I have always wanted to create a blog, Not for any particular reason but the thought of having a place for myself where I write on some topics has always interested me. Thats why when in early 2024 when I considered starting this blog, I looked around and then finalised on WordPress.com from Automatic.
There were three main key factors in my decision :
1. Packaged Solution
2. Cost
3. Long Term Availability
Let’s get to the first one, A packaged solution is where a blogging platform provides the hosting, security updates and other improvements over time. This was critical to me as I don’t want to spend hours installing updates, PHP updates and plugin updates. This rules WordPress.org to me which is the open source version of WordPress.
The second one was the cost, I wanted to start this and not pay over the odds. I know cost is a very subjective topic but the general premise was to keep this below around 50$ AUD a year. This ruled out Ghost and Squarespace. They both have compelling products and I might even try them in future but for now, I eliminated them.
The third being long term availability. I want to use a platform which does have good change of being present 10 years down the line. A blog can also be a wisdom project. I really liked Blot.IM on how simple the interface is but more importantly liked it more the Micro.Blog. However there are long term availability questions for services that are passion projects and supported by a few people.
So this lead me to WordPress.Com. I am personally very satisfied with the onboarding process and some Minimalist themes. There are some drawbacks to this platform which I am fine with it right now. I might revisit my decision in future but for now I have pre-paid for 3 years at the cost of 110 AUD after a 30% discount.
iVikrant 