As a WordPress power user and developer for more than 15 years, I have seen a lot of changes in the WordPress universe. One thing that has not changed (thank goodness) is that the platform remains free.  Additionally, there continues to be many freely available plugins.

The prevalence of free plugins reduces the barrier to entry for someone to launch a business with little or no initial capital.  In fact, now with Amazon’s free trial of their AWS products, you can launch an online business with no costs other than the price of your domain.  Get a domain at someplace like Cheap Domain Registration and your business could launch for less than $10.

While building and launching a business on free products can be great, there are pitfalls associated with keeping your business on the “free” model.   [Read more…]