GUIDE TO BLOGGING FREELY USING WORDPRESS

WordPress is one of the many blog engines out there that are offered to bloggers for free. WordPress is quickly growing its userbase, with many people switching to WordPress due to its highly flexible template changing abilities, easy to modify interface, and due to the fact that it’s totally OpenSource. I personally love WordPress a lot as I love the simple blogging interface, totally user friendly and the many installable plugins out there that users have developed over the years. It’s built-in anti-spam features are fantastic and blocks for moderation the smallest suspicious looking comment. However, unlike services like BLOGGER, LIVEJOURNAL and even the FRIENDSTER BLOGS run by Typepad, WordPress is basically a standalone software that one needs to install by oneself to start using it. Therefore, for the benefit of those that would like to jump on the bandwagon of WordPress, but don’t know where to start, I decided to write about the few available free WordPress hosts and the treasures they offer.

1)www.negimaki.com

First on my list is of course, my own host, www.negimaki.com . This host is really special because they don’t run automated sign ups. Negimaki.com is not for everybody, you have to state your reasons why you want to host your blog and get interviewed by Mr Caturan on any instant messenger. Negimaki.com is run by Steve Caturan. And they manage to give free services to negimaki.com users out of the profits they made from other chargeable sites they host. Negimaki.com offers the best plan I can find anywhere. 2GB space with 20GB bandwidth, total technical support, choice of WordPress, Pixelpost and Gallery to be installed for you, and some friendly staff. However, negimaki.com has a few terms and conditions to add. No Ad hosting, no obscenity, no inactive accounts. Negimaki.com is not too interested in making their user base grow too big, therefore they exercise some form of user screening and selection. I was one of the blessed few who manage to sign up from the beginning when their user base wasn’t too big.

Negimaki hosting package includes:
• wordpress 1.5.1.2 — for blogging.
• gallery 1.5 — for sharing your photos.
• gallery 2 beta 3 (bingo!) — more robust than 1.5 & sql-based. (by request only.)
• pixelpost 1.4.1 — plain vanilla photoblogging. (eg. photo-a-day, etc..)
• phpMyAdmin 2.6.2-pl1 (by request only.)
• 1 mySQL database (wordpress/g2/pixelpost)
• 2GB of web space (use of FTP client is allowed)
• 20GB/month bandwidth usage
• webalizer generated daily statistics
• we don’t embed advertisements like other hosts
• local (daily) & off-site (weekly) backups
• http://yourname.negimaki.com/ URL address

Doesn’t include:
• direct access to (FTP) port 21 (starting mid-July 2005) / “tunneling FTP over SSH2” will be mandatory.
• a control panel (like plesk, fantastico, ensim, etc…), shell account or /cgi-bin/ access.
• ability to change mySQL or FTP account password (due to past abuse)
• access to raw FTP/Apache log files

2)www.blogsome.com

I tried blogsome.com and it holds true to what it claims, fast and easy and free. You just need to add your username and walla, you get your blog immediately. Blogsome.com comes with many preinstalled themes that you can use and edit in your blog. However, it doesn’t have FTP upload, so you can’t install your own personal theme. I have no idea the size offered on Blogsome.com as it’s not written anywhere on the site. If you want fuss free, blogsome.com is the thing.

blogsome (blog’some) /blohg-sum/ 1. noun. A free web hosting site for blogs.2. adj. noun. A topic worthy of being blogged. 3. verb . To blog a little e.g. “I am going to blog some”. 4. n. pl. My blogs i.e. blogs o’ me.

3)www.blogthing.com

Blogthing is ok, Here’s what it offers:

Some of the features you get with blogthing include:
•free hosting
•free subdomain (http://example.blogthing.com/)
•instant activation
•multiple template designs
•customise or create your own template designs using css
•ftp upload space
•powerful anti-spam features
•powered by WordPress 1.5

Although Blogthing.com comes with FTP access, I can’t seem to find the folder to add themes. Therefore, it can be pretty meaningless. Technical support is slow and near to none, I never got my answers to many questions. WordPress has been suppressed here and only some of its great features are usable. I don’t understand why they do this.

4)www.globbo.org

Globbo.org is run by a Singaporean dude. I think Globbo.org is pretty cool, like Negimaki.com they screen their users. I helped my sis migrate her blog to WordPress from frens.net to globbo.org when her spam became unmanageable. Anyways, Globbo.org offers 50MB space, 1 MySQL database for the blog, and free domain (your-username.globbo.org). And yea you get FTP access after you’ve made 10 posts, or if can convince them you’re a genuine blogger. Support is pretty fast and friendly too, and WordPress is not suppressed here.

5)Frensblog.com

Our very own Malaysian free host, Frensblog.com. Here’s what’s offered.
• FREE!
• 50MB or more space
• 1GB or more monthly bandwidth
• Pre-installed WordPress
• Subdomain( YourName.domain.com)
• Support PHP, CGI scripts
• MySQL database
• FTP access
• Support by Google adsense
• Upgradable to fee hosting

There is no place on the site to register yourself just yet, however it’s supposedly up for beta testing. You can contact Liewcf.com for negotiations.

6)weblogs.us

This is another great free hosting site. They offer up to 1GB FTP transfer space. However, the site is not accepting any signups for now, so I don’t get to try it. Check it often if you want to host your site it, coz they may accept signups anytime.

7) xmgfree.com/

Like weblog.us, this site is actually closed to signups for a while. It may be up anytime as they claimed.

So, having given you a comprehensive guide to getting free hosting on WordPress, I’m not saying other engines or hosts are not great and available. There are still many, many out there, and it’s all up to your personal taste.