I’ve consulted to a number of companies where one of my roles has been to provide high-profile employees with advice and coaching about developing their personal brands, complementing the company’s own brand, via social media use. Here are two such questions and answers.
Q: Should I set up a blog on WordPress–is it the best all-around blogging platform for “personal branding” for a blogger?
A: WordPress is a very strong platform for feature set, user interface, search engine optimization, and customization (huge number of themes + CSS).
Q: What’s the best WordPress host?
A: If you are in touch with your inner Unix voice, just about any Linux host will work. Just make sure you keep your build up to date. Security holes open fast on such a popular platform, but get patched just as fast. I’ve used FutureQuest for years, and they support WordPress.org, the free version (Open Source) of WordPress. But while I’ve had nothing but good service from FutureQuest over the years, I honestly don’t know how they compare to the competition these days.
There are hosts that specialize in providing hosted WordPress, and they even keep it patched for you. The biggest complaints I’ve seen about them is that they terminate sites that get Slashdotted with no notice and no recourse if you’re worried about that sort of thing.
At the moment I manage a handful of blogs that are hosted on WordPress.com, which is practically free, with a couple of super inexpensive upgrades. It’s solid and the code is maintenance free (which is where I am currently with my inner Unix voice).
Regardless of where they are hosted, WordPress sites can be easily exported / imported from and to different servers, although I’m not clear on how image (pictures) migration would work as a component of a move between WordPress hosts.
bruce2b 