WordPress.com Strikes Again: Continuing Issues with WordPress.Com
WordPress.com strikes again!
How’s that for a headline?
Can you believe it?
Well it’s absolutely true. Now don’t fret, this time it has nothing to do with any of my blogs, especially this one but there are continuing issues with WordPress.com.
A friend of mine had been maintaining her MLM/network marketing related blog on WordPress.com. Though focused on MLM and network marketing, she apparently had the same perception I did when I maintained my original blog there; keep the blog content value-based with minimal promotion and outbound links.
It seems, however, she also crossed that vague line in the Terms of Service (TOS) of WordPress.com and …. Well watch the video and find out!
Forewarned is Forearmed!
I don’t want to be a NAG but read this and pay ATTENTION!!!!
If you want to maintain a blog for any sort of marketing purpose and intend to do any promotion and advertisement of MLM, network marketing, affiliate programs, etc.
Take the time to learn how to establish a self-hosted blog (and yes the WordPress platform is great for that; so long as it’s self-hosted). PERIOD!
If you still wonder why, read the following two posts (you can access the links on this blog’s “Home” page under the “Blogs and Blogging” section) and avoid issues with WordPress.com:
- Choosing a Free versus Self-hosted WordPress Blog
- 10 Videos to Establish a Self-hosted WordPress Blog
You’ll be glad you did!
If you need further help beyond those posts (or other available online resources) click on the “Contact” link at the top of the page, complete the requested information and enter a brief message asking for WordPress assistance.
The rates are reasonable, since the next several people to do so will be mentored for “FREE“.
Reader Comments
Jim,
Thanks for the warning! Question: If I am hosting my own WP blog on Hostgator am I at risk or am I safe?
Thanks.
Nick
Nick Davis’s last blog post..Facebook Social Marketing Tips
Hi Nick,
If you are setting up WP on your own host account (such as HostGator) you will be fine as long as you don’t do anything illegal (then HostGator may take exception).
This only pertains to those who use the WP platform on the free host at WordPress.com (you or someone downloaded the WP software package from WordPress.org (a different site) and then uploaded to your own host to use there.
I hope that clarifies ….
Best always,
Jim
Thanks for the heads up. I’m putting up a WP blog and having it set up with custom graphics and it includes hosting, I think on hostgator. They do offer to set it up on your own hosting account, but they’re package includes hosting on either hostgator or hostmonster. Not sure if that will matter?
Charles
Hi there Jim,
Great post. It’s so important to own your own platform in my opinion. Hosting can be as cheap as $7.95 per month with Host Gator and the peace of mind knowing that your material can never be taken away is well worth it in my opinion.
Just the other day I had my Blip TV account whipped out because my videos where too promotional in nature. I didn’t have a problem with this as I should have read the TOC’s more closely.
Like you though Jim, my account was shut down with no forewarning. This means that a lot of my landing pages and blog posts had to be re-done. It’s a big job and a major pain in the you know what! If they had of even given me a days notice I could have re-done everything with no interruption to my sites, but this never seems to happen in these cases.
I’ve decided to take my videos onto a dedicated service for all the important stuff so I don’t have to worry about this. I’ll probably still use Viddler for my blogs because I like them, but you don’t know when they will change their policies and delete you out as well.
Owning your own content and how it’s stored is the only way to protect yourself from these kinds of situations.
I would recommend copying the html code of every blog post and keeping it on a folder on your hard drive. If you use images in your posts then I would save them in the same folder or in a sub folder of that.
This way if this happens to you, all your info is still safe and you can quickly put it on a self hosted blog or some other social media site (if your game).
Thanks for another great post Jim.
Steve Anderson
Steve Anderson’s last blog post..Pitchers In Social Media – 1 Strike & You’re Out!
Hi Steve and Charles,
sorry for the delay in re-commenting (it’s that time in the semester!)
@Charles … As far as I know, you are completely fine on HG as long as it’s legal … so you shouldn’t have a problem
@ Steve … Live and learn …. I had been forewarned as others were too but sometimes we have to learn the hard way. I hadn’t thought of the video aspects (which I have gotten away from for about a month). I’ll have to think about how to handle that in the future. And yes … back-up; back-up; back-up (and even after saying it or typing it I still need to be reminded).
Thanks!