When starting a blog, one of the first questions you’ll need to answer is where you want to host your blog.
There are two main options for hosting:
- Free (through a third-party like blogger.com)
- Paid (called “self-hosting” – this happens on your own .com domain name)
I firmly believe most people will do best with a paid option (I recommend BlueHost, and here’s my simple guide to setting up your blog using Bluehost.)
Although this infographic will show you some of the differences between free and paid hosts, here are my reasons that I personally recommend going with the paid option.
Why I Recommend Paying for Blog Hosting:
Although free options (like Blogger) are indeed FREE, they offer much less functionality than paid options. But that’s not the main reason I don’t recommend them. In the beginning of my blogging days, I started several blogs on Blogger for free and it gave me a good chance to try blogging without making a monetary commitment. That said, free platforms like Blogger do have limits, and don’t have all the bells, whistles, and functionalities that paid platforms offer.
Like many bloggers, when I did decide I wanted to take my blogging to the next level, I faced a frustrating hurdle: migrating my website from the free Blogger to the paid WordPress. This not only cost me hundreds of dollars, but forced me to deal with rebranding — as the name I had chosen for my original blog on Blogger was not available on the rest of the Interwebs.
All in all: frustrating.
Ultimately, if you think there is a chance you might one day want your blog to be bigger, do more, or take a larger role in your life than it does on Day 1, think about spending the <$70 bucks a year to pay for hosting. It’ll save you money in the long run.
So go ahead, get going. Want step-by-step directions? Watch my video here on how to set up your self-hosted blog with BlueHost.
