WordPress.com

1. homeschoolartclasses
   Member
   Sep 26, 2011, 2:55 AM

   I am an employee of a small business and have been asked to set up a blog so that customers can see new arrivals available at or through the store. There will be lots of photos, but no selling online. Is this fair use of the free site? I read the section called "No Ads" and see that VIP users are able to run their own ads, but standard accounts are not.

   I guess the question is, what is an ad?

   If there are photos of new items for sale in a shop and prices are listed, is that an ad? If the answer is "yes" how about photos with no prices?

   If I had a personal blog as an artist and uploaded a painting for sale and included a paypal button, is that an ad?

2. theianfox
   Member
   Sep 26, 2011, 2:59 AM

   I've asked support these kind of questions in the past. It is confusing because under types of blog it does list business blogs.

   The general answer I got back from support was that it the site feels "spammy" it's likely to be shut down.

3. homeschoolartclasses
   Member
   Sep 26, 2011, 3:13 AM

   Thank you. I certainly will not be doing anything "spammy" so it sounds OK.

   I'd hate to put a lot of work into the site and have it shut down, though.

4. 1tess
   Moderator
   Sep 26, 2011, 3:42 AM

   We are mostly volunteers here, and so have no authority to determine whether your blog would be violating the TOS or not. The only ones who can tell you for certain "yes" or "no" would be the TOS team.

   Please contact support directly.

   Give them as much information about what you plan to do: details about what you will blog about, how you will present your merchandise, is the main purpose of your blog to direct readers to another (commercial) site, and what content you will have that makes your blog interesting to potential readers.

   I certainly did that before setting up a blog for the non-profit I work for: too much work involved to have it suspended or deleted if WordPress.com discovers it is breaking the rule.

5. raincoaster
   Member
   Sep 26, 2011, 3:55 AM

   Why don't you make a couple of posts and then contact staff and ask if they're okay?

   I think, though, you'd be better off with an independent install of WP from WordPress.org. In the long run you'll have more flexibility

6. homeschoolartclasses
   Member
   Sep 26, 2011, 3:59 AM

   I did click the link "contact support" but they were closed for the weekend and had a message up that suggested trying the forum, and so I did, especially knowing that at a forum there would be a response.

   This is my first attempt to talk directly with an official with wp. In many cases, with other online services, this is impossible. I am glad that I really can do this!

   I will check with them tomorrow.

   You have been a great help and I appreciate it.

7. homeschoolartclasses
   Member
   Sep 26, 2011, 4:14 AM

   Raincoaster,

   I am learning much from this forum.

   I went to WP.org, and see that it is a download. Doesn't this mean it is on my computer? If it is on my computer, then my coworker would not be able to work with me on the blog.

   (Or am I confused?)

8. raincoaster
   Member
   Sep 26, 2011, 4:43 AM

   You rent hosting from a web host (there are recommendations at WordPress.org) and then you install the software from WordPress.org in that webspace. It sounds techie but it's not that hard. Then you invite your co-worker as an Editor or whatever, same as you would do here, and you can both work on it. It's more customizable than what you could do here, too.

9. homeschoolartclasses
   Member
   Sep 26, 2011, 5:04 AM

   Thank you! That clears up a lot. :)

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