If you've made the decision to start your own blog, congratulations! This is definitely a great path to go down for making money online. However, there are some things you will need to think about before getting started blogging. One of those is whether you will use a self-hosted blog or a hosted blog. The differences between the two of these are substantial enough that you'll want to give it some serious consideration.
First, it's important to understand what the differences between hosted and self-hosted are. Hosted options are the "freebie" blogs. You might have come across WordPress.com or Blogger.com blogs where the URL of the blog is http://yournamechoicehere.blogspot.com, or similar. That's because these companies are taking care of all the hosting concerns for you, and your blog is attached to their domain name. This has its ups and downs.
You are at the mercy of the company when you use a hosted option. WordPress.com is known for being fairly strict when it comes to advertising. This is incredibly important to know if you plan on making money from your blog. Blogger.com is known for being more lenient with topics and advertising, but people have been known to have their blogs taken away by Blogger without warning before. This can mean that all of your content, hard work, and future income is lost for good!
At the same time, there are definitely some pros to using the hosted option. For one thing, they are completely free to use. This is a dream come true for many people starting out in Internet marketing on a budget. That's because these platforms are very easy to use and have the potential to rank highly in the search engines since they are attached to a high PR domain.
Many people will find that a self-hosted option is right for them. You will need to purchase your own hosting and domain name, but these are very affordable if you know where to look. Hosting should cost you no more than $10 monthly and the domain name should cost you under $10 a year.
Note that there can be more of a learning curve when you have a self-hosted blog. That's because you'll need to know how to do things like pointing your domain name to your host, installing WordPress blogging software, and using the software. This is truly a case where if you do it one time, you should have no trouble doing it again! Many hosts even have one-click installation so you don't need to know anything about installing scripts other than how to click a button!
There are many pros that come along with having a self-hosted blog. If you truly want to become an authority in your niche, this will help you to look more professional. You will also be able to maintain full control over your content. No one can tell you (within the law) what you can or cannot write about, advertise, and so on. This is probably the best option for those who want to build their blogging into a long-term and highly profitable business.
The hosted versus self-hosted debate doesn't have clear cut answers for everyone. You'll need to think about what will work best for you and for your business as you get started as a blogger.
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