Move from wp.com to self hosted site

[gm10]

Is it difficult to move from wordpress.com to a self hosted site?

I am planning to start a new site on wordpress.com to have less maintenance worries at the beginning. When/if I get some traffic, I'd make the site self hosted to use AdSense. Sound like a plan?

P.S. It might've been discussed multiple times, but I couldn't find anything relevant.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[TorontoBoy]

Just go self-hosted from the start. All host providers have excellent WP install scripts that do a great job. If you've done WP at least once and don't mind doing a little bit of tech work, there's little to gain from WP.com, unless you want to save $5/mo on hosting charges.

Self-hosting is not difficult and most of the maintenance is already an automated single button press and go. Also, put your web site as a directory to your account, such as https://example.com/mysite as this gives the bots an additional hurdle to jump. Most bots will go after your https://example.com WP site, so by putting it in a subdirectory you protect yourself a bit more.

[not2easy]

It all depends on your level of experience and your curiosity to learn what you need to know. It is difficult if you don't understand about directories, database driven websites, managing security and file permissions and such. It can be set up in a few minutes but it isn't magic and it will depend on you to shape it into what you need.

I have recommended that people should try out setting up and managing a WordPress site free at wordpress.com to learn how it works and not end up making a mess of a site you intend to grow and keep. If you have no experience, others can't gauge your probability of success. At wordpress.com it is free to learn, you decide what your limits are or aren't.

I strongly suggest that it is very helpful to learn enough html and css to understand how to work on your own site. Reliance on paid help and plugins is not the ideal whether it is wordpress or a two page homemade website.

As for AdSense earning, it is still possible but far less likely today that it will earn big money - but again, until you try, until you have some experience you can't know. Others can't tell you because it is like asking if you should get married or have children. You may have what it takes to stick with it long term, grow and earn. As long as you weren't planning on living really well, all fast and easy. ;)

[gm10]

Basically, I was just wondering if it's easy to move from wordpress.com to self hosted. Is it like making a back up on wp.com and restoring it on a self hosted site? Is it even possible to make a backup on wp.com? Btw, I am not looking for free. I will be getting a domain and hosting it on a paid plan with wp.com.

A bit about myself. I run a company that is in one of the trades. I have more than enough in my life to keep me busy. With the website I'd rather to take care of the content and pay to the host to handle databases, security, html, css, etc.My own company's site is run on self hosted wordpress, and I hate it every time I need to make a change. Not trying to offend anyone here. Ideal for me would be blogger.com. Minimum overheads, ease of SEO. I'd need to care about the content only. It's really sad that Google just letting it die slowly. If I knew that blogger.com would still be around 10 years from now, I'd stop my searches for a host.