Donna’s Comments (group member since Jan 29, 2016)

Donna’s comments from the WordPress Bloggers group.

For anyone who is interested in adding advertising to their blog, here's an article on how to do that using Google AdSense.

Oh, I understand now. :)

So there is WordPress.com and then there is self-hosted. Here's a breakdown of a free WordPress.com blog vs. a self-hosted one:

WordPress.com
Pros
- The basic plan is free.
- You don't have to worry about maintenance.
- They do regular backups of your site.

Cons
- You don't get your own domain name. Instead, it will be something like www.myblog.wordpress.com.
- You can't use custom themes.
- You can't install plugins.
- They show ads and keep the money.

Self-hosted WordPress
Pros
- You choose your domain name (e.g. www.myawesomeblog.com).
- You can use any theme you want.
- You can use any plugin you want.
- No ads unless you want them, and YOU keep the money.

Cons
- It's not free.
- You are responsible for maintaining your site and ensuring your plugins and themes are up-to-date.

Ultimately, it's a trade-off between cost / ease of use and flexibility.

Here's an infographic that goes into a bit more detail. Note that when they say WordPress.org, that's just another way of saying self-hosted.

Hope that helps.

Hey Geoff,

Do you have any links to some of these sites so I can have a look and get a better understanding of what you mean?

Cheers.

What are some questions you have about using WordPress? Are you confused about what plugins to install or how to tweak your theme? Wondering about the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?

This is the place to ask all of your burning WordPress questions.

Book bloggers spend a lot of time not only reading, but also writing about what we read. We do it for the love of literature, but have you ever wondered about the possibility of making some money off your blog? Do you even know where to start? What are some questions you have about it?

For those of you who are already monetizing your blog, please enlighten the rest of us with the strategies you use and how they are working for you.

What are some strategies you use to get more traffic to your book blog? Do you just write your reviews and hope for the best? Do you use social media, SEO, guest blogging, something else? Do you even care if people read what you write?

Let's get a discussion going about any and all methods you use to get more people reading your blog, and which of those methods are working the best for you.