If there is one thing I learned early on when I began the quest to make a replacement income through blogging, it is that it is essential to have a self-hosted blog using WordPress Blogging Software. Why? Because you can get a lot of widgets with a WordPress Platform that you can’t get with other blog software. Okay, perhaps it would be unfair for me make such a blanket statement considering the only blogging platforms I’ve used are Blogger, Blogdrive and WordPress, but just based on what little experience I’ve had, I’ve made more money using a self-hosted WordPress blog than I ever did with the other blogs. There were methods of monetisation that I could tap into with WordPress that I wasn’t able to with other blogs, for instance Text-Link-Ads.

The main reason I initially used a hosted blog software, like Blogger, was because I was daunted by the task of having to set up a domain, purchase hosting and install my own blogging software.  But when I signed up for BlogMastermind and Yaro strongly advised us to set up our own blogs using the WordPress Platform, it turned out to be a lot friendlier than I had anticipated.  There were hosting companies like BlueHost that made it so easy, all it took was to fill in your details, choose a domain name that wasn’t already taken and click “install WordPress” and there you have your very first self-hosted WordPress blog.

Having hosted my own blogs for nearly a year and a half now, I think the biggest pain is software maintenance.  For instance, every time WordPress.org releases a new version of WordPress, I need to update my blog software.  Although BlueHost makes it easy to update with it’s one click program “Fantastico”, the problem with this is that it never updates the software to the latest version available.  Fantastico is usually a couple of versions behind.  So if you really want to have the most updated version of WordPress, you have to install it yourself.  Bad news for the tech-unsavvy people.

I tried it once and managed to successfully upgrade my blog software without destroying anything but it was such a painful process, I swore I never wanted to go through it again.  Thankfully, I discovered this wonderful little plugin that will automatically update your WordPress blog to the most updated version of WordPress available with a few clicks of your mouse.  Still slight more time consuming compared to using Fantastico, but infinitely better than upgrading manually.

My only issue now is that I don’t really like the new WordPress 2.7…  Or perhaps I just need some time to adjust to the new layout?