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“Should I pay to get a domain for my blog or just use free blogging platform?”  

This was the first question which I ask myself after I have decided to start off my internet marketing adventure by blogging.

There are 2 options, Free OR Paid.

You can easily sign up a blog from blogger for free within 3 minutes and start blogging away. This was what I did as discussed in “Can Newbies REALLY make money from Internet Marketing?“. By doing this, it does not cost you any penny at all. There are absolutely other free blogs providers as well like wordpress.com, livejournal.com

Well, having a free blogging service does sound good and we have many examples of bloggers who are successful even though they are using these kind of free blogging services. However, I eventually switch my blogger blog to a self-hosted one.

Now, for those who are totally new to Internet Marketing, it is easy to spot from a website address to tell if it is self hosted or free blog. For example, http://www.GetStartedWithInternet.com is a self hosted blog while http://achievingyourdreams.blogspot.com is a free blog. For free blogs, there will be the company name in this case (blogspot) behind your blog name.

2 Benefits of a free blog:

  • It’s free! For a lifetime!
  • Everything is really easy to use, you do not need to have any HTML knowledge. 

 It was good for a newbie to explore about blogging.

Since a free blog is good, “Why the switch from a free blog to a self hosted blog?” 

There are a few limitations I were facing when I use a free blog:

  • I could not get some features which I want in my free blog.
  • It somewhat does not feel like my own since blogspot is the owner of my blog. My plan was to commit to blogging for a long term basis so I certainly need to feel good of owning my blog. :)
  • I was not able to do some affiliate promotion due to my free blog.

So, what are the benefits of a self hosted blog?

  • Freedom and Flexibility: You can do whatever you wish to do, there is infinite things you can do for your blog like designing your webpage, installing all sorts of plugins… the list simply does not end here.
  • The domain name is your branding. Once again, if you are not sure if blogging is going to be your core activity, you might want to experience it using the free blogs for a short period of time.

Are there other things to note when I self-host my blog?

  • Cost of Domain name, Hosting, perhaps webpage design (well, there are free themes templates for you as well). It will be a long term investment that you have to put in.
  • Technical know-hows. Due to its huge flexibility, self hosted blogs have many areas for you to explore and play around with. If this is a challenge, you can always seek help.  

So eventually, the decision lies in you. Are you planning to blog for a long term basis or are your simply exploring? What is your intention for blogging?

You may read more about “Choosing a Blog Platform” By ProBlogger.

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