REMOTE BLOG OR SELF-HOSTED BLOG?
New to Blogging? You Can Either Host the Blog Yourself or Use a Free Service. Here's How to Decide.
By Len Hutton
So you've decided to blog, but aren't sure whether you should host the blog yourself or sign up for a free service like blogger.com. It's a dilemma that many bloggers face. There are pros and cons to both, which makes the decision difficult for many. Neither is perfect, and neither is for everyone.
Fortunately, you should be able to make the best decision for you if you're armed with adequate knowledge. In this article, we'll go over services like blogger.com and others, plus software that allows you to host your own blog. We'll also go over the pros and cons of each. Hopefully, this will help you decide which is best for you.
WHO OFFERS FREE BLOG HOSTING?
Many sites offer free blog hosting. Among them are Forumer, Blogger, BlogEasy, Aeonity, BlogThing and Blogates. A quick search for "free blog" on Google reveals many possibilities.
WHAT SOFTWARE CAN I USE TO HOST MY OWN BLOG?
Like free blog hosting, there are many possibilities for software that make hosting your own blog easy. Most of them are free to use. These include:
* Word Press (the most popular software)* Apache Roller
* Blosxom
* Geeklog
* Textpattern
* LifeType
In addition, you can find blog software that you can purchase for use on your site. These include:
* Community Server* Movable Type
* Radio UserLand
One negative about using software and hosting your own blog is that the process can often times be complicated. You have to download the software and install it to your server, which doesn't always go easily. It's particularly hard for those who don't have a lot of experience installing things on servers.
WHY SHOULD I REMOTELY HOST MY BLOG AT A PLACE LIKE BLOGGER?
Places like Blogger allow you to host your blog there. It's a good option for many people. Let's look at the Pros and Cons.
The Pros
* It's easy to set up and maintain a blog. You don't have to go through the trouble of installing software and configuring it to work on your server. All you have to do is sign up for an account and start posting.* It's friendly for beginning bloggers. Sites that host blogs offer good tutorials on how to make your blog posting so that even someone who is completely new to the concept of blogging can do it easily.
* Most blog hosting sites are completely free to use. There is no need to pay for things like a domain name and hosting.
* Monetizing your blog is easy. Rather than having to manually put HTML/Javascript codes on your blog to manually set up things like AdSense and Pay Per Click advertising, you can select an option on most blog-hosting sites that does much of the work for you.
The Cons
* You don't have as many options to customize your blog. Remotely-hosted blogs are admittedly somewhat limited in terms of what you can actually do on them. You have to stick with what is provided to you in terms of look and features.* The URL you get is always yourname.BLOGSITE.com. You don't get to have a custom domain name like YOURNAME.com. This can possibly hurt traffic to your blog.
* Blogs hosted on free blog sites don't look as professional as self-hosted blogs.
WHY SHOULD I SELF-HOST MY BLOG?
Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of hosting the blog yourself.
The Pros
* You have more options and more flexibility. You are able to tweak the blog to your liking.* Your URL is your address for the blog. Rather than having to go to a blog site to read it, they can read it right from your site.
* The ability to make your blog look professional. Blogs that are hosted on sites of their own tend to look a lot better than those hosted on free sites.
* More space for your blog. Free blog sites usually place a restriction on how much space you have for things like photos and music. By hosting your own blog, you're able to use as much space as you need.
The Cons
* There are sometimes problems with setting up blog software to run on your site and server. If you aren't experienced when it comes to working with mySQL, the process will be hard.* Updates aren't as easy to post.
* You have to manually set up programs to monetize your blog. However, if you are good with HTML/Javascript, this shouldn't be too hard.
* You have to pay for your own hosting and domain.
As you can see, there are pros and cons to both. Which should you choose? Well, it depends on who you are and what you intend to use your blog for. If you intend to use it for business, then a self-hosted blog is the best idea. If it's a personal blog, then a free-hosted blog will probably be fine for you.
Closely examine all of the pros and cons mentioned above. That way, you'll be able to make the best decision for you.
Len Hutton is an information publisher specializing in helping people start their own home-based business. Get a no-cost video showing you a step-by-step method to set up a niche ebook empire at: http://www.nicheresidualincomes.com
If you are considering using Google Pay-Per-Click Ads to promote your blog, check out this website:: http://rowner.freegoogle.hop.clickbank.net
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