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Free Hosted Blog vs. Self-Hosted Blog – Be

Careful Which One You Choose

Author: Ben – http://www.profitblog.com

21 Comments

What’s the difference between having a free

hosted blog such as blogspot.com and a self-hosted blog?

There are dozens of places online where you can get a blog for free on the internet. The main

problem with these blogging websites is that you have absolutely no control over them. I

understand that a lot of people starting out in blogging / internet marketing may not have much

money to invest in the initial stages, however starting your online business with a free hosted

website is a huge mistake!

First of all, when your blog is hosted on a freebie web host, a lot of people don’t take you

seriously and may not trust you very much. With all the scamming going on today in the internet,

it’s no surprise that people have their guard up more than ever. The vast majority of people

wouldn’t even consider buying a product or service from a free hosted blog that isn’t

professional looking. Sure, it may be nice to set up a free site for friends and family members to

share pictures or something, but when it comes to dealing with customers, the trust issue is

definitely important. You have to make a good first impression if you want to gain your visitors’

trust!

Not only is trust a factor, there is also the fact that you have no control what so ever regarding

what happens with your blog and/or its content. Since you don’t own the server that your blog is

hosted on, there is always the possibility that it could be deleted without any explanation at all.

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There is really no way to back up your full blog with free web hosts either. If something happens

where all your content is deleted, there’s a good chance you’ll never get it back!

There is also the credibility issue. If you want to have a good online presence, using a free

blogging service is not a good place to start. I don’t know about you, but if I saw someone’s

website on a free hosted blog site such as premiumrealtyteam.blogspot.com and they were saying

they are an expert in that niche, I would DEFINITELY think twice before I purchased

anything. Now if they had their blog hosted on their own domain such as

PremiumRealtyTeam.com or something similar, and used a nice custom WordPress theme, I’d

be MUCH more likely to listen to what they have to say.

A domain name costs less than $10 per year, and you can get a good shared hosting account for

only $7 to $10 per month. So why wouldn’t an “expert” have their own website? Seems sketchy

to me, and it usually is. People take notice to these sorts of things. You must take your online

business seriously, and branding yourself like this is not a good way to get started. When looking

for a paid webhost, it’s best to find one that offers unlimited add-on domains. This way you can

host as many new blogs as you want, on the same hosting account at no extra charge. The only

exception is the price of the domain name itself. It simply makes sense to go with paid hosting

services if you are even the slightest bit serious about your online business.

The best Hosting Service that allows unlimited add-on domains is Host Gator . Many bloggers

use Host Gator as their main webhost. This is the one that we recommend 100%.

For domain names, we only use Name Cheap now because of their great customer service, low

prices, and FREE whois guard service for each domain you register.

So, if your blog’s goal is to promote your products, services, or overall business, you should

definitely go with your own brandable domain name along with a paid hosting account. If you

just want to blog for fun, and aren’t worried about building your business, or making money

blogging, then a free hosted blog might be okay.

What are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear them below in the comments section…

http://www.profitblog.com/free-hosted-blog-vs-self-hosted-blog-be-careful-which-one-you-

choose/