WordPress vs. Medium vs. Substack vs. Squarespace
In short, if owning your content is important to you, WordPress is the best option because it gives you full control over everything. Medium on the other hand is great for reaching an existing audience. Substack is the way to go if you want to monetize your content via subscription. Squarespace is the easiest option to set up, especially if you're just starting an online business and aren’t very tech-savvy.1. WordPress for Writers
In this post, we’re referring to the free open-source WordPress.org blogging platform, not the WordPress.com hosting service.
WordPress.org is the free, Open Source web publishing software project, owned by no one individual or company. WordPress.com is a hosted blogging service run by a company called Automattic. Source.What makes WordPress.org the world’s most popular blogging platform is the fact that it is open-source and theoretically also completely free to use – though pricing is something we’ll cover in detail later. We wouldn’t be using WordPress as our content management system of choice for this blog (yes, the SSD Nodes blog you’re reading right now) if we didn’t think it was the best out there… WordPress originally started its journey as a simple blogging system back in 2003, but it has since evolved to become an incredibly powerful platform that can be used to build almost anything, not just writing blogs! From simple hairdresser booking websites all the way to real estate agency listing websites & social networks, WordPress has got your back…
WordPress: How Much Does It Really Cost?
It’s important to note that while WordPress as a content management system is completely free to download and use, there are other costs associated with running a blog powered by WordPress. One such cost is the yearly domain registration fee as well as a reliable web host… On top of this, when building your website you may find that the functionality or appearance you’re aiming for is only achievable with the help of premium (paid) themes and plugins.Domain Name Registration
Obviously, your website requires a domain name which is something that you’ll need to register separately when building a blog with WordPress. On average domains can cost around $11.99 per year and some can be more expensive (especially if you’re buying one that is already owned by someone else).Hosting Costs
Obviously, when it comes to hosting, we’re biased but SSD Nodes offers powerful VPS hosting at a fraction of the cost of other hosting providers… This and your domain name registration fees really can’t be avoided.The Overall Experience
Overall, WordPress, for writers, and business owners, is extremely easy to work with. That being said, it is slightly more complicated to work with than Squarespace, Medium, and Substack but the benefits of that are that it’s also far more advanced and capable in terms of functionality, performance, and appearance.Themes & Designs
There are over 13,000 free themes available just in the WordPress official theme repository. There are a number of other paid themes (usually more reliable than the free themes) that you can buy that also come with support from the developers.Functionality & Integrations
In general, as of right now WordPress is without a doubt the most powerful blogging platform and content management system. This is especially true if you want to keep your options open to be able to sell any form of physical or digital products at some point. You want to turn your blog into an e-commerce shop? Easy. You can use Woocomerce. Or maybe you want to have a newsletter? You can use MailPoet or Newsletter, both of which integrate seamlessly with WordPress. You want to turn your blog into a membership site? Use MemberPress. You’re contemplating selling an online course? LearnDash has you covered. WordPress really offers endless possibilities. So if growth, customizability, and planning for the future are what you’re looking for then WordPress is the obvious choice…Data Ownership
WordPress is open-source. You are the sole owner of what you create. You’re free to switch hosts, migrate, change themes, and redesign or remove everything whenever you want… The rest of the writing platforms we’ll be covering in this article – Medium, Squarespace, and Substack are all closed platforms that control your content and make it difficult to migrate the content. Thankfully, this is not the case with WordPress and one of the reasons we love it and rely on it for our own website. You aren’t bound to setContinue reading this article
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