Knowledge is potential power. The goal of my website is to provide knowledge that assists readers in making money online and learn from other people’s costly mistakes. I recently had some business dealing with Wordpress.com. I have decided to write about my dealings with Wordpress.com. Hoping that all readers will learn from my situation. This information should allow you to save both time and frustration.
Over the last few years, I have toyed with many different blogs. I have used several different blog platforms. When I became serious, about earning an income with blogging, I settled on the Wordpress platform. I created a hosted blog with Wordpress.com. Little did I know that decision was going to come with frustration and unanswered questions.
Wordpress.com shares the same creators as the Wordpress blogging platform (Wordpress.com vs. Wordpress.org, n.d.). Several features of Wordpress.com invited me to choose their hosting.
1. My experience with the Wordpress blogging platform
2. Stated that they had over 70 templates available
3. Availability of plug ins and widgets
4. Ease in tracking site visitors
5. Having a blog that was “xxxx.wordpress.com”
My experience started out wonderfully. I developed three different blogs. One was geared towards emergency management and the other two were geared towards making money online. I focused on one of the two making money blogs. I noticed two potential issues right away. Without paying, I only had access to about 12 templates. Wordpress.com also does not allow you to upload outside templates.
I started adding widgets to my blog. Wordpress.com did not allow me to upload my own template but Wordpress.com could be personalized through the widgets, right? Not at all, Wordpress.com offers a few widgets but is limited on the widgets that you can add. Wordpress.com also does not allow any javascript in their widgets. Wordpress.com’s rules about java script greatly reduced my ability to monetize. Java script is required to run ads from Google Adsense and Amazon.com.
I was able to insert HTML into widgets. This allowed me to place small banner ads in the blog’s sidebars. Not as lucrative as Google Adsense or Amazon may be but it was something. This type of advertising does require you to manually change the code to show a different ad. I was not completely turned off. Wordpress after all is a great blogging platform.
I created my main blog. I could not get the exact look I wanted, however, it was acceptable and looked good. My plan was to get the blog generating an income and then add Wordpress.com’s pay services. Allowing my blog to be self sustaining. I began advertising by placing links and posting everyday. I began seeing some success.
I wrote a variety of posts. They ranged from product reviews to sites and resources that I believed would help people make money. Each post was about something that I had personally either used or read. My goal was to assist readers not peddle crap.
My next move was to register with blog directories. I searched the web and came across a listing of 50 web directories. Each directory required you to register to submit your site. I spend two days registering the site.
The post that brought the blog down. I posted about Blogging for Dollars. A internet marketing course that provided ways to make money blogging. I had signed up with their affiliate program. I did this only after personally using the product.
I woke up Thursday morning and checked my blog’s stats. The blog was gone. My screen now stated that “This blog has been archived or suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service”. I was still able to sign in to my account and view my emergencymgmgt.wordpress.com blog. I also could still view stats for my World’s Dumbest Criminals blog that was not hosted with Wordpress.com but used their statistics widget.
My mind whirled with potential explanations. Did I plagiarize? No, I was extremely careful to cite each and every one of my sources. I had not posted anything vulgar. Well, there was only one place to look….Wordpress.com’s Terms of Service. I found a few lines that offered some insight:
1. “the downloading, copying and use of the Content will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret rights, of any third party”
2. “you have fully complied with any third-party licenses relating to the Content, and have done all things necessary to successfully pass through to end users any required terms”
3. “the Content is not spam, is not machine- or randomly-generated, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing)”
4. “your blog is not named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company. For example, your blogs URL or name is not the name of a person other than yourself or company other than your own”
I only saw one potential problem. I had posted about products where I included an affiliate link. My recommendations were not meant to cause anyone pain or harm. They were products that I had found useful and wanted to share them with readers. My review included an offer to prove I used the product.
Every story has two sides. I e-mailed Wodpress’s customer service. I wanted to hear their side of the story. I was hoping that it was a simple misunderstanding. A misunderstanding that could be worked out. I was very polite in the email. Wordpress has the right to refuse service. It is their business. I waited for a response.
As of that evening, I had not received a response. I checked my spam filter. I tried to login to my other two blogs. Wordpress.com would not even let me login. Well, there was my answer. Do not offer any explanation, just shut the whole account off. Again, it is their business and they are free to do as they wish. But, is this really good business.
This article is not an attempt at revenge. Just as my blog, I want to provide useful information to other affiliate marketers. Maybe someone can avoid the frustration I have been through. If by some chance, Wordpress.com’s technical support sees this article, I would love an explanation. You can reach me at Bruce’s Money Rants.