If you have a host account and you’re looking into keeping and developing your blog for long term use, then WordPress is the way to go. Why? Off the top of my head, here are things I could think of:

  • Since WordPress is Open-Source, it is FREE! Just go to their website, download the latest WordPress version, and install it in your own server. But if your hosting offers the Fantastico commercial script library, then you can just perform a WordPress one-click installation from your CPanel.
  • There are tons of free themes to choose from! Web Tools Collection and the Theme Viewer have awesome WordPress themes selection.
  • The many, many plugins (and continuously growing in number) are free for everyone to use. Plugins are my personal favorite. They make a blog more usable, accessible, highly customizable, and of course, fun! For a long list of working plugins, I recommend the WordPress Plugin Database.
  • WordPress adheres to W3C standards for XHTML and CSS. If your blog has valid XHTML and CSS, it will most likely appear all right when viewed using different standard-compliant browsers.
  • With WordPress, you have the freedom to set the categories of your posts (add / delete / edit) and there’s no limit!
  • Once you’ve successfully installed WordPress, the standard RSS and Atom configurations for feed readers or Aggregators are automatically good to go.
  • WordPress has a built-in trackback or pingback feature. Trackbacks or pingbacks lets another website know that your blog has an entry that references that particular website, and vice versa (It also notifies you when another website used your blog as reference).
  • WordPress has the Codex! The WordPress Codex is a comprehensive tutorial website that helps you with everything you need to know to tweak your blog. I also find myself coming back to explore the Codex once in a while when I need something or when a client requests for a specific thing to appear in his or her blog.
  • WordPress is not only for “blogging”. Since it’s a CMS, it’s also useful for corporate websites that need regular website updates. You can actually modify WordPress to not appear like a blog.
  • Best of all, WordPress has a large user community. When you’re part of this community, you can be sure that interaction with other bloggers is easier and faster.

I’ve been using WordPress for more than a year now and I can say that I’m very pleased with it. WordPress allows me to have full control over my website. Whatever I need or want to do, there is almost always a solution.

And here’s something exciting: Ever since I set up my personal blog with WordPress, I’ve been able to (slowly but effectively) improve it in terms of backlinks, unique visits and page views, readership (well, not really. lol) and search-engine friendliness. I’m happy that my blog has reached that certain level of “worth” some advertisers are looking for. Thanks to my blog (which is powered by WordPress) I’ve been making some moolah on the side. ;)