5 Reasons Why WordPress.com Sucks for Serious Entrepreneurs

“I posted my very first blog entry in WordPress.com.

Back then, I used to blog only about my personal experiences, treating it more like a journal of my daily journey.

Sometime later, I started my own online business and decided to transform my WordPress.com site into a full-fledged business one.

I found that I can’t actually tweak my website to make it look as unique as possible.

Even with the paid upgrades, I can only go so far when it comes to customizing my website in terms of themes, layout, and the plugins I could use.

I had to look elsewhere for a good content management system that can offer me more control and freedom on how I want my website to look like.”

Before jumping to the 5 reasons why WordPress sucks for serious entrepreneurs, let’s first take a look at why WordPress.com works for some people:

First, you don’t need to have any background with HTML or CSS because WordPress has some pretty workable presets.

You also get a decent selection of themes, as well as some layouts you can choose from.

In other words, everything is done for you already and you just have to make a few clicks to apply your choices.

Second, is WordPress free? Yes it is!

This is what basically makes WordPress a great startup place for beginner bloggers, apart from the user-friendly navigation.

Rounding up some reviews, though, WordPress doesn’t do much if you want to so some serious blogging. Here are the reasons why.

Reason #1: Limitations in Themes and Layouts

Starting out with the preset themes and layouts can be great in the beginning, but over time you’ll want to start customizing your website to make it look as unique as possible.

The best way to do this is if your webhosting provider allows you to.

With WordPress, you’ll be limited to a few themes, especially if you choose the free option.

For the premium themes, be prepared to shell out at least $30 a year for their Custom Design Upgrade. Still, even if you use the paid service, the modifications are still highly restricted.

One example is when you want to change where your social media icons are placed.

WordPress doesn’t actually give you the option to move your icons from the right side of the page to the top part. The modifications you can do depends on the current underlying theme.

Another example is that if you’re holding a limited sale, yet WordPress doesn’t let you add a widget.

To enable widgets, WordPress needs to be able to accommodate Javascript, which is needed to use widgets. Unfortunately, this option isn’t available in WordPress.

Reason #2: Paying for the “Extras”

With WordPress, you won’t be able to get your own domain name unless you pay $13 a year.

This means you only get the address “yourname.wordpress.com,” instead of “yourname.com.” No personalized blog name for entrepreneurs here.

Another example is WordPress requires an annual payment of $20 to get 3GB worth of additional space for your website.

If planning to host audio files, you won’t be able to unless you make this upgrade.

Hosting videos, on the other hand, requires $60 a year before you can host videos on your WordPress website.

Until then, you can just opt to embed your YouTube or Vimeo videos, but it won’t look as professional as when the videos are hosted directly on your WordPress site.

Lastly, WordPress doesn’t allow third-party plugins.

Plugins are used for a variety of purposes, such as backups, fillable forms, or SEO boosting–an important element in any online business.

Although you can easily refer to SBI’s tutorial on building a website properly from scratch, it’d be more convenient if you could have a handy tool nearby.

WordPress, however, offers this for a pretty hefty price at $3,750 a month.

Reason #3: No E-Mail Hosting

Unlike other webhost providers, WordPress doesn’t offer e-mail hosting as part of their package.

This means that there won’t be a “yourname@yourdomain.com” e-mail address. You’ll need to look for a third-party e-mail hosting provider to get your personalized email.


This translates to added expenses. Let’s take a look at GoDaddy; 10 emails will cost around $7 a year.

This may not seem a large amount, but it would’ve been an unnecessary expense had WordPress offered it as part of a package.

Other webhosting providers, though, can make that offer without including an outrageous price tag.

Reason #4: WordPress.com Doesn’t Allow Affiliate Links

For bloggers who like to earn from linking to products and websites that aren’t theirs, you might want to look elsewhere.

For example, if you’ll earn commissions by promoting a specific brand or product that isn’t yours, WordPress would flag your account and tell that you need to remove the link.

What works is posting links of products that are made by you, and you only.

Reason #5: Websites Are In Danger of Being Shutdown Without Notice

Upon looking at the Terms of Service, WordPress has the right to hold or suspend your website without informing you beforehand, and they may do so with our without apparent reason.

This provides a red flag for most people, especially serious entrepreneurs who need to make sure that their websites are up and running 24/7.

WordPress, just like any hosting site, may stumble into accidents and mistakes and going through the whole process of trying to get things right would be stressful and bothersome to busy entrepreneurs.

While WordPress blogs do have their own strengths and beneficial features, there is a limit on what you can do to turn your website into what you are hoping for.

If you’re serious about blogging and getting your message across, you’re going to need control and freedom to do what needs to be done.

The limits you will encounter with WordPress.com’s features are synonymous to hitting a brick wall, and you might need to pull out eventually to get more for your brand name.

Part of a business’ success is strategically designed website, which is why most serious entrepreneurs make sure their websites are designed well.

If, in case, you already went ahead with WordPress and you want to change your web hosting provider later on, Right Blog Tips advises to back up all your database and static files since it’s possible to move them to a new domain.

The bottom line is, although WordPress.com has handy preset features that means you won’t have to tinker with the technicalities, you lose control to a certain extent.

This, however, depends on what type of blogger you want to be. If you’re the expressive type of blogger who just wants to post a diary entry, then WordPress.com would be more than efficient.

However, WordPress sucks for serious entrepreneurs who need more control and freedom on their content, as well as how they want their content to be presented.

If you’re with the latter, then you might want to consider looking into self-hosting your WordPress blogs.

Now Its Your Turn

Now I’d like to hear what you have to say.

Why do you think WordPress.com sucks for serious entrepreneurs?

Are you going to use free or self-hosted WordPress blog?

Let me know by leaving a comment below.