I think it's branding. They already know wordpress.com and didn't know other solution. If you know people who are using wordpress.com and then offer them a cheaper better solution then they will move.

Wordpress is a very popular website to create website with ease .Wordpress is a CMS which provides mutiple plugins & templates to build an e commerce website.It gives complete solution to e commerce website .That's why people are using wordpress because of its innovative features .

Wordpress.com blogs are free to use which most of the bloggers prefer. There are many benefits of using separate Wordpress site such as you can keep your individual domain name.

this is a wrong question, because most people who use wordpress will never make a cent online

professional bloggers and bloggers who actually make money, they never use wordpress, this is a well known fact

The answer is obvious. Not everyone has a domain or web hosting and if they are low on funds, they see it as a good option to opt to use Wordpress.com which is free. Even people who have web hosting, may also use Wordpress.com because they don't need to buy a new domain name to create a site.

Also, when starting out in IM, some people aren't aware that Wordpress.com doesn't allow many ways of monetization, compared with using self hosted Wordpress.org.

I think a lot of people use it because it's free. A self hosted Wordpress installation is almost always better though. You can do SO much more with it.

I feel the same way about Blogger. It's cute, but if you're serious, a self-hosted solution is better.

Mostly those use Wordpress.com who are creating non-business sites.. All business sites need to have their domain name. It look unprofessional without that.. Self hosted Wordpress is the best option.

That was so helpful!

The answer is simple, wordpress.com is a free blogging site like Blogger.com for those who cannot purchase domain + hosting. On Wordpress.org is a CMS used by most professional bloggers where you install it on your web-host. The advantage of this is that you have control over most of its functions unlike on wordpress.com.

people want a free ride to success

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It;s the #1 CMS platform and most extensible, and has community support that is way bigger than any other CMS platforms.

Unfortunately, many of the responders here don't know the difference between Wordpress.com, which is a web site that allows the creation of a WP blog, with restrictions, and is free -- and Wordpress, the free CMS which must be downloaded and installed on a separate domain, using a paid hosting account. Some hosting services, such as HostGator, provide a service that makes the installation quick and easy but it still requires some considerable technical skill to build and manage a decent web site using it.

So ... the reason many people use Wordpress.com is that it is free, easy, doesn't require a hosting account and is great for newbies since it requires minimal technical skills. I don't recall seeing any serious money-making web sites built on Wordpress.com.

WordPress.com is free, whereas you must pay for your hosting if you go for HostGator or another traditional web host. This gives newbies (or people who don't want to spend money) a bit of an advantage, albeit that hosting is very cheap these days.

word press is free service. so for those who don't want to spend money on hosting can use this. it also provide content management service which is beneficial for bloggers.

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Everyone starts small and then grows, and wordpress.com in my opinion is the best place for a beginner.