What is WordPress?

WordPress is a blog publishing application. It is popular due to its robust content management system and visually appealing design. If you are looking to immediately start blogging, the WordPress application is a good choice for every blogger.

WordPress.com as host vs. a third party web host

There are two ways to host your WordPress blog: with WordPress.com or a third party web hosting service such as hostpapa.ca, godaddy.com, etc. Before deciding which one, let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Advantages of WordPress.com as host:

• Convenient as they will take care of the technical side of blogging;
• Free;
• Immediate start up;
• You don’t have to know anything about programming languages.

However, the disadvantages are:

• Since you park your blog at WordPress.com, your domain name has the word “wordpress” in it, for example, yourblogname.wordpress.com;
• The choice of themes or styles for your blog is limited;
• You can’t customize your blog, not even edit the CSS;
• You can’t add plugins to your blog;
• No control over the database;
• FTP and shell are not included.

On the other hand, hosting with a third party web host gives you more freedom. You will have total control.

Here are the advantages:

• You have unlimited WordPress themes to choose for your blog;
• You can customize your blog the way you want by changing the codes (if you are familiar with PHP);
• You can add plugins to enhance your blog capabilities;
• You can access to your database;
• You can access your WordPress blog through FTP and Shell;
• 5-minutes installation;
• Your blog domain name will be www.yourblogname.com.

The disadvantages:

• You have to purchase your domain name and pay annually for it and for the web host service.

Based on the comparison, a third party web host is considered the best choice to host your WordPress blog. By hosting with a web hosting provider, you have total control of the blog layout to make it as visually appealing as you want it. If you want to share your expertise on certain topics, for instance, how to start a home based business, hosting your blog with a web host is essential.

With all the benefits of having your web host company host your blog, you have the ability to be more creative and to grow as a successful blogger.

WordPress site hosting requirements and features

There are many choices of web hosting companies. However, there are certain features and requirements to host WordPress software. As WordPress has just upgraded to 3.2, web host providers who offer the WordPress application must have PHP 5.2.4 and MySQL 5.0. Also, an Apache server is recommended due to it robustness and has the most features to run a dynamic website such as WordPress. You also need the mod_rewrite Apache module for customizing WordPress permalinks (the links/url of your blog posts). Based on these requirements, you need to find a web host which fulfills all this criteria and avoid the others that don’t have this capability.

Conclusion

Installing a WordPress application for your blog shouldn’t be difficult. Choose a web hosting service that makes it easy for you to install WordPress through a one click method from your control panel like HostPapa.ca, GoDaddy.com or HostGator.com. On top of it all, having a reliable 99.99% up time and supportive web hosting provider are essential. A web host with an excellent reputation in customer service will provide immediate assistance when you need technical support.