com support forums and personal support are available. With an upgraded account, you have access to live chat and email support.
Link to Download Get started here. Get started here.

Let’s dive into these features and review the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com in more depth.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com: Cost

Another consideration when deciding between WordPress.org vs WordPress.com is cost. The most important thing to remember is that WordPress can work for you regardless of your budget.

Cost of WordPress.org

WordPress.org is always free. However, because it’s only a publishing platform, you’ll have to purchase every other element of your website, including your third-party hosting provider, domain name, as well as your themes and templates, plugins, and add-ons.

You’ll also have to find a way to manage your website’s security and maintain and edit your site’s code. As you might have guessed, this can quickly add up. If you’re curious about how much a WordPress website costs, check out our comprehensive guide.

Cost of WordPress.com

WordPress.com has four different plans that range in price.

wordpress.org vs wordpress.com: image compares different levels of wordpress.com pricing

Source

WordPress.com offers several plans that vary in price: Personal ($9/month or $4/month if paid annually), Premium ($18/month or $8/month if paid annually), Business ($40/month or $25/month if paid annually), and Commerce ($70/month or $45/month if paid annually). There’s also enterprise available, which starts at $25,000 a year.

Advertisement

As you work your way up through the more expensive plans, the more features and customization you can take advantage of on your website.

If you choose the free option, you will be offered WordPress hosting, a domain name, and minimal access to WordPress support. If you choose one of the paid options, you can add a hosting provider and a custom domain name. You will also be offered extensive support and customization options.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com Hosting Providers

A hosting provider is crucial because it gives your website a place to “live” online. By choosing the best hosting provider for your WordPress site, you can boost your site’s functionality, speed, reliability, security — the list goes on and on.

Hosting for WordPress.org

As we mentioned, if you decide to work with WordPress.org, you must secure your own hosting. When you self-host, you’ll purchase hosting services from a third-party provider (Think: WP Engine, Kinsta, or InMotion Hosting). Because there are so many hosting providers available, it can be challenging to pick the “right” one for your website. That’s why we’ve created this handy guide to help.

Hosting for WordPress.com

If you’re using WordPress.com, you might not need to secure hosting separately. Because WordPress.com offers hosting services (for a cost), you can decide whether you want to use a third-party provider or stick with the original.

Pros and Cons of Self-Hosting

Many benefits come from self-hosting your WordPress website, as you would with a WordPress.org site. However, there are also a lot of challenges to be aware of that often make WordPress.com plans preferable.

Advertisement

The pros of self-hosting include having complete control over everything that goes into creating your website and the ability to manage your website’s security and edit your website’s code. You also have the opportunity to find, buy, and install a third-party hosting provider of your choosing, create a custom domain name, and find different themes, plugins, and add-ons that work for your site and needs. If you choose the self-hosting route, use the WordPress platform for free.

The cons to self-hosting include having to spend time finding, purchasing, and installing an ideal third-party hosting provider for your site. Plus, there’s some manual work associated with learning how to create a domain name, identify the themes, plugins, and enhance your site with add-ons. You also need some knowledge in web development, as you’ll be the one managing your website’s code and updates.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com Customization

Next up, let’s compare WordPress.org vs WordPress.com in terms of customization. As you already know, WordPress is an entirely customizable CMS. Thanks to hundreds of WordPress themes and templates you can access for little to no cost, it’s possible to achieve virtually any look imaginable. Here’s how the two differ — and how they’re the same.

WordPress.org Customization

With WordPress.org, you must find and install your desired third-party themes, such as StudioPress, Elementor, Pixelgrade, and Stylemix Themes, on your own. WordPress does not allow access to free themes the way WordPress.com does, so the customization level you want depends on your theme research and the options you decide to implement on your website.

WordPress.com Customization

While WordPress.org makes you research themes and customization, WordPress.com hands it directly to you. Even if you’re working with the free version of WordPress.com, you’ll get access to dozens of entirely free themes to select from and implement. The free plan does not let you add any third-party or premium themes to your website.

However, with a paid plan, you can use premium, third-party themes as you would with a WordPress.org website. If you choose this route, WordPress.com allows you to easily install your third-party or premium theme so you can get started customizing your website in just minutes.

Advertisement

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com Social Media Integration

If you’re wondering, “What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org regarding social media integration?” We’ve got you covered. Social media marketing isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s a must, and ideally, your WordPress website makes integrating seamless.

That way, you can manage all of your interactions in one digestible place, broaden your impact, and even increase your conversions. Plus, ensuring your social media is visible on your WordPress website is an excellent way to demonstrate to visitors that you have a social media presence — and that they should engage with it!

WordPress.org Social Media Integration

As you likely guessed, WordPress.org has no innate social media integration. To add this functionality, you’ll install plugins o your website. There are plenty of options to pick from, but some of the most popular ones you’ll spot in the WordPress plugin library include Social Media Widget by Acurax and Jetpack. These user-friendly plugins simplify tedious tasks like social media posting on your site.

WordPress.com Social Media Integration

If you have a free WordPress.com account, it is possible to integrate your site with various social media accounts. Yes, it will require some work on your end, but you can do so by publicizing your website or connecting it to your multiple social accounts. The process is even easier if you’re working with a paid WordPress.com account. If you have a paid WordPress account, all social media integration comes included and ready-to-use.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com Plugins

One of the primary reasons WordPress is such a popular platform is thanks to its seemingly endless array of plugins. There are so many reasons we love plugins — they can help you add functionality to your website, (most) are cost-effective, and are easy to use.

Whether you’re looking to integrate seamlessly with your CRM software or optimize your images faster, there is a plugin to help. (Psst: With over 60,000 plugin options available, it can be downright impossible to determine which are worth the time — and money. Here’s our comprehensive guide to the 38 best WordPress plugins.)

Advertisement

WordPress.org Plugins

If you have a WordPress.org site, you can add plugins to your website — but you’ll need to do the legwork to source them yourself. Because WordPress.org is just a platform and no features are included with your plan, you’ll have to install some plugins yourself. If you’re unsure where to begin, you can look at the WordPress plugin library to narrow down the thousands of search results and find an option suited to your specific needs.

WordPress.com Plugins

Another reason WordPress.com is popular is that with some of the plans available, you can get customer interaction, social media, and analytics features automatically included. These aren’t included with a traditional WordPress.org plan, which is why it’s an attractive option. All you have to do to get these default features on your WordPress.com site is to install WordPress-compatible plugins of your choosing. Of course, you can also install custom plugins, depending on your plan.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com Support

Throughout the process of building your website, it’s understandable if you have questions or concerns popping up. The good news is that depending on which plan you select, WordPress has support available to help you through the growing pains and learning curves that accompany starting a website.

WordPress.org Support

WordPress.org doesn’t offer much customer support, which is why it might not be the right option for beginners who know they’re likely to encounter roadblocks. Furthermore, with WordPress.org, you don’t get any one-on-one assistance. Of course, there are still resources available — such as accessing the WordPress.org support page. From there, you can use the available forums to troubleshoot your problem.

wordpress.org vs wordpress.com image shows documentation page for wordpress.org

Source

WordPress.com Support

Depending on which plan you use, you may have more support by opting for WordPress.com. If you stick with a free account, you can harness the power of WordPress’ robust community support and forums. (Think of these as the WordPress.com equivalent to WordPress.org support pages.) Most important to know is that if you stay with a free account, you’ll have to do most of your own problem-solving.

That’s where being a paid WordPress.com user is advantageous. If you’re paying to use WordPress.com, you will have 24/7 access to live chat and email support with WordPress experts, in addition to community support and forums. Considering that WordPress.com plans don’t have to be extremely costly, you might find it a worthwhile investment to have an expert in your corner.

Advertisement

Back To You

Understanding the key differences between WordPress.org and the various WordPress.com plans is key to determining which type of website best fits your needs. WordPress.org is a great option if you want complete control over every aspect of your site. WordPress.com is preferable if you need assistance building your website and want more automation.

Once you’ve reviewed and considered all of the plan options, you can get started by downloading your WordPress.org or WordPress.com account and utilizing the variety of features you have access to design a website perfect for your specific needs.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Apply for a job, keep track of important information, and prepare for an  interview with the help of this free job seekers kit.

 

Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

MARKETING

How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

Published

on

A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

Advertisement

Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

Advertisement

Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

Advertisement

“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

Advertisement

Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

Advertisement

Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

Source link

Advertisement
Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

MARKETING

Trends in Content Localization – Moz

Published

on

Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

Source link

Advertisement
Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

MARKETING

How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

Published

on

How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

(more…)

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

Trending

Follow by Email
RSS