Affiliate Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase a WordPress.com plan through my link, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products and services that I have personally used, evaluated, and believe provide genuine value to creators, freelancers, and professionals.

As someone who works on affiliate marketing campaigns and regularly publishes technology news, SaaS reviews, software comparisons, and digital marketing content, I knew I needed a professional tech-focused website where I could showcase my published work and build a source of income.

Before purchasing a domain and launching my tech website, I listed several requirements for my hosting platform.

The first requirement was reliability and affordability. I wanted a hosting provider that offered excellent uptime, dependable performance, and reasonable pricing. The last thing I wanted was to run into technical issues when publishing articles or uploading files.

I spent several days researching different web hosting providers and reading reviews from trusted technology websites. During my research, I came across several reputable platforms, including GreenGeeks, Liquid Web, Namecheap, Bluehost, and WordPress.com by Automattic.

My second requirement was support for PayPal payments. As a freelancer, most of my clients and affiliate marketing companies paid me through PayPal, so it was important that I could use my PayPal balance to purchase hosting and domain services without needing another payment method.

Finally, I wanted a platform that was beginner-friendly. I wasn’t looking for a system that required extensive configuration or coding just to manage content. Instead, I wanted an intuitive dashboard that would let me focus on writing rather than troubleshooting technical issues.

My Previous Experience with WordPress

Before creating my own website, I had already gained experience using WordPress while writing for several online publications, including IBTimes, University Herald, Sportskeeda, Seeking Alpha, and Blasting News.

Many of these publications were powered by the WordPress platform, so I was already familiar with the publishing interface, the CMS editor, and overall workflow. That previous experience gave me confidence that WordPress.com would be a platform I could comfortably use for my own website.

After comparing my options, WordPress.com was the only platform that met all three of my requirements: reliability, PayPal support, and ease of use. I dropped my decision, I’ll take this one.

Leaving Blogger.com Behind

Before WordPress.com, my primary website was hosted on Blogger.com, Google’s free blogging platform.

That website was called The CodeWarrior, where I originally published technology news before expanding into Tech M&A, startup funding, software reviews, and affiliate marketing content.

I’ll always appreciate Blogger because it’s where my blogging journey began. It allowed me to learn SEO writing, content publishing, and the basics of affiliate marketing without paying for hosting. However, as my website grew, I began to notice its limitations.

Customization often required editing HTML and CSS manually. Something as simple as adding sidebar widgets, social sharing buttons, or custom features usually meant writing code and debugging errors yourself.

While those challenges helped improve my coding skills and taught me how websites work behind the scenes, they also consumed a significant amount of time.

Blogger was an excellent learning platform, but I eventually reached the point where I needed a more flexible and professional solution.

Planning the Migration: From Blogger to WordPress.com

Moving from Blogger to WordPress.com wasn’t a decision I made overnight. I created a simple migration plan that included:

• Acquiring my own domain
• Organizing my existing articles
• Learning the WordPress dashboard
• Exploring available themes and customization options
• Planning future affiliate marketing integrations

One feature I particularly appreciated was WordPress.com’s free plan. It allowed me to explore the platform, test themes, and become familiar with the interface before upgrading to a paid plan (Personal Plan). That hands-on experience made the transition much smoother.

Launching My First Domain-Owned Website

In September 2021, I officially launched my first domain-owned website on WordPress.com. The website was called The CodeWarrior, and I registered the domain thecdwr.com.

For me, this wasn’t simply about owning a custom domain. It represented an important milestone in my freelance writing career. Instead of relying solely on free blogging platforms, I finally had a professional website where I could showcase my work, publish original content, and build long-term authority in the technology and digital marketing space.

The website also became the foundation of my affiliate marketing efforts. I joined several affiliate programs, including PartnerStack, Impact, GreenGeeks, and RevResponse by NetLine. Each program provided unique affiliate links that I could naturally incorporate into my articles whenever they were relevant to my audience.

Owning my own website gave me far greater control over my content, branding, and monetization strategy than I ever had with a free blogging platform.

Below is a screenshot of my website shortly after it launched on WordPress.com. The site no longer exists.

Building My First WordPress.com Website

It was 2021, and I was on the hot pursuit. My goal was simple: build a professional technology news website that showcased my published work while remaining clean, organized, and easy to navigate.

To achieve this, I created the following pages:

• Home
• About
• Contact
• Disclosure Policy
• Privacy Policy
• IT Reports
• Webinars
• White Papers
• Upcoming Tech Events
• Grow Your Business
• Jobs and Remote Work

The homepage served as the central hub of the website. It featured my latest technology news, featured stories, IT reports, white papers, webinars, and links to upcoming technology events. I also created a dedicated Upcoming Tech Events page where I listed conferences, webinars, and technology events taking place around the world.

One limitation I encountered involved affiliate marketing. At the time I built the website in 2021, I couldn’t embed certain JavaScript advertisement codes provided by affiliate networks. These scripts are commonly used to display banner ads and other promotional content.

Another limitation was plugin access. During that period, not all WordPress.com paid plans supported WordPress plugins and custom themes. For example, the Personal plan did not include plugin support.

For users who want to extend their website’s functionality, plugin access is an important consideration. Plugins make it possible to add advanced features without building everything from scratch, whether it’s creating custom HTML and CSS elements, adding animated news tickers, improving SEO, integrating marketing tools, or expanding the site’s overall capabilities.

Fortunately, WordPress.com has expanded its plan offerings over the years, making advanced customization more accessible than when I first created my website. The Personal Plan now includes a custom domain and access to all core WordPress features, including plugins. Current pricing is:

• Personal Plan: $9/month (Monthly) or $4/month (Annually or Yearly Billing)
• Premium Plan: $18/month (Monthly) or $8/month (Annually or Yearly Billing)
• Business Plan: $25/month (Monthly) or $25/month (Annually or Yearly Billing)
• Commerce Plan: $45/month (Monthly or $45/month (Annually or Yearly Billing)

Note: Pricing accurate as of June 2026. Always verify current rates at wordpress.com/pricing before signing up. My first site, thecdwr.com, and powerfulnomad.wordpress.com were built and tested on a live WordPress.com account.

The About page introduced both my website and my background as a technology writer. I included information about my writing experience, areas of expertise, and the type of content readers could expect.

Rather than presenting visitors with a random collection of articles, I organized my content into clearly defined categories, including:

• How-To Guides
• Technology Mergers and Acquisitions (Tech M&A)
• Startup Funding News
• Technology News
• Product Reviews
• IT Reports
• Webinars
• White Papers
• Tech Guides
• Grow Your Business – A curated directory of software, SaaS platforms, and business tools for entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses, and online stores.
• Jobs and Remote Work – A collection of trusted platforms and resources to help readers find legitimate remote work opportunities.

Organizing my content this way significantly improved the user experience. Visitors could quickly locate the information they were interested in instead of browsing through an unorganized list of articles.

Moving Forward with a New Website

The original The CodeWarrior website is no longer active. My career has evolved over the years, and my content strategy has evolved with it—shifting toward the digital nomad lifestyle, remote work, and the technologies that make location-independent careers possible.

Like many freelancers, I’ve learned that adapting to change is essential. The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and staying in the same niche forever isn’t always the best approach. Every new project presents an opportunity to learn new skills, explore different markets, and grow as both a writer and website owner.

My next project is Powerful Nomad, a website currently hosted on the WordPress.com Free plan. The site will focus on digital nomad living, remote work opportunities, productivity, travel, and the tools and technologies that help people work from anywhere.

One of the reasons I chose WordPress.com again is because of an affiliate marketing campaign launched by Automattic. As part of the campaign, affiliate partners receive one month of complimentary access to premium WordPress.com features, including premium themes, plugins, and advanced customization tools. This allows me to experience the platform’s premium capabilities firsthand while building the site—even though it originally started on the Free plan.

My goal is to document the entire process and share my genuine, real-world experience using WordPress.com. Rather than relying solely on product documentation or feature lists, I want to show readers what it’s actually like to build and manage a website on the platform, including both its strengths and its limitations. I believe this hands-on experience provides more practical value for anyone considering WordPress.com for their own website.

Building the Next Site: Why Choose WordPress.com?

Creating an account was quick and straightforward. The onboarding process guided me through choosing a website name, selecting a domain, and picking a design theme. A major advantage is that WordPress.com manages hosting, updates, and security, saving creators from technical headaches.

Unlike self-hosted WordPress, there’s no need to purchase separate hosting, install software, configure backups, or worry about security patches. For creators who want to focus on publishing content, this is a huge benefit.

Within minutes, I had a basic website structure ready to customize.

My Experience Using the Block Editor

One of the features I was most eager to test was the WordPress.com editor. The platform uses the WordPress Block Editor, also known as Gutenberg.

At first, there was a slight learning curve. If you’re used to traditional text editors, the block-based approach feels different. Each piece of content—headings, images, buttons, galleries, lists, and videos—exists as a separate block.

After about an hour of experimenting, I found the editor intuitive and flexible. I particularly enjoyed being able to:

• Drag and rearrange content sections
• Create multi-column layouts
• Insert image galleries
• Add call-to-action buttons
• Embed videos and social posts

For web publishers and site owners like me, these features make it easy to design visually appealing pages without writing a single line of code.

I genuinely enjoyed building my website on WordPress.com—it’s fast, user-friendly, and offers access to plugins that extend functionality. For example, I wanted to add an animated ticker at the top of my site. To do this, I wrote the code in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, then inserted it using the Code Snippet feature in the WordPress dashboard.

You might notice the tiny arrow at the bottom of my site (in the screenshot above). That’s not part of the default WordPress theme (Infield). I created it myself with JavaScript and HTML, and again added it through the Code Snippet tool. I wanted to give readers a quick way to return to the top of the page, so I built a scroll-to-top arrow using custom code. WordPress.com makes this possible through its Code Snippet feature, available with plugin access. I created the functionality using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS:

<!-- HTML -->
<a href="#" id="scrollToTop">&#8679;</a>
<!-- CSS -->
<style>
#scrollToTop {
  position: fixed;
  bottom: 20px;
  right: 20px;
  background: #333;
  color: #fff;
  padding: 10px;
  border-radius: 50%;
  text-decoration: none;
  display: none;
}
#scrollToTop:hover {
  background: #555;
}
</style>
<!-- JavaScript -->
<script>
window.addEventListener("scroll", function() {
  const button = document.getElementById("scrollToTop");
  if (window.scrollY > 300) {
    button.style.display = "block";
  } else {
    button.style.display = "none";
  }
});
document.getElementById("scrollToTop").addEventListener("click", function(e) {
  e.preventDefault();
  window.scrollTo({ top: 0, behavior: "smooth" });
});
</script>

How to insert the code snippet? Simple, go to the WordPress Dashboard. Then go to Plugins → Code Snippets feature. Create a new snippet and paste the code above (screenshot image), and save and activate the snippet. Try to scroll down my site (powerfulnomad.wordpress.com). Once you pass 300px, the arrow appears in the lower-right corner. Clicking it smoothly scrolls the page back to the top. That’s what I call extended functionality.

This flexibility is possible because of WordPress plugins, which allow you to integrate custom widgets and features directly into your site. It’s one of the things I appreciate most about building on WordPress.com today. Even the lower-tier plans now include access to core features and plugins, making advanced customization more accessible than ever.

WordPress.com Pricing (2026)

Key Considerations

• The free plan is best for testing or personal blogs but includes ads.
• Personal & Premium are ideal for creators and freelancers who want a professional site without a heavy technical setup.
• Business adds advanced tools, plugin support, and priority support—great for small businesses.
• Commerce is tailored for online stores, offering WooCommerce integration and global selling capabilities.
• Enterprise is for large organizations needing custom solutions.

Risks & Trade-offs

• Annual billing is required for the lowest prices; monthly billing is higher.
• Storage limits may be restrictive for media-heavy sites (e.g., photographers, video creators).
• Plugin access starts at the Personal plan, but lower-tier access (Personal Plan) is limited.
• Ecommerce costs include transaction fees (typically 2.9% + $0.30 per sale).

📌 If you’re building a freelancer portfolio or personal blog, the Premium plan ($8/month) is usually the sweet spot. For business websites, the Business plan ($25/month) unlocks plugins and backups. For online stores, the Commerce plan ($45/month) is the go-to option.

What I Liked Most About the Platform

• Hosting Included: One of the biggest benefits of WordPress.com is simplicity. Every plan comes with hosting built in, removing the need to set up servers or manage technical details. This saves beginners time and frustration.
• Security and Updates Managed: WordPress.com automatically handles security patches, core updates, performance optimization, and infrastructure maintenance. That means you can focus on content instead of site upkeep.
• Professional Design Options: I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the available themes. The available themes are modern, clean, and professional.
• Mobile-Friendly by Default: During testing, I try to view my website across multiple devices. The designs automatically adjust to different screen sizes, ensuring a smooth experience for mobile users—who now make up the majority of web traffic.
• Strong Content Management: For a tech writer who publishes content regularly, I appreciated how easy it was to organize articles, pages, and portfolio projects. Categories, tags, featured images, and search functionality all work seamlessly, making it easy to organize articles and pages.

Platform Improvement: What Could Be Better

• Customization Limitations: No platform is perfect. Compared with self-hosted WordPress, design freedom can be restricted depending on your plan.
• Block Editor Learning Curve: The block-based editor is powerful but may feel unfamiliar to beginners. They may need some time to understand how blocks work.
• Premium Features Require Upgrades: Certain advanced features and premium plugins become available only on higher-tier plans. Depending on your needs, you may eventually find yourself considering an upgrade or moving to higher-tier plans.

✨ Summary:

After spending time building and customizing my next website on WordPress.com, I came away with a positive impression of the platform. Automattic has really made a nice improvement here. I plan to stay on the platform and launch my next WordPress.com website, Powerful Nomad.

WordPress.com makes website creation simple, secure, and professional—perfect for beginners and content-focused creators. While customization and advanced features are limited on lower plans, the platform’s ease of use, built-in hosting, and managed updates make it a strong choice for anyone who wants to publish quickly without technical hassle.

Erwin Castro

Erwin is a Technical Content Writer and SEO Specialist with over 10 years of experience writing for international platforms including IBTimes, Sportskeeda, Blasting News, and University Herald. He built and currently runs ecastroph.wordpress.com — his live professional portfolio — on WordPress.com. He also owns and manages The CODEW and Powerful Nomad, giving him hands-on experience across multiple WordPress builds.

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