Why Self-Host?
What Is A Self-Hosted Blog?
A self-hosted blog is a blog you install at your chosen web hosting service. A self-hosted blog is often referred to as a paid blog. A self-hosted blog will usually have its own unique domain name (URL – Uniform Resource Locator) associated with it. For example, this blog happens to be hosted and installed at my preferred web host and has the domain name of www.wpblogsandwebsites.com. It is (of course!) a WordPress based blog. I pay for my web hosting, and I have registered my domain name of www.wpblogsandwebsites.com. This is a standalone blog. I Own My Own Blog.
The opposite of a self-hosted blog is a blog that is hosted at an online service such as blogger.com or wordpress.com. These are free blog hosting services, as you do not pay a hosting fee to have a blog at them.
The great advantage to a self-hosted blog is that you gain total control over your blog. This means you have the freedom to make your blog look and operate the way you want and no one can limit what you do with your blog. Probably most important, you can blog about anything you want, it’s all yours.
With a self-hosted blog you can choose how your blog looks, what theme it uses … the colors, layout, typography, and graphics. You also have total control over the technical parts of your blog. With WordPress you can choose and add from a myriad of plugins (think of plugins as special gizmos that do certain blog jobs for you) to enhance the functionality of your blog. You can tweak and adapt your blog the way you desire.
Having your own domain name (a URL) is important if you want to make a professional impression with your blogging efforts. People simply take a Web site with its own Top Level Domain (TLD, www.wpblogsandwebsites.com is an example of a TLD) name more seriously than a Web site with a URL like; http://wpblogsandwebsites.blogspot.com/. That URL points you toward a hosted for free blogger.com blog I set up as a demonstration. You can see how “blogspot.com” gets added to the URL for this free hosted blog, this means it is not a TLD.
Please note that I do not mean to say that all free hosted blogs are not professional and are substandard. I mean to explain that sometimes they are perceived that way, starting with their domain names. I have had, and do have, too many free hosted blogs myself to say they are all unprofessional and substandard. Many of them are top-notch because their creators have put a lot of effort into them. I simply think that a self-hosted WordPress blog with its own domain name looks more professional.
I know for certain that I have total control over my self-hosted www.wpblogsandwebsites.com blog, and that I don’t have total control with the hosted free http://wpblogsandwebsites.blogspot.com/ blog where I am subject to the limitations that blogger.com imposes.
Although you will have to pay for web hosting, and to register and keep a domain name (these fees are affordable as there is much competition in these markets), with a self-hosted blog, if you choose WordPress as your blogging platform, then you won’t have to pay a single cent for WordPress itself. WordPress is Open Source and is free, there are no licensing fees involved. That’s a pretty good deal!
If you are going to spend serious time and effort creating a blog, if you are going to blog to earn money, or sell products and services, then self-hosting is the way to go.
Be free and have control. Own Your Own Blog!
- Self-host your blog
- Register a domain name
- Use WordPress as your blogging platform
Featured Posts ...
These are the easiest blogs to get set up. You can get a blog cranked up and working fast with online blogging services like blogger.com or wordpress.com. All you have to do is visit the online blog service Web site, sign up for an account, and then follow some basic instructions to get a blog working and live on the Internet. This can be done in less than ten minutes.
A self-hosted blog is a blog you install at your chosen web hosting service. A self-hosted blog will usually have its own unique domain name (URL - Uniform Resource Locator) associated with it. The great advantage to a self-hosted blog is that you gain total control over your blog. This means you have the freedom to make your blog look and operate the way you want and no one can limit what you can do with your blog. Probably most important, you can blog about anything you want, it's all yours!
