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. I could add widgets and plug-ins
4. Ease in tracking site visitors
5. Having an address of “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 was not concerned. I could still personalize through widgets, right? Not so fast, external widgets are not allowed. You are limited to the widgets Wordpress.com makes available. Wordpress.com also does not allow java script to be inserted in Text widgets. Greatly reducing a person’s ability to monetize their blog.
Wordpress.com does allow some monetization. Small banner ads can be utilized by placing HTML into widgets. There are some downsides. Changing the ads requires manually changing the code. Not a deal breaker for me. I loved the ease of Wordpress that much.
I reached a point where I was happy with my blog’s look. It was not perfect but was the best I could reach without paying Wordpress.com extra money. I was not trying to get something for free. I was more than happy to pay for Wordpress.com’s extra services. I just wanted the blog to be self sustaining. I began posting links in different blog directories and posting everyday. Within a week, I was seeing some results. My Wordpress.com blog had a high day of 12 unique visitors and was already indexed in Google.com. I was pretty pleased.
I began focusing on writing posts to assist readers in making money online. I wrote about making money blogs and resources that I found useful (i.e. ZacJohnson.com and e-books). I also wrote about products, courses, etc. that had helped me learn about internet marketing.
My knowledge was growing along with my readers. My next step was to continue advertising. I obtained the addresses for 50 blog directories. Over the next two days, I registered with these directories.
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.
Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I tried to figure out what had happened. I knew plagiarism would cause immediate shutoff. Every source was cited with the date, author, and a link to their site. That could not be the problem. I turned to Wordpress.com’s Terms of Service for some answers. Here is what I found:
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”
The previous four bullet points are quotes from Wordpress.com’s Terms of Service. The only potential issue I saw was my posting about products that people might find useful because I had included affiliate links, however, even this was a manner of point of view. I had recommended products but only because I had purchased them and found them useful. I had offered to provide proof that I used the product and had offered links to similar products that I was not an affiliate for.
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.
I went to my World’s Dumbest Criminals blog to check my statistics. The Wordpress.com statistics widget now showed “account suspended”. I went back to Wordpress.com and attempted to login. I could not even login now. I guess this was the answer to my support e-mail. Do not answer my e-mail just shut off the account.
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.
Tags: advertising, affiliate marketing, article marketing, Blogging, Blogs, business, Home Based Business, make money, marketing, monetize, money, terms of service, WordPress