Top 5 Reasons to Self Host Your Blog
Now is the golden age of blogging, and there are lots of top-notch services that offer free blogs and related tools.
Most of people have probably heard about WordPress.
com, Blogger, Tumblr and similar sites.
They do make the process of starting your own blog very easy, but I'm going to try and convince you that hosting a blog on your own server is a much better choice.
Here are the top five reasons to do so: 1.
Your blog will look more professional.
Visitors will think that you are more serious about blogging if you use your own domain and hosting.
It's true that some services like Tumblr and Blogger allow you to use a custom domain with them for free, but Blogger, for instance, still displays a branded bar on top of all blogs.
2.
Less risk of losing your content (provided you make regular backups).
Even if your hosting provider goes down, you can simply move on to another host, transfer your database and park your domain there.
But if a free blogging service shuts down, you might have serious trouble transferring your posts from their servers and moving your blog to a new location.
It's true that this kind of thing doesn't occur often, but it does happen - for example, a major blogging provider Vox was shut down recently.
3.
Full control over your blog.
Some free blogging providers - like WordPress.
com, for instance - don't allow you to place ads or post paid reviews on your blog.
You also can't install any plugins, and theme customization is limited.
That's why it's a better idea to get the package from WordPress.
org and install it on your own server.
4.
Full rights to your blog.
Let's say you're built an excellent, popular blog but simply don't have the time to maintain it anymore.
If you are using a blogging service you might have to abandon your work; on the other hand, if you have a self-hosted blog, you can simply sell it to someone else.
5.
Build a site around your blog.
Let's say you have a huge, active readership and want to let them contribute ideas to your blog.
With a self-hosted blog, you can install a forum script on the same domain and let your users discuss their favorite posts or share ideas.
These are just some of the most important reasons why a self-hosted blog is superior to a blogging service.
I'm not saying that these free services are bad, however; if you don't need full control over your blog and don't want to worry about paying for web hosting, then they might suit your needs better.
Most of people have probably heard about WordPress.
com, Blogger, Tumblr and similar sites.
They do make the process of starting your own blog very easy, but I'm going to try and convince you that hosting a blog on your own server is a much better choice.
Here are the top five reasons to do so: 1.
Your blog will look more professional.
Visitors will think that you are more serious about blogging if you use your own domain and hosting.
It's true that some services like Tumblr and Blogger allow you to use a custom domain with them for free, but Blogger, for instance, still displays a branded bar on top of all blogs.
2.
Less risk of losing your content (provided you make regular backups).
Even if your hosting provider goes down, you can simply move on to another host, transfer your database and park your domain there.
But if a free blogging service shuts down, you might have serious trouble transferring your posts from their servers and moving your blog to a new location.
It's true that this kind of thing doesn't occur often, but it does happen - for example, a major blogging provider Vox was shut down recently.
3.
Full control over your blog.
Some free blogging providers - like WordPress.
com, for instance - don't allow you to place ads or post paid reviews on your blog.
You also can't install any plugins, and theme customization is limited.
That's why it's a better idea to get the package from WordPress.
org and install it on your own server.
4.
Full rights to your blog.
Let's say you're built an excellent, popular blog but simply don't have the time to maintain it anymore.
If you are using a blogging service you might have to abandon your work; on the other hand, if you have a self-hosted blog, you can simply sell it to someone else.
5.
Build a site around your blog.
Let's say you have a huge, active readership and want to let them contribute ideas to your blog.
With a self-hosted blog, you can install a forum script on the same domain and let your users discuss their favorite posts or share ideas.
These are just some of the most important reasons why a self-hosted blog is superior to a blogging service.
I'm not saying that these free services are bad, however; if you don't need full control over your blog and don't want to worry about paying for web hosting, then they might suit your needs better.
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