WordPress is a great web design tool. We use it for all new websites and allows customers to update their own website, manage images, shopping carts and blog posts.

It is an awesome tool but can be very confusing at the beginning.  Setting it up properly still required knowledge of domain names, DNS servers and web hosting etc to setup hosting in NZ. Even though this can be automated getting the address without a /wordpress suffix etc can be tricky.

You may choose wordpress.com (free and hosted) over WordPress.org which you install on your own or hosted server – beware.

There are many theme available and what are called responsive themes. These adjust to your visitors using tablets, phones or different computers – keeping your site looking great. But beware, the theme you choose dictates the features you can use on your website later so you need to spend some time analysing themes to ensure you select the right one for your needs.

Great themes are available to purchase from

but if you choose to shortcut NZ hosting and use WordPress.com, bad luck. WordPress.com doesn’t support the vast majority of themes available from 3rd-party developers such as these. WordPress.com therefore is not our recommended option if you are serious about your website or blog.

With WordPress.com you cannot change your layout and you also have to pay extra for optional extras. Sure you can get started for free but as you need to develop or expand your site you start paying, usually more than if you had your own site hosted. These extras include your own domain name (you need this to look professional) and to remove ads etc.

How so you manage your email service with wordpress.com? You can’t as it doesn’t provide any email services. So are you going to use me@hotmail.com? Not very professional. You will require an email server. Another reason it is better to use WordPress hosted on a NZ server with email services and total control.

Other things to consider is a hosted site like wordpress.com could shutdown at anytime and you cannot use plugins. WordPress is very powerful when plugins are used. Every site we develop uses a number of plugins. They give you (often free) functionality to do clever things with your site like forms and other magic things.

WordPress is very powerful and our choice of tool but if you are going it alone, choose carefully between wordpress.com and hosting your own WordPress site.

Contact us for advice or development services.