Question: I’m torn between two content management systems (CMS). Should I choose Joomla or Wordpress?

Answer: There are hundreds of content management systems and tens of really good ones, but two very popular ones: Joomla and Wordpress, are often highlighted. The truth of the matter is that there are benefits and drawbacks of both, and the one that will work best for you mostly depends on your needs and preferences.

Joomla is a large multi-functional CMS that is highly extensible and very customizable. Your website could be anything from a storefront with an ecommerce shopping cart to photography portfolio featuring a gallery of your work. The frontend, templates, and arrangement of modules are all subject to your imagination. It can also function as a blog or news magazine, but in that category it is a sloppy second to Wordpress.

Wordpress was primarily created as a blogging application. Since then, however, it has grown into a full-featured news creation and management tool. With it you can have a single user blog or a multi-user site complete with user bios, advertisements, etc., all extended through the plugin interface. Installation, setup, and extending of Wordpress has become very easy, arguably easier than Joomla, and Wordpress suits those who do not need all of the extra bells and whistles of Joomla.

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Blogs are all the rage these days. It seems like everyone and their dog has one. Not able to justify the expense of web hosting, many new bloggers have turned to free hosts specially designed for blogs only. While it’s a good way for some to save money, there are a number of reasons why a serious blogger should never host on a free service.

1. No domains allowed
No matter how well-read your site is, you will always be stuck on a subdomain. Most free blog hosts do not allow domain names. This is not only an inconvenience, but means all backlinks will point to the subdomain given to you by your provider. For instance, if Nancy wanted to move to a paid host and register nancysblog.com, she would find that she lost all the links and visitors to her freely hosted site, nancytoday.freebloghost.com.

2. No ads allowed
Check the requirements of your free provider. Some large notable hosts do allow users to display their own advertisements, but many place restrictions on the type of ads and how many you can place on your blog.

Continue reading: The caveats of free blog hosting

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One feature some consumers forget to look over before signing up for a hosting package is the number of MySQL databases offered. The most common type of database, MySQL is required to use any of the most popular blogging or CMS platforms.

One clever trick hosts use to keep usage down is limit the number of MySQL databases a customer can use. It’s not uncommon for entry-level hosting plans to have only one or possibly no databases. Because each CMS or blog installation requires a separate database, a limit on MySQL limits the number of sites you can run. Hosts may also achieve the same effect by restricting the number of domain names that can be added to an account.

Before signing up for a hosting package, make sure you have enough databases. Higher-end plans will give you at least 10. Of course, you can always use static HTML instead to get around a MySQL limit, but most hosters these days prefer the ease of use offered by a CMS.

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