Is it OK to use a free wordpress.com for your business?
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I was wondering, is it OK to a free wordpress.com for your business, like you would use it for a personal blog?
Like http://www.mybrand.wordpress.com?
Because if you create a new website, you have the option free, but there’s also an options “business”.Thank you.
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The answer is yes.
See here for details of all 3 plans http://store.wordpress.com/bundles/ offered by WordPress.com.
Premium bundle details http://store.wordpress.com/plans/premium/
A free blog and free features https://en.wordpress.com/features/
A custom domain
Advanced customization
Store dozens of videos
13 GB of space
No Ads
Direct Email supportBusiness bundle details http://store.wordpress.com/plans/business/
A free blog and free features https://en.wordpress.com/features/
A custom domain
Advanced customization
50+ premium themes included
eCommerce
Store Unlimited videos
Unlimited space
No Ads
Live Chat support
Google AnalyticsNote that each upgrade bundle applies to a single blog only and is for a single year only when it is due to be renewed. There are no discounts based on non-profit status or any discriminatory factors and invoices or purchase orders are not accepted.
We all pay in full for every upgrade at the time of purchase. Make sure you read the comparison very closely do you know exactly what the restrictions and limitations on WordPress.COM blogging are: http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
Read Important Notes Before Upgrading http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/#important-notes-before-upgrading
WordPress.com blogs cannot be equipped for eCommerce transactions unless they have the $299. per year annually renewable Business upgrade. https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/ecommerce-is-now-available-on-wordpresscom?replies=1
See here for ecommerce details http://en.support.wordpress.com/ecommerce/Otherwise, provided you are selling only what you yourself make or a service that you personally provide you have two options.
(1) Know that the only instructions that will work for posting a PayPal donation button on a WordPress.com blog are found here http://en.support.wordpress.com/paypal/(2) If you set up an Ecommerce site somewhere else online you can create a custom menu http://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/ and include a custom link to that site in it. http://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/#adding-custom-links
Some bloggers create a contact form https://en.support.wordpress.com/contact-form/ on a page and after the people have made a PayPal donation they provide the link to a private page for downloading files. Maybe that will work for you.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/page-visibility/The only advertising program at WordPress.com is called WordAds and it’s for blogs on their own domains.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/
http://en.wordpress.com/apply-for-wordads/Advertising outside of WordAds at WordPress.com is not allowed.
http://support.wordpress.com/advertising/ Here’s what gets a blog suspended:
http://wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/affiliate-links/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/suspended-blogs/
http://en.wordpress.com/tos/1. WordPress.com allows bloggers to insert text affiliate links within post and page content to most third-party affiliate programs, provided they are not the primary content of the site in question.
2. Image affiliate links in posts and pages and any banners, affiliate links in sidebar or footer widget areas, are still considered to be advertising and are not allowed on WordPress.com blogs.
NOTE: Aside from the plugins I linked to for Ecommerce blogs with the Business upgrade only, there is no FTP access and no blogger installed plugin capability on any free hosted WordPress.COM blogs, we cannot install custom or third party themes, and there is no upgrade you can purchase here that changes that reality.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/ftp-access/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/plugins/ -
Depends, what are you going to do with the site?
If you want to sell things, then the Business plan (see above) is probably the one you will need.
What type of business?
If you have say a yard services business and you are going to brag (sorry about the word) what kind of really creative work you have done in the past and what you can do for me to solve my front yard – then probably you don’t need and would not use the many features of the business or other plan
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Didn’t I cover all that above?
WordPress.com blogs cannot be equipped for eCommerce transactions unless they have the $299. per year annually renewable Business upgrade.
…
Otherwise, provided you are selling only what you yourself make or a service that you personally provide you have two options. …
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Oh, now I see what you are getting at. If one does not sell any goods or services on the blog, then they could use the free plan.
Free
Great for basic blogging
$0 for life
Free site!
WordPress.com address
3 GB of space
May show ads (wordpress.com may display advertising on your blog)
Community support -
Hi,
A free blog at WordPress.com is great for both your personal as well as business.
Since the free WordPress.com plan provides 3GB storage to store photos and documents, so after using that total space, usually you will need to either upgrade to a paid WordPress.com plan or move the site to a self-hosted server.
So, while you can start with a free WordPress.com site, at a point of time, you might need some upgrades to use those great features (paid plans have some additional facilities).
If you want to add a more personalized look to your site, you can register a custom domain such as “example.com” instead of the free “example.wordpress.com” domain. You can still keep using the free WordPress.com hosting.
Please see this page to know details about free and paid (including business) plans of WordPress.com: https://store.wordpress.com/plans/
To learn more about registering a custom domain please see:
https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/
https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/register-domain/Cheers :)
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@TT – I did read your reply – if I was the OP I would probably have been confused – that is why I gave a simple answer as well as ask what they really wanted to do with the site.
“Business” can be anything from Dog Groomer, Graphics Designer getting started or any one of many small one person businesses to IBM – so a bit more info is needed to nudge the OP in a good direction
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