Which platform do you use? Why? And, would you recommend it? Did you build/design the site yourself or did you hire someone? Any recommendations?
We use WordPress to run our blog and would definitely recommend it! Although we don’t have experience with any other blogging platform, we’ve found that WordPress is really easy to use and easy to change the design of. By using themes we have been able to build and change the design of our blog all on our own. Currently we are running on the Black Olive theme by Angie Makes and it has been our favorite! In the past we have also downloaded themes from Etsy and Theme Forest. Although some of the themes are easier to use than others, for the most part they make keeping up with the design element really easy.
Another thing we love about WordPress are the plugins! There are tons of options for add-ons to your site. However, we have learned to be careful with the plugins we download and the amount of them we use on the site. Too many plugins can slow your site down and a bad plugin can cause a total crash of your website. It’s important to read the reviews and check that a plug in is compatible with your version of WordPress before installing it.
Finally, what we love about WordPress the most is that you can use it to design just about any kind of website, not just a blog! We also use it to run our shop! The theme we use for the shop is bundled with WooCommerce, so we’re able to easily manage the entire store, from inventory management to tax collection, in WordPress.
One thing we would add to a great WordPress experience is self hosting. Self hosting helps you appear more professional and allows you greater flexibility! We purchased our domain and hosting for both of our websites from GoDaddy. We can’t attest to the performance of GoDaddy v. other hosting sites, but we can say that for the most part, we have no complaints! Their customer service has been very helpful over the years, from offering advice about private domain registrations and SSL certificates, to helping us set up our blog on our domain. They were even able to help us out of a bind when a bad plugin caused our site to crash!
What about you, what platform do you use?
– Brooke & Erica
Hop on over to Peaches In A Pod to see what Whitney and Blaire have to say!
I’ve always heard the self-hosted word press is the way to go. I think it’s awesome that you can run your shop with it too!
Jill
Doused In Pink
I’m also with self-hosted WordPress and love it, never had any issues! Such a helpful post ladies!
Marta
http://www.sweatersstripesandsweets.com
I have heard great things about wordpress, but I just need to find the time to switch and learn a new platform! Ahh!
I have been learning about the plugin thing….I had picked a bad one that wasn’t compatible, thinking it wouldn’t be a big deal and then all of a sudden I couldn’t upload pictures. Luckily a quick Google search taught me what you just said about some plugins not meshing. Great post!
I love wordpress too! I started on blogger, and quickly switched over. I just like how much freedom I have with the way it looks:)
Emily
Darling, Dearest
I totally agree. Self hosted WordPress is the way to go. I didn’t know that loading up your site with a bunch of plugins could slow it down! I’ll have to clean up my plugin list, because there are so many that I’ve downloaded and never seem to use. Hope you have a great day!
– Dara // http://www.peoniesandhoneybees.com
I’m on Blogger for now, but probably should switch over. I need to save all these helpful posts!
We use blogger. I’ve heard that WordPress can be hard to use but i’ve noticed that there seem to be many more options for your site. A switch over can be hard because of converting old posts.
Traci
waltzmetoheaven.com
I use blogger right now, and it works for me. Just thinking of switching makes my palms sweaty, hehe. One day…and when that day comes, I’ll just pay someone to do it. In the mean time I’ll just be jealous of some of the plug ins, like the automatic tweet thing, I like that I can just click the button for someone and off it goes to twitter 🙂
I am glad to hear you are using GoDaddy for hosting and that you have not had any issues – because I was planning on going with them, too.
Lisa
Daily Style Finds
Great tips ladies! I use WordPress and have always loved it. I recommend the nonprofits I work with to go with a WordPress site. I’m building a WordPress site for a friend, too. It’s the easiest to teach someone how to use!
Cheers! Megan
http://www.sweetsauceblog.com/rainy-day-stripes-outfit/
Love this type of bloghop! I use blogger. I’ve heard great things about WordPress but Blogger has been working just perfectly for me lately.
http://michellespaige.com
I’m really enjoying this series and reading everyone’s perspectives!
Andrea
Andrea’s Wellness Notes
We learned that the hard way, when our site crashed once because of plugins!
I actually wish we knew a little more about blogger, we just started out with wordpress! I couldn’t handle that switch either, too much technical stuff, lol.
Awesome! Yeah, we haven’t had any issues with them, occasionally our site has slowed down, maybe when the servers had heavy traffic, but that’s about it!
Yeah! You have awesome site building (and social media) skills! 🙂
That’s awesome! We know a lot of people use blogger and it’s great!
Thanks for reading! 🙂
Yeah! We were happy that we already knew how to use it so we could build the store with it.
Woo!! 🙂
Switching would be scary to me too!! If you’re working great with blogger I don’t see why you need to switch. 🙂
Yes!! We learned that the hard way too, then I became terribly afraid of plugins, lol.
Yeah! 🙂
I think a lot of people use blogger and it works great for them!
I would be afraid to switch over too! I think your blog is great!